Greek drummer and composer Yannis Angelopoulos, aka Jan Van, has a new album titled Streams (Teranga Beat, 2021). The album consists of a live session of spontaneous compositions and improvisations made with three other musicians. The music combines jazz vibes with demotika (traditional) musical elements.
Jan Van started as a drummer in clubs playing popular Greek music (laika) before he was 18. At the age of 20, he began working as a roadie setting up drums and it was then that he realized a drummer could be a musical director and producer and not just a session musician. So he decided to continue his education and in 1996 he enrolled in the Rotterdam Conservatorium’s (Codarts) Jazz Department, where he stayed for seven years. Soon after his return to Athens, Jan Van started thinking about how to fuse jazz with laikodimotiko (popular music), something visible in his recent discography.
Since the mid-2000s, Jan Van has been working on various jazz projects in Athens, although the years preceding the 2010s were a tough period for the local music scene, with limited live opportunities. Furthermore, since 2010, Greece has famously been at the epicenter of the global financial crisis. In an already dysfunctional cultural system during that decade, the performing arts eventually became a luxury. Following ten years of recession, in March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic destroyed the efforts of the country that was struggling to recover and took away any hope.
Under elevated psychological pressure, Jan Van had the idea of a jam session as a way-out for expression. At the same time, the particular concept of water and its properties were stuck in his mind. Water’s fluidity and momentum and the idea of a quiet streaming state, shaped the only concept he eventually shared with his fellow musicians before starting to play. He only wanted them to have the energy of the water as a reference.
By the end of May, a few days after the end of the lockdown, they assembled in a studio and recorded a live session of spontaneous compositions and improvisations. During that session, each musician took a step back to listen and give space to one another. None of the tracks was composed before the recording. The result is a profound album that consists of organic beats with spiritual jazz vibes, sometimes exploring fusions with demotika (traditional) elements, sometimes leaning to cinematic atmospheres.
The lineup includes Yannis Angelopoulos on drums; Paraskevas Kitsos on bass; Vangelis Stefanopoulos on piano; and Fotis Siotas on violin, viol, and vocals.
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Author: World Music Central News Room
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