STAGES A/LIVE presents Michalis Siganidis and Larry Gus at Antart Studios

Larry Gus (aka Panagiotis Melidis), a few days after “George” was presented at the Onassis Stegi Main Stage, returns for an unexpected meeting with one of the greatest Greek musicians of today, Michalis Siganidis. Two musicians who are constantly experimenting – each in their own unique way – collaborate to create a magical concert for the Onassis Foundation’s digital stage. Larry Gus is writing music again, this time not for Stegi and Efthimis Filippou, but for STAGES A/LIVE. Michalis Siganidis, in turn, arrives to surprise us, four years after his last music performance titled “Who[’s] Who[on]” at the -1 Exhibition Hall of Onassis Stegi. Two beloved musicians on a special concert.

Michalis Siganidis, an accomplished double bassist and guitarist, is considered one of the greatest musicians of improvisational and “deconstructive,” as defined by aficionados, songwriting in Greece. He is a founding member of the music ensembles Himerini Kolymvites and Primavera En Salonico, has composed music for film and theatre, and to date has collaborated with dozens of songwriters, both Greek and from abroad. At the end of 2021 he released his tenth solo album, accompanied by the Lambrakis Ensemble (a first-class group of musicians, performers, and visual artists) and titled “Etikaietikaitikaiti.” It is a radical and independent release in a limited number of copies, consisting of a 94-page book and a sleek USB card on which one will find a 71-minute video of music, films, and photographs, as well as the music tracks in digital format.

Panagiotis Melidis, the “Greek producer who is no stranger to chaos,” as Pitchfork has characterized the agile multi-instrumentalist and singer, starting from the Greek countryside and now based in the center of Athens, has completed fifteen years as Larry Gus, during which time he has lived and created music in Barcelona, Milan and New York and has seen his life documented in a documentary (“My friend Larry Gus” directed by Vasilis Katsoupis). He entered the record industry with the album “Stitches” in 2009, under the auspices of the Estonian home-grown hip-hop label Cast-A-Blast, and soon switched to the American DFA Records. For this iconic label he has released four full-length albums to date, the most recent being the excellent “Subservient,” his first work with Greek lyrics and without the use of samples, as he plays all the instruments, creating a sound that, according to critics, “brings to mind Alex Chilton as if produced by Brian Eno.”