(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – Banda Magda, led by Athens-born accordionist, vocalist and musical polymath Magda Giannikou, brings its multicultural world-pop sounds incorporating more than a half-dozen languages and winding its way through Brazilian baião, Gypsy jazz, Greek dance rhythms, samba beats and French chansons to Club B-10 at MASS MoCA on on Saturday, April 12, 2014, at 8pm. The group’s most recent recording, “Amour, T’es Là?”, was named one of NPR’s “10 Favorite World Music Albums of 2013.
Shifting seamlessly from bubbly to sultry, the enchanting siren Magda Giannikou brings new energy to timeless sounds with a sense of effortless grace and joy. Joining Giannikou in her international outfit are an Esquivel-loving vibes player from Japan (Mika Mimura), an Argentinean jazz guitarist (Ignacio Hernandez), a Nagasaki-born percussionist with contemporary classical cred (Keita Ogawa), a hand drummer with every South American rhythm at his fingertips (Marcelo Woloski), a rock-solid Greek multi-instrumentalist/bassist (Petros Klampanis), and a shifting cast of as many as 15 additional characters, including bassist, guitarist, and co-producer Michael League.
Giannikou herself is a pianist, an accordionist, a singer, a composer, an orchestrator, a songwriter, a music producer, an aspiring dancer and allegedly a very good chef. Born and raised in Athens, she very soon discovered that music was the coolest thing on earth and began her musical training in classical music and jazz.
In 2003, after having taught elementary schools all over the map of Greece, written music for TV and Theatre in her native Athens, and having participated in more than fifty Greek children’s productions, Giannikou studied film music at Berklee College of Music in Boston. A winner of multiple awards, such as the Georges Delerue Award for achievement in Film Scoring, and the BMI Film Scholarship, she moved to New York just after her studies, and formed Banda Magda, playing a blend of French lyrics over Latin-American rhythms and jazz improvisation that encompasses all the wonderful and diverse stimuli that the city of New York can induce in a musician.
Banda Magda has obtained a diverse following throughout the globe with performances in the US, France, Luxemburg, Greece, Colombia and Canada. The group is additionally part of the Musical Explorers Program with reoccurring residencies at the prestigious Carnegie Hall.
After taking a short break from her NY life to attend the Sundance Composer’s Lab 2009, and under the inspiring guidance of Lab advisors such as George S.Clinton, Walter Murch, Osvaldo Golijov and Harry Gregson-Williams, the spark of her love affair with music-locked-to-picture was reinforced. Giannikou soon found herself orchestrating for the Spanish 3D animation feature “La Tropa del Trapo” with composer Zeltia Montes (Jerry Goldsmith Award), collaborating with iZLER (World Soundtrack’s Discovery of the Year Award) and Curt Schneider for “Natural Selection” directed by Robbie Pickering.
Among other things, she is currently arranging and producing a Children’s Musical in her native Greece, composing for “Watchers of the Sky” by Oscar nominee and documentary filmmaker Edet Belzberg, producing an album in Patois language for Swiss artist Sylvie Bourban, preparing an orchestral piece commissioned by the Greek Embassy in Canada, writing string arrangements for the acclaimed Kronos Quartet, singer-songwriter Will Knox and the South African rock group “The arrows”. Amidst all that, she still manages to dance, and occasionally cook as well.
A full bar, and dinner and snacks from Lickety Split are available before and during the show. Tickets are $20 reserved, $12 advance, $16 day of, and $10 for students. Members receive a 10% discount. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA box office, located on Marshall Street in North Adams, from 11am to 5pm (open every day except Tuesdays). Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 x1 during box office hours or purchased online at MASS MoCA.