Honeymoon in Kythnos
A shadow theater performance under the auspices of the Cyprus Embassy in Athens.
A shadow theater show for all ages!
What happens when the Cypriot neighbor Karagiozis, decides to come for his honeymoon in Kythnos and is welcomed by the Greek Karagiozis?
Upon the arrival of his counterpart, everyone is surprised by his resemblance to the Greek Karagiozis himself and a chaos of misunderstandings take place.
Soon however, everything turns into song and celebration and everyone enjoys peace, coexistence and the “relationship” that binds neighboring nations in music, songs and traditions.
Contributors
Kostas Makris
One of the youngest and most important continuers of the folk art of the Shadow Theater. He was born in 1961 in Patras, in the same neighborhood where the father of Greek Karagiozis, Dimitris Sardounis, was born. The main characteristic of Kostas Makris is the expressiveness of the figures, sets and posters he makes, where the influences he received mainly from Theophilos, as well as Bost, without however, ceasing to experiment with more modern forms of visual art. Thanks to his special visual aesthetics, he was awarded in 1989 in Istanbul with the "Ipekci" prize, in the context of an artistic competition aimed at promoting the peaceful coexistence of the two nations. In 1990, he was awarded for his project, which concerned the twinning of Rethymno in Crete with Castenazo in Italy. Apart from his tours around Greece, he came more widely known from his presence on television, as well as from the construction of figures and scenery in the television adaptation of Aristophanes' "Plutos". In 2004 he presented his performances in Athens, as part of the Cultural Olympiad. At the same time, he was entrusted with the supervision of the Karagiozi exhibition organized in Gazi, as well as the publication of an album dedicated to the Shadow Theatre. He collaborated with the Patras Cultural Capital 2006 for the events dedicated to the Shadow Theater. It is worth noting that Makris' works are housed in the Museum of Man (France) and in private collections abroad (Italy, USA, etc.).
He originates from the occupied Famagusta in North Cyprus and is married with two children which follow him to his performances. He is a teacher in Primary Education level and holds a degree in Pedagogical Studies of the Cyprus Pedagogical Academy and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki as well as a master's degree in Continuing Education - Adult Education from the Open University of Cyprus.
He has been working professionally with the Shadow Theater since 2004. He performs Karagiozis in various cultural events in Cyprus, with the aim of preserving this historic type of theater. He collaborates with RIC adapting Karagiozis performances for television. In October 2010 and 2011 he represented Cyprus together with his son Andrea in Washington at the "Kids Euro Festival" with the shows "Karagiozis and the magic tree" and "Alexander the Great and the Cursed Snake". In 2014 and 2015, he represented Cyprus together with his daughter Elena, in Rome at the Shadow Festival organized by the Italian Cypriot Association NIMA, where they received the second prize. In June 2017 he presented the show "Alexander the Great and the Cursed Snake" at the Puppetry Arts Museum in Atlanta together with his daughter Elena. His figures are exhibited in this particular museum. Since 2015, he has been collaborating with the Global University giving lectures to teachers in the context of a master's program on the shadow theater in education.
The Shadow Theater plays are taken both from traditional performances with contemporary concerns, as well as from issues and situations of today's society such as the environment, the economic and social crisis, healthy nutrition, the national subject of Cyprus, school and religious holidays.
Charalambos Charalambous
Penny Georgopoulou
Penny (Panagiota) Georgopoulou was born in Patras in 2000. She is a graduate of the Music School of Patras. Since 2019 she is a graduate of Harmony Specialist. In addition, she is a student of the Department of Education Sciences and Early Childhood Education in Patras University. She has attended Byzantine Music courses, completing 3 years at the School of the Holy Metropolis of Patras. She has attended santouri seminars and cimbalom seminars and she has collaborated with many associations in Patras and in Athens. She has participated in numerous concerts such as the Orchestra of Traditional Instruments of the Elementary School Patras Conservatory, with the Traditional Music Ensemble of the Music School of Patras and the Traditional Music Orchestra'' Iliodoria''. From 2020, she participates in the new cycle of shows "From Place to Place" with Christos Mylonas on Vouli TV. In the same year she undertook the creation of original musical phrases, in collaboration with Dr. Dimitris Stathakopoulos for the show "And it happened... Greece" with Georgios Sarris on OPEN TV. She also works since 2020 at the Music School of Agrinio.
Sotiris Papatragiannis is a self-taught singer and musician. He was born in 1977 in Athens and from a very young age his love for rebetiko was evident.
A guitar that his father gave him as a gift was the reason he started playing and singing at the age of 15. A little later he also learned the baglama. Since 1997, he has worked in countless places that perform such music (rebetadika), theaters and music stages in Athens and throughout Greece, as well as in important venues such as the Athens Concert Hall, the Badminton Theater, the Glass Music Theater, etc. He also appears regularly abroad, in many countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, France, Albania, Cyprus, Israel, Luxembourg, Sweden, etc.
He is a founding member of the Rembet-Smyrne orchestra "KOMPANÍA", with which since 2012 they have been traveling throughout Europe, spreading the Greek tradition.
He has participated in many international documentaries, such as the Greek-Israeli production "My sweet canary", the Belgian "La rose blanche", the documentary about the concert of the Berlin Symphony in Athens and other as well as has had countless television appearances in Greece and many foreign countries.
He has collaborated with great artists as well as with the shadow theater performers Thanasis and Kostas Spyropoulos, Kostas Makris, Athos Danelis, Tasos Georgiou and Ilias Karellas in shadow theater performances with live music.
He has to his credit a personal album with the title "Romance", from the company "General" and "8th Nota" in January 2011, with rebetika and old folk songs, as well as four albums with KOMPANÍA.
At the same time, he has participated in recording works of other artists such as: Sokratis Malamas, Katerina Tsiridou, Nikos Tatasopoulos, Nikos Protopapas, Yiannis Tsiantis, Nikos Gyras, Dimitris Karras, Stamatis Pantazopoulos, Faela, Dimitris Mystakidis, Dominiq Dumos and others.
Sotiris Papatragiannis
Argyris Nikolaou
Argyris Nikolaou originates from Peloponnese and was born in Athens in 1981. He first played the guitar in the early years of high school, accompanying his father Thanasis, an amateur bouzouki player. He worked his first night jobs at the age of 17 at Cafedromeio, an old historical shop in Pagrati where he played and sang from Asimo and Vamvakaris to Pano Tzavela and partisan songs. Alongside the guitar, he played electric bass in music bands in Athens and later in Patras where he went to study. In Patras, his involvement with music became professional, playing guitar in rebetadika and lute at festivals. At the end of 2007 he returned to Athens and since then he has been working non-stop until today in night clubs of Athens and has participated in many events and concerts in Greece and abroad.
Dimitris Kranidas, singer, bouzouki player and utist with a long-standing presence in the most important music venues of Athens and the province, as well as concerts abroad. He took lessons at the Folk School of Traditional Music of Aristides Moschos. He also had very important collaborations during his carreer with Sofia Kollitiris, Tasia Verra, Thodoros Polykandriotis, Koulis Skarpelis, Dimitris Efstathiou, Babis Goles, Agathonas, Babis Tsertos, George Xintaris and other performers.
Dimitris Kranidas