Onassis Channel | Beyond the Sea: Pavlos Pavlidis meets Yannis Markopoulos
Directed by Christos Sarris
The musical performance that stirred up the waters at the Onassis Stegi Main Stage is uploaded to the Onassis Channel on YouTube so that we can live once again the experience and travel “beyond the sea.”
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Music / Encounter / Screens / Loops / Journey / Otherworldly / Synth / Future
In February 2023, an unexpected musical encounter took place at the Onassis Stegi Main Stage, brimmed with memories, bold emotions, and unexplored soundscapes. Pavlos Pavlidis breathed new life into sixteen of Yannis Markopoulos’ most iconic songs and placed them amid a contemporary sound environment, enriching them with electric and synth sounds, loops, and polyphonic singing, assuring at the same time not to stray away from their deep essence. Preserving the messages of yesterday’s songs intact while attempting their sonic rendition from the 1960s to nowadays, Pavlos Pavlidis created a musical performance as if conceived in the future and for the future, under the direction of Christos Sarris. The performance is now available at the Onassis Channel on YouTube as of March 31, so that we can travel “beyond the sea” again and again.
Among the ruins of a world now vanishing, the dogs will eerily howl, entire lakes will freeze, and screens will suddenly turn off.
The idea for the collaboration between the two musicians was born in 2019, when the composer’s daughter, Lenga Markopoulos, asked Pavlos Pavlidis to cover his songs, conveying her father’s wish. And what was Pavlidis’ reaction to the proposal? “Someone could argue that Yannis Markopoulos succeeds in making the inconceivable seem normal, bridging the East and the West, and redefining Greekness by furthering its horizons.” With great collaborators by his side, Pavlidis brought forth his signature style and combined it harmonically with the unique artistic mark of the internationally renowned composer Yannis Markopoulos. Additionally, with the use of appropriate visuals that underline the futuristic character of “Beyond the Sea,” he tells a story that comes from the future.
Christos Sarris has forged an intrinsic visual environment to accompany the performance: a futuristic post-landscape where people seek again and again a better future, beyond a certain sea. A triptych of images and videos about human violence leading to displacement, the constant flux of gender identities, a snapshot of the future of immigration, and the impact of the climate crisis. Social issues from today, yesterday, and tomorrow complement the performance that urges us to immerse ourselves in a universe where time ceases to flow. The remnants of a future civilization that no longer exists. And there, out of the blue, with its gaze always fixed on the future, the composer’s work once again remains ahead of its time as well as ours.
Our “very own” great Pavlos Pavlidis is responsible for some of the most beautiful and essential songs of the Greek music canon in the last thirty years, from the time when he contributed, as leader of the band Xylina Spathia (“Wοοden Swords”), to a breakthrough moment for the local youth culture to today, when he is in the third decade of an idiosyncratic and multifaceted solo career.
“Pavlos Pavlidis arrived from a horizon belonging to the future, met the eminent work of Yannis Markopoulos hailing from the past, and created an entirely new musical universe amid our troubled present.”
–Panagiota Kleanthous (news247.gr)
“’Beyond the sea,’ stranded in their very own musical universe, they joined one another when ‘Pavlos listened to Yannis anew,’ and their notes built an entirely new soundscape that listens carefully to the present while living within it.”
–Pepi Nikolopoulou (elculture.gr)
“Each song has a certain sensitivity, a rebellious mood, and a poetic narrative, which weaves with Pavlidis' artistic stature in an organic manner. Sometimes, the instruments grow furious, sometimes nostalgic, and sometimes they discover new worlds. It feels like a journey into the unknown.”
–Antigoni Panta-Charva, popaganda.gr
“Beyond the Sea” | Pavlos Pavlidis crosses paths with Yannis Markopoulos
“Beyond the Sea” is a performance dedicated to the work of Yannis Markopoulos and his daughter, Lenga Markopoulos.
All songs arranged by Pavlos Pavlidis
All adapted or additional lyrics by Pavlos Pavlidis
An Onassis Stegi production in collaboration with United We Fly
Pavlos Pavlidis: vocals, electric guitar
Dimitris Tsekouras: electric bass, bass synth
Giorgos Theodoropoulos: keyboards
Thanos Michailidis: drums, electronic percussion (pad)
Alekos Georgoulopoulos: electric guitar, synthesizer
Dimitris Hadjizisis: violin, electric guitar
String quartet
Michalis Vrettas: violin
Nefeli Liouta: violin
Stelios Papanastasis: viola
Sofia Efkleidou: cello
Choir
Dioni Polyphonic Ensemble: Eirini Koliousi, Panagiota Koliousi, Anthi Kyrkou
Director: Christos Sarris
Assistant Director: Smaragda Dogani
Set Design: Loukas Bakas
Set Design Associate: Filanthi Bougatsou
Lighting Design: Eliza Alexandropoulou
Costume Design: Electra Stampoulou
Movement: Sofia Mavragani
Associate of Loukas Bakas: Filanthi Bougatsou
Assistant to Lighting Designer: Tzanos Mazis
Production Coordination: Dimitra Hadjicharalambous, Vassilis Mpakatsis
Artwork: Stefanos Rokos
Sound
FOH: Dimitris Dimitriadis
Stage: Dimitris Konstantinidis
Visuals:
Sagans
Tassos Kouvelis
Thanos Sarris
Filming for the visuals:
Assistant Director: Dimitris Zivopoulos
DOP: Koralia Dogani
Video Crew Assistant: Andreas Markou
Postproduction Assistant: Angeliki Avgeri
Editing: Tryfon Karatzinas
Colorist: Manthos Sardis
Make-up Artist: Morfi Menemenoglou
Featuring at the visuals:
Dancers: Stavroula Kyriakidou, Jane Njeri Mwaura, Zandile Ngubane, Helene Habia Nzanga, Irene Adwoa Sackey
Musicians: Dauda Conteh, Yorro Keita, Justus Malesi
Photos from Dmitri Kessel collection, Hellenic Literary & Historical Archive / National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation (ELIA-MIET) Photographic Archive
We would like to thank the section of National Costumes Workshop of the Lykeion ton Ellinidon for the loaning of jewelry from its collection.
Special thanks to Jacopo Fokas, Miracle
FILMING
Director & Cinematographer: Christos Sarris
Assistant Director: Smaragda Dogani
Cameras: Vasia Anagnostopoulou, Koralia Dogani, Andreas Markou, Filippos Zamidis, Dimitris Zivopoulos
Assistant Camera & DIT: Giorgos Kolios
Video Equipment: DK Rental House, Rent Photo Video
Sound Design & Recording: Dimitris Dimitriadis
Sound Mix: Zero Gravity Studios – Dimitris Dimitriadis
Sound System Technician: Vasilis Michailidis
Mastering: Anestis Psaradakos – Athens Mastering
Editing: Tryfon Karatzinas
Colorist: Manthos Sardis – Α10 Post Productions
Still Photography: Pinelopi Gerasimou
Video Production Management: Elena Choremi, Smaragda Dogani
Video Line Production: Angeliki Avgeri
ONASSIS STEGI
Director of Culture: Afroditi Panagiotakou
Deputy Director of Culture: Dimitris Theodoropoulos
Head of Production: Vasilis Panagiotakopoulos
Production Coordination: Akis Chontasis
Line Production: Marianota Giannaki, Ioulia Stamouli
Technical Director: Lefteris Karabilas
Deputy Technical Director: Giannis Dovas
Stage Managers: Katerina Georgoudaki, Katerina Kotsou
Chief Lighting Engineer: Kostas Alexiou
Chief Sound Engineer: Alexios Politis
Chief Theater Engineer: Iakovos Darzentas
Video Engineers: Panagiotis Hajisavas, Stratos Toganidis
Electricians: Fotis Andrianopoulos, Kyriakos Xanthopoulos
Stage Engineers: Stelios Bourdis, Leonardo Cela, Michail Faitakis, Ioannis Kontorouchas, Giorgos Koulianidis, Thanasis Ntako, Nikos Papanikolopoulos, Spyros Pitsos, Platonas Tsamados
Fly Operator-Programmer: Angeliki Dimitrakopoulou
Office Services Coordinator: Vasilis Korobilis
Office Services Assistants: Christos Giakoumis, Dimitris Lianos
Office Services Support / Recycle Lab: Giannis Kouros, Dimitris Nazos
Offices Services Support / General Duties: Ihor Davyda, Konstantinos Karageorgos, Ilias Tolias
Communication & Content
Group Communication & Content Manager: Demetres Drivas
Content Leader: Alexandros Roukoutakis
Head of Creative: Christos Sarris
Campaign Manager: Kanella Psychogiou
Junior Campaign Manager: Eirini Skoufi
Commercial Manager: Nikos Rossolatos
Onassis Media Office: Katerina Tamvaki, Vaso Vasilatou
Junior Media Officer: Nefeli Tsartaklea-Kasselaki
Social Media Manager: Vasilis Bibas
Social Media Editors: Sylvia Kouveli, Alexandra Sarantopoulou
Social Media Performance Specialist: Giorgos Athanasiou
Copywriter: Margarita Grammatikou
Senior Graphic Designer: Georgia Leontara
Graphic Designer: Jilian Viglaki
Senior Motion Graphics Designer: Constantinos Chaidalis
Audience & Client Development Coordinator: Dimitra Pappa
CRM Specialist: Maria Proestaki
Sales Executive: Ioanna Tousiadou
