A new project begins. Evis Sammoutis and I have just spent time exploring the streets of his home, Nikosia, on the hunt for new material. This extraordinary city is well known for its history and beauty, and of course, for the distressing division-a border of barbed wire and ruin tearing a metropolis and an island apart. But it is also remarkable for its street life, and for its workshops. Everywhere you go, there are the sounds of people working by hand; carpenters, metalworkers, furniture restorers, coffinmakers, rub shoulders with dry goods stores, coffee shops and art galleries. This series of recordings were made, just using a phone, as first step towards a work which Evis is planning, celebrating these layered textures and timbres, which has the working title, of ‘Nikoisa Concerto’.
I am grateful to the people of Nikosia for their grace and good humour, as I wandered about sticking a violin in their faces!
In the carpenter’s woodstore 1
On the street corner
In the market building
Outside two workshops
Ruined building on the Green Line
In the Carpenter’s Workshop 2
In the Carpenter’s workshop 3
