Isocratisses
The eight singers cultivate a tradition of polyphonic singing that has been passed down from woman to woman for generations in the Greek-speaking mountain villages of southern Albania and northern Greece, but is now in danger of being forgotten. Born and raised in the Greek-speaking villages around Deropolis and Politsani in Albania, the singers have known their traditional songs since childhood. However, they have only been performing regularly as a group since 2015. With their performances, they are making an important contribution to giving new weight to female voices in the southern Balkans. Singing the old songs builds invisible bridges between the past and the present. Memories from childhood are combined with experiences of everyday life.
In 2019, Isokratisses collaborated with Christopher King to perform at the "Le Guess Who?" festival in Utrecht in the Netherlands - the group's first joint performance outside Greece. In 2022, Third Man Records released the first album of polyphonic solo songs produced by Christopher King. Isokratisses toured the USA, performed at the Kennedy Center and the Richmond Folk Festival and in 2022 at the "Voci dal Mondo Reale" in Milan.
Participations