30. MICHALES LOUKOVIKAS – bio
/ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ/ 30. ΜΙΧΑΛΗΣ ΛΟΥΚΟΒΙΚΑΣ – βιογραφικό
BORN INTO A MUSICAL FAMILY of Thrace, I was taught music by my father, with whom I made my first steps as a professional musician (accordion, guitar and voice) at 15, taking later on an interest in various genres: varied world music, rock, music based on poetry, songwriting, theatre and film music, rebetiko, especially the school of Smyrna, and modal music.
Studying in Thessalonica, I directed student musical ensembles, and participated in rebetiko and popular musical groups. As a member of the Eurydice company, I co-wrote and co-produced plays for various genres (theatre, puppetry, shadow plays), where I also composed or selected musical themes. Besides, I contributed to the soundtrack of the film Stories of a Honeycomb, by Nikos Vergitsis (1981), as a composer (theme music), singer and musician.
I graduated in English Language and Literature from the Aristotle University of Salonica and worked as a teacher and translator of English, publisher (Research publishers), and journalist (Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Angeliophoros newspapers, and the ERT3 – Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation – radio stations).
Wishing to delve into the differences between Oriental and Occidental music, I focused on the modal tradition, folk or classical. Turning points in my research were my acquaintance with Ross Daly in 1987 and my participation the next year in the International Musicological Meeting on Mediterranean music at Delphi.
A series of articles on cultural exchange (Mediterranean Periplus, Thessaloniki newspaper) evolved into a homonymous radio program that went on for more than twelve years (1998-2010, 9.58 fm, ERT3). I teamed up with the writer and songwriter Thomás Korovinis, and also worked with Paris Paraschópoulos on the music of the play Alexandria–Athens, on the Parallel Lives of Constantine Cavafy and Kostēs Palamās, two outstanding Greek poets.
My research in modal music led me to The Gold in the Sky (2008), an Occident-to-Orient musical voyage on Ares Alexandrou’s poetry, featuring 35 musicians, where I composed, arranged, produced, played, recited and sang, as well.
My meeting with Amélia Muge in the “Internet Sea” led to a partnership, initially with the Portuguese version of The Gold in the Sky, in the bilingual book-disc O OURO DO CÉU / Ares Alexandrou por Michales Loukovikas (2011). Adapting ancient and traditional songs, as well as composing originals on line, Amélia and I embarked on a PERIPLUS / Luso-Hellenic Wanderings (2012) with the poetess Hélia Correia as a special guest. Our Periplus took us as far as Rio de Janeiro, at the University of Brazil, playing and talking about music and poetry. Later on, we worked on Amália Rodrigues’ verses, in the CD Amélia com versos de Amália (2014). Our latest project, ARCHiPELAGOS / Passages, was out late 2017, with many composers, singers, musicians, poets, sailing together in our archipelagos.
Periplus & Archipelagos covers
In Portugal, except Amélia Muge, and also her partner, José António Martins, I have worked with and/or composed for other musicians, such as José Mário Branco, Maria Monda, Carla Pires, Filipe Raposo, André Santos, Sofia Vitória. While in Greece, I’ve arranged a tribute to Panaiotes Tountas and his Art in Modulation: Portraits of Rebetiko Women.
Periplus goes on….
● For all those who wish to return to our starting point:
Periplus CD 