[CP 230-231 CD] Nikiforos Rotas; Kavafis Songs, Antiphonies
Incredible, unheralded set of music by Νικηφόρος Ρώτας (Nikiforos Rotas), incorporating Electronic & Experimental modes into mid-70s Éntekhno & Sound-Poetry forms.
The first record, "Τραγούδια Καβάφη" (Kavafis Songs) sets works by early 20th Century Alexandrian poet Constantine P. Cavafy to music. Much in the vein of "Works of Electronic Music" contributor Thanos Mikroutsikos' experiments formulating a more Avant-Garde strain of Éntekhno from the mid-70s onwards, Rotas' use of non-musical sounds, Electronics, prepared instrumentation, and an almost Dubuffet-esque Art Brut sensibility ushers in a style reminiscent of the Experimental protest folk of Kan Mikami & Kazuki Tomokawa.
The second, "Αντιφωνίες" (Antiphonies) works a searing combination of bewitched vocals, Sound-Poetry, droning, crackling Electronics and tape-loops, coming in somewhere between Luc Ferrari's travelogues and the tape-echo pileups of Khan Jamal's "Drumdance to the Motherland" - astonishing, unheralded music that furthers the need for the Creel Pone program; single-handedly this was the impetus for the Core C.P. Cabal's late-stage decision to continue the series past its intended Bicentennial, albeit somewhat abated from its previous pace. Here's to another decade...