Takis Barberis Takis Barberis was born in Athens in 1963. His relationship with music began at the age of 10. He studied at the National Conservatory of Greece, classic guitar with Dimitris Fampas and higher theory with Yiannis Avgerinos, and received the Harmony certificate. Simultaneously he played electric guitar in many rock groups. In 1979 he began his interest in jazz that determined his later course. During this period he collaborated with many significant musicians as G. Trantalidis, N. Touliatos, P. Gekas and An. Georgiou.
In 1982 he presented his first compositions with the band Jazz Fusion Quintet. It is then that his cooperation with David Lynch and Takis Farazis began, continuing later in the group Iskra (1985), with G. Fakanas, N. Touliatos and L. Pliatsikas. From then he begins also his collaboration with D. Lynch and T. Farazis that would be continued and later, in the group Iskra (1985), with G. Fakanas, N. Touliatos and L. Pliatsikas. Iskra was one of the most famous and progressive groups of this period. In 1986 Iskra released their first album, ? New Day (Polygram), that includes two of his compositions.
At the period 1987 – 1989 he formed the group Model 63 with P. Hatzigiankos and K. Kalogirou in a more experimental approach of rock music with Greek lyrics, and they released the album “Model 63” (Lyra 1988).
In 1990, his first solo album was released, Something From July (Lyra, 1990), with his compositions from the 80’s, with lots of jazz, rock and Latin influences, and with the participation of T. Farazis, G. Kontrafouris, T. Paterelis and K. Kalogirou. Episodes (Lyra, 1995) is his next album with the internationally known Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu and the traditional Greek musician Petroloukas Halkias on the clarinet, and with eight very famous Greek musicians (P. Benetatos, G. Kontrafouris, T. Paterelis, Y. Kiourtsoglou, G. Vassalos, K. Kalogirou, T. Farazis & P. Kourtis). The Greek critics characterized the album as one of the most successful combinations of jazz and traditional elements (Greek and Indian music).
At his next album, Naiva (Lyra, 1998), Barberis continues and evolves the influences that were first seen in the album Episodes (with the participations of Petroloukas Halkias, Reshma Srivastava and Shankar Lal, from India).
Porto Kayio (Libra Music, 2004) featured Debashish and Subhasis Bhattacharya (from India). In Porto Kayio Barberis makes a soundtrack with voices, sounds and rhythms. Each piece is a musical homeland: Greece, India, East, Africa and once again back to his land.
Barberis has collaborated with Trilok Gurtu, Glenn Corneille and nearly all Greek musicians in the Jazz scene, and has taken part in a lot of live performances in Greece and abroad.
Since 1981 Barberis has been teaching modern guitar and improvisation in many Conservatories (National Conservatory of Patras, Pindareio, Raimondi Conservatory, R.S.I.).
Discography:
Something From July (Lyra, 1990)
Episodes (Lyra, 1995)
Naiva (Lyra, 1998)
Porto Kayio (Libra Music, 2004)
In Parallel (El Capitan, 2010)
Jargon (2013)
Sleeping Revolution (2018)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
