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| find: | Music | Greece | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BAFA © 2008. All material here is copyrighted. See conditions above. Helen Kontos music management, Greece |
Helen Kontos with her daughter, Daphni, 2002.
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I was born and raised in the Netherlands. After studying social work with the arts (specializing in music and drama), I pioneered to Greece with my husband and devoted several years to having babies. I was brought up with the idea that women need to exploit their talents and contribute to all fields of society and so started thinking about what I wanted to do. In those five years, I developed some voluntary activities I enjoyed very much.
One of those activities was helping to found the Bahá´í Association for the Arts (BAFA). I got involved because I believed the arts should be an important part of Bahá´í activities and are a tool for touching hearts and bringing about change. This vision may have been a bit premature. I expected BAFA to become a more influential movement than it did. It proved to be more a tool for Bahá´í |
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artists to express and exchange ideas and network. I helped to produce a newsletter, with very limited means, imagining that if I kept it regular, it would grow. Together with other BAFA members, I also initiated and organized several art forums. I remained a BAFA board member for five years.
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| The other reason I got involved in BAFA was that it enabled me to use my talents. I always had a bubbling source of ideas inside and I loved organizing. Moving to a foreign country and having babies meant I needed an outlet for creativity and meaningful activity. The Greek Bahá´í community was very small and no place for me to act on my ideas. So for five years I organized, wrote, edited and planned from my desk at home, in between feedings, diaper changes, health food cooking and pregnancy yoga exercises. This was how I found out what my talents were. |
Kostas and Helen Kontos singing and playing Greek Hidden Words to music by Kostas, in Cyprus, October 2002. |
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In 1991 I was appointed an auxiliary board member and I decided to devote my voluntary services entirely to the Greek Bahá´í community. It was just after our third child, Chloe, was still born, which was an important spiritual experience. Since I was not to have another baby, I felt it was time to dive into the field of society. I organized a concert tour for Mark Ochu, a Bahá´í pianist from the USA. It was the Bahá´í holy year (1992) and I wanted to create newsworthy events in order to attract media attention. This was done in my capacity as National Press Officer. The tour was a success and I subsequently decided to become a cultural manager. I had a range of talents - music, writing, drama, organizing, creativity, and working with people, which were equally important to me. So this was a way I could combine these.
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Two members of Parnassus Dance Theater, 1994, which toured Greece.
Sharon Stern and Joseph Houseal.
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I built up very slowly. I worked only when my children were at play group or school. My first efforts were centered around bringing professional Bahá´í artists to Greece for a combination of performances and firesides, and was successful in bringing Mary Davis, Joseph Houseal and Bijan Khadem-Missagh. However, it became clear that this activity would not result in a professional career. I spent far too much energy and money, and the results were meager. My other effort, to bring world music to Greece, proved to be just as difficult.
When I brought a Chinese trio, I came up against deceitful club owners and discovered that it was impossible to fill a hall with anything other than Greek music. |
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Even now, when world music is in fashion, things are so chaotic in this country, that it is impossible to build up a systematic touring agency for anything other than commercial mainstream acts, and even these must be organized by the agencies that own the market or play by its rules.
I kept praying and watching for signs. |
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In 1994 my husband Kostas, a sound engineer, recorded an interesting and beautiful CD of Sephardic folk songs, with a singer called Savina Yannatou. I was intrigued by the theme and beauty of the songs. They were mostly renaissance folk songs, brought from Spain by the Jews fleeing the inquisition in 1492, and had adopted Balkan and Ottoman characteristics as well as themes from events over the centuries. Above all, I was smitten by the voice of the singer. Her tone colors and technique were striking. I also liked the arrangements and the choice of instruments: oud, nay, violin, double bass, quanun and leventine percussion. The quality of the entire production was excellent and I thought it had the potential to travel anywhere in the world. It was like finding a pearl and knowing that if I dug deeper, there would be a treasure.
I proposed to the singer that I would try to find her performances abroad. With no knowledge of the business at all, and working only with a fax, I started to build up my network. I found out about WOMEX, a trade fair for world music, and in 1996, organised the first performance for Savina Yannatou at the well-known WOMAD festival in the UK. |
Savina Yannatou.
www.savinayannatou.com |
Savina Yannatou. Photo: Marco De Luca.
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This was a wonderful starting point. Very, very slowly things grew. Each concert with Savina and the six-member group, Primavera en Salonico, was a success. Through traveling and performing, the group developed its own style and approach, beyond the original material and arrangements, often experimenting with sounds and dynamics in free group improvisation. They recorded CDs together, one with songs from the Mediterranean, one with folk songs about the Virgin Mary and a live CD, Terra Nostra. I believe one reason they developed such a treasure was the unity that existed between us all.
During this time of gradual development, I often had moments of despair. Things were very difficult and for long periods I would just work on "air", not seeing any doors open. When that happened, I used to pray for signs. But each time I was ready to let go and look for something else to do, a door would open and it became clear that, at least at the moment, this was the right course. I also looked for additional income in the field of music management. For a while I took on more artists, but in the end there wasn't enough growth to keep them. |
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I co-organized a jazz festival in Thessaloniki and did other production management work for the Cultural Capital '97, as well as for German and Austrian TV-documentary productions. Every now and then I have tried to get projects within the municipality or cultural ministry, but proposals don't get anywhere if there is no political or financial benefit for the person in power.
This year (2003), after eight years with Savina, things have begun to go well. The new live CD of Savina Yannatou has been released worldwide by ECM records, a very prestigious label. I also managed to get a showcase at one of the world music trade fairs. |
Mastaki Bafa, from the Congo.
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I am grateful to be doing work that I love. I love to work independently and to control my time (think: children, Bahá´í projects). I love that things roll easier now and I can pick the fruit of years of hard work. I love the world music business, where I encounter noble and idealistic people and have profound conversations about the things I believe in.
A temporary edition of a cd of 9 songs 2) Baha'u'llah (Lyrics by Lefteris Laskaridis) 3) To the Eternal I Call thee (Hidden Words, Baha'u'llah) 4) Unity (Lyrics by Helen Kontos) 5) Love Me that I may Love thee (Hidden Words, Baha'u'llah)) 6) Nobel Have I Created thee (Hidden Words, Baha'u'llah)) 7) Abdu'l-Baha (Lyrics by Lefteris Laskaridis and Daniela Koppold) 8) Thou Art My Lamp (Hidden Words, Baha'u'llah)) 9) Come With Us (Lyrics by Ms Badie) Email: kontos{AT}eng.auth.gr |
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 Arts Dialogue, Dintel 20, NL 7333 MC, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands email: bafaOMIT THE TEXT IN CAPITALS@bahai-library.com |