K. Bhta | SALA SALA

Marika Papagika was born in 1890 on the island of Kos. After some early recordings she made in Alexandria, Egypt, where she had moved with her family, she emigrated to the USA with her husband Costas – a cimbalom player – in 1915 through Ellis Island. In New York, the couple opened one of the city’s first café aman, called Marika’s. From 1918, she recorded more than 200 rebetiko and folk songs for Columbia. These recordings, some of the first ones of rebetiko, were forgotten up until the 1980s. Due to a renewed interest in this kind of music, her songs were re-released and her role in Greek music production was recognized. Papagiga had a distinctive soprano voice. Apart from her contribution to the spread of rebetiko, she recorded songs of a wide range of Middle-Eastern musical styles. Greatly affected by the financial crisis of 1929, the couple was forced to close down their nightclub. Papagiga died in Staten Island, New York, in 1943.

Sotiria Bellou was born in the village Halia, just outside Chalkida, in 1921 to a wealthy but oppressive family which did not allow her to work on her talent and love for singing. Married at the age of 17, the marriage soon ended because of her husband’s abuse, leading her to throw sulfuric acid on his face, an act that cost her four months in jail. In 1940 she came to Athens. To survive, she did a number of jobs. At the same time, she also became involved with the Resistance, was arrested and tortured. Singing in various tavernas, she was discovered by Vassilis Tsitsanis who spotted her talent, offering her a place next to him on stage and the opportunity to record his music, their most well-known song being “Cloudy Sunday”. Since then, she became established as one of the leading voices of rebetiko, thanks to the unique timber of her voice. She collaborated with numerous leading composers such as Markos Vamvakaris and later Dionysis Savvopoulos and Dimos Moutsis. Addicted to gambling and alcohol, she had health and survival issues. She died in 1997.

K. BHTA formed the electronic music group Stereo Nova in 1992, recording five official albums with them. He broke the band up in 1996 to continue his career as a solo artist. He has worked with numerous artists from the worlds of music, theater and dance (Lena Platonos, Dimitra Galani, Angela Brouskou, Barbara Mavromati, Anna Kokkinou, Olia Lazaridou, Lefteris Vogiatzis, Dimitris Papaioannou, Antonis Kalogridis, Themis Moumoulidis, Filippos Koutsaftis, and others). His pieces for the theater have included compositions for works by Bertolt Brecht, T. S. Eliot, Lars von Trier, Sarah Kane, Jean Genet, and Paul Claudel. He has written music for documentaries, feature films, and stage plays, and has released a total of 26 records (17 of them as a solo artist). Aside from his music, K. BHTA has worked in the past as a graphic designer, journalist, and DJ. Born in Melbourne and raised in Athens, he studied guitar, music theory, painting, and history of art. As a child, he wanted to grow up to be someone a bit “like Dylan”. He listened to techno and acid house as a teenager. He loves Athens, calls himself old-fashioned, collects vinyl records, and likes Randy Newman, Madonna, Carl Craig, and Joni Mitchell.

Theodora Baka received her first lessons in singing in her hometown Larissa. She continued her studies in opera and chamber music at the Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media (Germany). Her career attests to a diverse repertory, featuring different kinds of music from various periods, countries, and musical traditions. As a soloist she has sung in Greece, as well as at opera houses in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and Russia. She has participated in international music festivals, singing a repertory of early music (Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music), Lied, Greek contemporary music, and traditional music. She has sung with large instrumental ensembles in Greece and abroad, and had often performed with music ensemble such as Ex Silentio (Dimitris Kountouras) Latinitas Nostra (Markellos Chrysikopoulos), and Atalante (Erin Headley). She has worked with composers including Ilias Andriopoulos, Nikos Kypourgos, Giorgos Kouroupos, K. BHTA, Tasos Rosopoulos, and Cornelios Selamsis, as well as with the group “Hanome giati remvazo”.

Born in Athens in 1968, Andreas Angelidakis is an architect and an artist. His practice combines elements of architecture and research with continuous experimenting on the way we view and use space, buildings and exhibits, but also the cities in which we live. His work was recently exhibited at EMST (Athens), XXI Baltic Triennial, 1st Chicago Architecture Biennial, 8th Berlin Biennale, as well as at ALT Bomonti (Istanbul), Kunsthalle and Breeder Gallery (Athens), among others. He also curated important exhibitions at Het Nieuwe Instituut (Rotterdam), Swiss Institute (New York), DESTE Foundation (Athens), and Padiglione Arte Contemporanea (Milan). He was in charge of exhibition architectural design for CAPC (Bordeaux), Frieze Commissions (London), XXI Baltic Triennial, 3rd Thessaloniki Biennale, 2nd Athens Biennale, MUSAC Leon (Spain), Hangar Bicocca (Milan), and Haus der Kunst (Munich), among others. In summer 2016, he participated, as an artist, at the Liverpool Biennale, also undertaking the exhibition’s architectural design.

Angelo Plessas lives and works in Athens. His work centers in and around the Internet. He mostly creates interactive pages and a series of research works exploring the social dimension of the Internet. These works usually focus on issues of identity, materialism, and education. Since 2012, he has organized and curated the Eternal Internet Brotherhood/Sisterhood. Plessas has taken part in numerous exhibitions in Greece and abroad, such as Frieze Projects 2013 (London), Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen), Onassis Stegi (Athens), Onassis Cultural Center (New York), EMST (Athens), Jeu de Paume (Paris), Μucem (Marseille), Cooper Union Museum (New York), and Museum of Cycladic Art (Athens). He also participated in the 2nd and 3rd Athens Biennale, and the 3rd Thessaloniki Biennale. In 2015 he received the DESTE Award, and in 2008 he was awarded a commission by the arts organization Rhizome (New Museum). He was also a Fulbright fellow. In Athens, he is represented by The Breeder Gallery.