Ioannidis Nikolaos

(BA Music & Media Studies, MA Digital Media Studies, currently Doctoral candidate in Musicology-University of Sussex)

The Music of Ancient Greeks - Early Epic and Lyrical Poetry An approach to the original singing of ancient Greek epic and lyrical poetry of the 8th-5th century B.C. with the use of ancient Greek and contemporary folk instruments (ancient kithara, folk woodwinds- zournas, ney, flogera- classical guitar, ethnic percussion).

12-string Guitar Works

Instrumentals of the 12-string classical guitar featuring various performance techniques (Western and Near Eastern, modern and ancient)

Oedipus Rex

Audio excerpt of the English opera by Ioannidis, and the complete Greek text of Sophocles' tragedy "Oedipus the king" edited by IOANNIDIS

Music and Religion

Ancient and Medieval religious music from different cultures (extant ancient Greek religious songs, Byzantine chant, Gregorian chant, Quranic chant)

Aren't you fed up?

Classical, Rock, Ethnic songs with political lyrical subjects the erosion of the nation state, globalization, terrorism, the moral and cultural decadence of modern society

Mass insanity

Ancient Greek modes and rhythms, Byzantine echoi, Arabic maqams, and western diatonicism combined with instrumental virtuosity in all kinds of instruments (modern, ethnic, ancient) are singing in English the global concerns around the dominant political, social, and ethical issues of our time.

Be a Master of your Fate!

Classical, jazz, ethnic songs with political lyrical subjects: the inadequacy of the present political system of governance, the moral and cultural decadence of modern society, the role of dominant value systems in environmental destruction, etc.

Homer: Iliad - Sing oh goddess the perilous wrath of Achilles ( prooimion of Iliad)

Homer: Odyssey - Calypso and Ulysses (from Rhapsodia E)

Orphic Hymn to Nature Selected verses from a text which is not just a hymn, but also a great philosophical text

Orphic hymn: In praise of Justice

Anacreon: My lyre sings only songs of love (582-485 BC)

Simonides: Danae and Perseus. Sweet and sad lullaby based on the well known myth of the baby Perseus and his mother Danae (6th cent. BC)

Alcman: Bucolic (7th cent. BC)

Simonides: There is a saying about virtue (6th cent. BC)

Tyrtaeus: Spartan march Paean (7th cent. BC)

Archilochos: Oh soul (7th cent. BC)

Sappho: Ode to Aphrodite (610-580BC)

Alcaeus: Winter (6th cent. BC)

Mimnermos: Short-lived is treasured youth (7th cent. BC)

Hesiod: Rough is the road to happiness (700 BC)

Bacchylides: Great gifts, peace brings to mortals (5th cent. BC)

Solon: Eunomia (630-560 BC)

First Delphic Hymn to Apollo
Extant hymn by Athenaeus (127 BC)

Hymn to Nemesis
Extant hymn by Mesomedes (1st c. AD)

Ie paean Short ritual exclamation

Invocation of Calliope and Apollo
Extant hymn by Mesomedes (1st c. AD)

Hymn to the Holy Trinity
Extant early Christian hymn (Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 1786) by Anonymous 2nd-3rd century A.D

Ever (or The atheist's hymn) Arrangement: vocals, violin, keyboard Elements of religious Byzantine music and classical). Lyrical subject: contemplation on the eternal forces behind human misery: ignorance, passiveness, and fatalism.

Mass insanity Arrangement: 12-string guitar, classical guitar, electric guitar, vocals, drums, bass, vocals, keyboard. Lyrical subject: questioning of the whole mentality and morality of modern society, which by banning creativity, promoting mediocrity, and indirectly supporting barbarity, is leading humanity towards extinction.

A treatise on achieving success Arrangement: electric guitar, ethnic percussion, vocals, bass, drums, keyboard. Lyrical subject: ''..there is no right, there is no wrong! There's only means to get along!...''

Aren’t you fed up? Arrangement: variations of solo electric guitar performances ranging from metallic to imitating bagpipes, Greek folk percussion (
Rhythm: Greek folk rhythm 7/8
Lyrical subject: a call for rebellion against an inadequate political system, fighting statism, and adopting global thinking and acting.

Keep paying, you moron! Arrangement: electric guitar, vocals, violin, Cretan lyra, keyboard, drums, various percussion.
Lyrical subject: the responsibility of the taxpayer in the perpetuation of nationalistic division of the world and parasitism.

Poor generation Arrangement: electric guitar, bass, drums, vocals, keyboard (ethnic-rock, Greek zebekiko rhythm )
Lyrical subject: cultural and moral decadence, and the need for new ideals and new direction

When the thief accuses you of cheating
Arrangement: fretless electric guitar, electric guitar, vocals, bass, keyboard, drums, bongo, tympani, various other percussion
Lyrical subject: how brain-washed need someone be to perceive paranoia as reason?

Kamikaze Arrangement: electric guitar, vocals, bass, drums, djembe, keyboard
Lyrical subject: the waste of life in the name of religions and ideologies

Domination theory Arrangement: fretless electric guitar, vocals, bass, ethnic percussion -defi, tumbeleki, darabuka (Greek tsifteteli folk rhythm)
Lyrical subject: the domination of the intellectual community by the perceptions of leftist cultural theorists, which legalize the keeping of society hostage to the choices of the manipulated, ignorant masses.

Who can save you from yourself?
Arrangement: vocals, electric guitar, keyboard, bass, bells. Lyrical subject: the need for liberation from ideological fixations that prevent society from adapting to its present environment

Looking for something to believe in Arrangement: 12string guitar imitating in some parts of the song the sound of Greek folk instruments, such as bouzouki, lute etc, violin, cello, Greek folk percussion (daouli and tumbeleki)
Rhythm: Greek folk rhythm
Lyrical subject: the search of new ideals in a decaying world.

Threnos 12-string guitar (sui generis)

Running and confusion 12-string guitar, percussion (ethnic)

Waltz on ice 12-string guitar (classical)

12-String Amanes 12-string guitar (ethnic)

Minor to major 12-string guitar (ethnic)

Fading world 12-string guitar (classical)

The most spoken word 12-string guitar

Pain electric guitar (sui generis)

English suite-Electric electric guitar (classical-rock)

Peripatetic 12-string guitar (ethnic)

Jamming 12-string guitar (jazz)

My life a race 12-string guitar (classical)

Vocal

Crown of thorns
Byzantine chant - Language: Greek
Nos autem gloriari
Gregorian chant -Language: Latin

All generations
Byzantine chant - Language: Greek

Surah Fatiha (The opening)
Quranic chant - Language: Arabic

Oh Pure Virgin!
Byzantine chant -Language: Greek

Kyrie eleison
Gregorian chant -Language: Greek

Doxastikon
Byzantine chant - Language: Greek

Gloria in excelsis deo
Gregorian chant - Language: Latin

Kyrie eleison
Byzantine chant - Language: Greek

Alleluia
Gregorian chant

To our defender general
Byzantine chant Language: Greek

Surah Baqarah
Quranic chant - Language: Arabic

Be a master of your fate! Arrangement: 12-string guitar, electric guitar, vocals, drums, bass, keyboard
Lyrical subject: the need for social and political change, not by means of mass struggle but by a change in the mentality and attitudes of individuals.

Those with a brain
Arrangement: electric guitar, piano, drums, vocals
Lyrical subject: a cry for escape from the dominion of the ignorant, the cheap, the fake, the begging, the sick, and the stupid.

Wish I could change it all
Arrangement: Electric guitar, violin, cello, bass, vocals
Lyrical subject: the quest for serenity in an age of confusion and neurosis.

The visionary Arrangement: electric guitar, violin, cello, vocals, keyboard. Lyrical subject: praising those who envision a different world and use their art to break the barriers between the world's peoples, and build bridges.

So you’ve been told Arrangement: classical guitar, electric guitar, bass, drums, vocals
Lyrical subject: the role of religions, ideologies and value systems in environmental destruction.

To be or not to be Arrangement: electric guitar, vocals, bass, drums, keyboard, Korean cymbal
Lyrical subject: philosophising on the meaning of life.

My life a race
Arrangement: electric guitar, cello, vocals
Lyrical subject: the escape from the neurosis of modern life and the pursuit of happiness in simple life.

Sleep! Arrangement: Classical guitar, violin, vocals
Lyrical subject: a lullaby for grown ups ...

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The background music of this page is a midi version of the song ''A fading world'' from Ioannidis' album '' Be a master of your fate''