The Greek band, Daemonia Nymphe - based in London, tours and participates in the most popular medieval, folk and fantasy festivals in Europe and America with musical performances featuring sounds of ancient Greek instruments.
"The Daemonia Nymphe was born out of a love for the world of ancient Greek art for sculpture and architecture of the archaic and classical eras," explains Spyros Giasafakis, the musician, who studied at the School of Fine Arts of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. After many years of searching for the ancient sound, the first tracks were recorded and the first album was released, along the way came to the meeting and collaboration with Nikolaos Bra, manufacturer of "ancient" Greek instruments and the band created their own world that attracts haute couture companies, representatives of cinema and theater.
"From the beginning, we had proposals in both theater and cinema, perhaps because our music tends to create images," says Spyros Giasafakis, who founded the band in 1994 with his brother, Pantelis Giasafakis. noting that in recent years the band has a stronger presence in theater scenes.
"The audience that does not know us can imagine a musical documentary" he mentions, hastening to clarify that in the performances of the team, musicians and dancers from different countries, "Daemonia Nymphe" the sounds of the lyre, the varvitos and other instruments act in a modern context.
The ancient Greek music, an unexplored chapter of the Greek culture
"In the beginning, we had an endless desire to experiment, discover and form our own original sound" emphasizes Spyros Giasafakis, referring to the band's first steps.
"We didn't want to imitate what we heard, but cultivate our own style. At the same time, there was a love for the world of ancient Greek art and, in particular, for the sculpture and architecture of the archaic and classical eras. Thus began a search for ancient sounds that inspired us to create our own world. In the process, of course, we had no choice but to compose music without the restrictions of a supposed reproduction of ancient Greek music", he underlines.
In explaining the elements that music today lacks that was characteristic of the ancient world, he clarifies that there was a greater variety of styles because there were many more "scales". However, he notes that there are still musical traditions today that have just as great a variety of scales and sounds.
Letters of the Greek alphabet "show" the progression of the melody
"The system with notes was clearly different and letters of the Greek alphabet were used to show the progression of the melody" the founding member of the band "Daemonia Nymphe" underlines the differences in the system with notes in ancient Greece.
"So if archeologists found carved letters on a slab that didn't make sense as a language, or there were lyrics underneath, it was obvious that it was music," he responds to the question of how to locate the musical pieces of ancient Greece.
Sounds of varvitos, triangle, samviki in the performances
The reconstruction of the ancient instruments is the work of Nikolaos Bra, "a very intelligent technician who devoted his life to the study of ancient instruments", as Spyros Giasafakis describes.
The band has selected from these instruments from time to time the lyre, the varvitos, the triangle, the formiga and the samviki.
Commenting on research in foreign universities to reconstruct ancient Greek music so that we hear it for the first time as it was heard thousands of years ago, he assesses that "all efforts to approach ancient Greek sound are interesting" but notes that "remarkable efforts have also been made outside the university".
Ancient guitar and whispers in ancient Greek on display by Gucci:
This particular invitation from Gucci was very unexpected and concerned our piece "Hypnos", one of our most minimal pieces, which features an ancient guitar and whispers in ancient Greek. The sound designer of Gucci wanted to use it at the presentation of the Spring / Summer 2016 collection "Gucci Women's Spring / Summer 2016 Fashion Show" in Milan" said Spyros Giasafakis.
"Now these annual presentations of major fashion houses are artistic proposals and in several cases have been reference points for the way the human body is represented through art" and stressed that the band had a very good professional collaboration with the Italian fashion house, carried out with mutual respect and appreciation.
Regarding the music created by "Daemonia Nymphe" for cinema and television, he notes that almost from the beginning the band had proposals in the field of both theater and cinema, perhaps "because their music tends to create images".
"In recent years, we are more into theatre, and we've been lucky enough to work in London with Theater Lab Company, founded by the talented director Anastasia Revi. We have performed "Oresteia", "Antigone", "Medea" and "Lysistrata" in London theaters and then "Macbeth" at the Central Theater of Northern Greece, directed by Anastasia Revi too. It is very creative and interesting to work as a composer in a context that is meant to serve other senses besides the auditory. In this respect, there is a common element between live performances and theater, he points out.
"Very early on, when we took our first steps in concert, we realized that it was not possible to perform on stage without theatrics. So we started wearing masks and finding our role," notes the band's founding member, referring to the importance of image in their performances.
"Slowly, and through our friction with the theater, but also with the audience experience, we reached the point where we finally found the right partners to work together to create the right conditions on stage for the music to stand out," he points out.
"Zeus Astrapeiou" with Psarantonis and turn to the Cretan lyre
Spyros Giasafakis definitely counts the collaboration with Psarantonis on the song "Zeus Astrapeiou" among the most important, "not only because he is a wonderful man", as he points out, but also because after this collaboration the band turned to a bit more traditional instruments, such as the Cretan lyre.
What was the reaction of people to the band's first steps and what is their audience like today?
"People's reaction has always been very positive, from our first steps. What has changed over time is that we have been given the opportunity to present our music to a wider audience. And obviously there are listeners who are touched by this music, in parts of the world that we never even imagined. So our audience is very diverse, but it's definitely a mainstream audience," responds Spyros Giasafakis.
"The Greek audience is our base. It embraced us first and we identify with them more because we have the same experiences. "Our non-Greek-speaking audience is scattered in all the world and reminds us in a very moving way that music is global because it addresses the soul."
Increased interest in ancient Greek music
Interest in ancient Greek music is on the rise both in Greece and abroad, and the reason for this, according to Spyros Giasafakis, is mainly that there are many findings that are increasingly leading people to approach this music.
When someone hears the music of "Daemonia Nymphe" for the first time, he is "often pleasantly surprised", he explains.
"If you have a preconceived notion of what you're going to hear after just reading about old instruments, you usually imagine the music as a documentary," says Spyros Giasafakis. Adding, "When he realizes that everything works in a modern context, I think he relaxes and enjoys the music for what it is".
The theme emerges from the general idea of the project in question. Often the impetus is purely artistic, according to the band's founding member.
