In Memoriam | Nikiforos Metaxas ( Athens 1944 - Istanbul 2015)

 Mavi Boncuk | 

Pictured Nikiforos Metaxas and Vassiliki Papageorgiou

Nikiforos Metaxas ( July 21, 1944 Athens - Istanbul Nov 20, 2015), founder (with Vassiliki Papageorgiou[2])of Heybeliada İlm-i Musikî Derneği Athens born Smyrna heritage musician passed away. He was under treatment at Süreyya Paşa Hospital.

Alaturka Records Meşkhâne - Nikiforos Metaxas & Vassiliki Papageorgiou

“İskoçların Johnnie Walker’ı var, rakı da bizim Johnnie’miz… Rakı tasavvuftur, tasavvuf içeceğidir. Mevleviler, Bektaşiler rakıyı öyle langır lungur içmiyorlar. İçmeden önce dua ediyorlar, hu çekiyorlar… Rakının unutturma gücü var. Rakı, beyazın duygusudur. Bütün günahlarınızı unutup yeniden başlayabilirsiniz. Beyaz, başlangıçtır.”  Nikiforos Metaxas 

Atina’da doğan, anneannesi mubedeleyle göçmüş İzmirli bir Rum olan Nikiforos Metaxas uzun zamandır Türkiye'de yaşıyordu. Bosphorus adlı grubuyla müzik yapan Metaxas, Yunanlı sanatçı Vassiliki Papageorgiou ile de Türk ve Yunan müzisyenlerden oluşan “Anadolu Feneri” adlı bir grup kurmuştu. Dostlukları ve birlikte müzik çalışmaları sonrasında hep sürdü.Nikiforos Metaxas 1988 yılında Grup Gündoğarken’le çalışmaya başladı. Bu ortaklıktan, Türkiye’ye Vasiliki'yi tanıtan “Mest of Gündoğarken” albümü çıktı. Sonrasında Gündoğarken ile Metaxas’ın ortak çalışmaları devam etti.Nedim Hazar’ın yönetmenliğinde çekilen “Adalar Biziz” filminde Nikiforos Metaxas’a özel bir bölüm ayrılmıştı. Bu filmde Metaxas tarihi Rum İlkokulu’nda açılmasını istediği müzik akademisini anlatıyordu. 

Bosphorus Orchestra | Vosporos[1]
Artistic Director: Nikiforos Metaxas
Vassiliki Papageorgiou: song
Engin Arslan: saz, lafta Constantinople, song
Cihan Yurtçu: kavali
Theodoris Rellos: soprano, alto and baritone saxophone
Kleon Antoniou: acoustic and electric guitar
Takis Kanellos: drums
Antonis Maratos: bass

[1] Founded: 1985 | From: Greece, Istanbul

[2] Vassiliki Papageorgiou was born in Athens to a family originating from Smyrna and Lesbos. She studied biology but soon she devoted herself to her love for music and song. Tracing her musical roots she studied the oral folksinging tradition of Greece by accompanying Vangelis Soukas's clarinet in ''panigyria'' (traditional musical festivities) throughout the countryside. Finally Vassiliki developed a deep sensitivity for the traditional instruments and sounds of Asia Minor, the Aegean and the Mediterranean Sea while singing in Greek, Spanish and Italian with various groups throughout Greece.  
  
In 1993 she arrived for the first time in Istanbul with Thesia Panagiotou  and Kostas Ferris's ''Kompania Rebetiko'' group, where she interpreted songs of the Rebetiko tradition. She has been living in Istanbul ever since. 


Her knowledge of Greek music and her  voice rich with Aegean intonations have been the catalyst and inspiration for fusing the younger Turkish musicians of the Classical Bosphorus orchestra and Greek musicians into forming the experimental  ensemble of Contemporary Bosphorus. 

Since 1994, Vassiliki has been accompanied in recordings and in concerts by three instruments, the ney, the kemenche (lyre of Istanbul) and the cello whose relationship to the human voice lies within the heart of the mystical sphere of Turkey. This association has enriched her voice endowing it with unique textures and harmonics. 

Furthermore, her experience into the mystical world of Turkey through the sounds of the Bağlama (saz- long-necked lute), kemenche and the ney have given her an insight into the Turkish reality where her hold of the Turkish language alone would not have sufficed.

Eventually Vassiliki entered the realm of poetic writing . The turning point occurred in 1996 when she wrote the poems for her first solo album "Last Boat From Halki" for which Hasan Esen composed the music. 
More recordings and albums were released with her singing her lyrics on compositions by Turkish and Greek composers such as "The Silk Road" (1998) and "Beyond the Bosphorus" (2003). In 2004 she cooperated with the Turkish group "Gündoğarken" both interpreting and writing Greek lyrics for their songs to produce an album called "Evening Sky Over The City" which was released simultaneously in Greece and in Turkey. 
In 2010 Vassiliki recorded the album  "Ellinotourkika" composed of a combination of beloved songs of both countries in which she lives and works. 
She has toured around Greece, Turkey, Holland, France and Germany. Placing great importance on the riches and subtleties of the lyrics, Vassiliki has sung in Greek and Turkish at renowned cultural centres making her own contribution to an insightful exchange between the two cultures. 

Furthermore, Vassiliki apart from writing she also translates poetry. The "Indictus" publishing house released in 2008 her translation into Greek from the French text of Rainer Maria Rilke's poem "The Book of Poverty and Death". The same year some of her poems were included in a literature anthology issued by the "Metaihmio" publishers under the title "Constantinople, A City in Literature". 

In May 2010 she was invited to take part in the International Poetry Festival of Istanbul - within the events of "Istanbul 2010, European Capital of  Culture"  - with her poems about Istanbul. 

Since 2008 amidst concerts and recordings, Vassiliki has been working with the founder of the group "Bosphorus" Nikiphoros Metaxas and their NGO “Bosphorus Cultural Alliance”, for the restoration of the former Greek primary school building on the island of Heybeli in Istanbul. The restored building will house the “Heybeliada International Sound Centre” , a centre for research, education and artistic production focusing on the musical traditions of Anatolia and the Mediterranean Region, with an emphasis on creativity and an approach open to contemporary genres of artistic expression.
See also: Paradosiaká: Music, Meaning and Identity in Modern Greece By Eleni Kallimopoulou

ARTS-CULTURE Nikiforos Metaxas, a man ahead of his time HDN | 4/26/1998

1.	Taximi : Rebab - Cello	(2:54)
2.	Ey Zahit Saraba	(4:52)
3.	Duvaz I Imam	(5:51)
4.	Tou Vosporou to pera	(3:49)
5.	Zeybek	(5:53)
6.	I thalasses tou notou	(4:14)
7.	Motorakia	(4:41)
8.	Taximi nev makami rast	(1:20)
9.	Rast beste	(3:05)
10.	Mera merose	(4:21)