In November’s Transglobal World Music Chart, the title “Throisma”, recorded by the Cypriot musician Antonis Antoniou, took first place.
Following his critically acclaimed debut solo album Kkismettin, Antonis Antoniou, the driving force behind awardwinning bands Monsieur Doumani and Trio Tekke, has returned with another unconventional and skillfully produced solo album, expanding his musical language even further towards exhilarating and unmapped territories. With one foot in the East and the other in the West, with one ear in the past and the other in the future, Antonis Antoniou boldly dives deeper into his experimental and often eccentric practice, inventing new methodologies and developing new contexts, wherein various seemingly incompatible ingredients find fertile ground to intertwine.
Carrying in his creative luggage his remarkable musical experience, knowledge and craftsmanship, he approaches music composition, arranging and production in a totally idiosyncratic way.
Throisma is exactly the intoxicating outcome of this course. Throisma comprises nine pieces, which exist in a psychedelic/dubby sonic world with a strong Eastern Mediterranean aroma, and enriched with heavily-filtered tzouras (small bouzouki) lines, fuzzy bass riffs, dirty analogue synth tones and hypnotic floor tom grooves. A finely crafted rich and colourful soundscape, bearing the trademark identity of a high-spirited artist and sonic explorer, attempting to marry diverse musical worlds: Eastern qualities with Velvet Underground-ish moods, Anatolian melodic vibes with rocky-psychedelic textures, organic folky flavours with sharp contemporary electronics and musique concrète techniques. All this is delivered with an unparalleled flow, edge and elegance, clean of stereotypes and clichés.
Throisma translates as “rustling”.
The lyrics sung in Antoniou’s native Cypriot Greek are characterised by a poetic reflection on existentialism, calling for a spiritual awakening, and a neglect towards the “Skárta dóra” (useless gifts) imposed by capitalist structures and evil bodies that aim to keep our souls in custody.
He asks: “What are the things that keep our souls from rustling? Why do we continuously fall into the trap of shutting ourselves, depriving the breeze of love from reaching the depths of our psyche and vibrating its leaves? How deep have we buried our childhood joy, and what’s the price we need to pay in order to unbury it?”
An existential quest, fuelled through Antoniou’s artistic medium, has managed to encode his thoughts and communicate these nuances through these nine songs.
Ajabu! and NMR (foto: press Antonis Antoniou)
Top albums November 2022:
- Antonis Antoniou · Throisma · Ajabu! [3]
- Al-Qasar · Who Are We · Glitterbeat [1]
- Souad Massi – Sequana – Backingtrack Production [-]
- Liraz · Roya · Glitterbeat [-]
- Wesli · Tradisyon · Cumbancha [12]
- Maya Youssef · Finding Home · Seven Gates [2]
- Angélique Kidjo & Ibrahim Maalouf · Queen of Sheba · Mister Ibé [4]
- Eliades Ochoa · Vamos a Bailar un Son (Special Edition) · World Circuit / BMG [-]
- Adédèjì · Yoruba Odyssey · One World [13]
- Vieux Farka Touré · Les Racines · World Circuit / BMG [10]
- Constantinople, Kiya Tabassian & Ghalia Benali · In the Footsteps of Rumi · Glossa [-]
- Solju · Uvjamuohta / Powder Snow · Bafe’s Factory [6]
- Purbayan Chatterjee & Rakesh Chaurasia · Saath Saath · Purbayan Chatterjee / Believe [17]
- Ali Doğan Gönültaş · Kiğı / Gexî / Kegui · Ali Doğan Gönültaş [15]
- Ernesto Djédjé · Roi du Ziglibithy · Analog Africa [29]
- Oumou Sangaré · Timbuktu · World Circuit / BMG [5]
- Eneida Marta · Family · Azziz Music [-]
- BKO · Djine Bora · Les Disques Bongo Joe [9]
- Okra Playground · Itku · Nordic Notes [-]
- VRï · Islais a Genir · Bendigedig [23]
- Arifa · Danubian Voyage · O-Tone Music [22]
- Simon Shaheen · The Music of Mohamed Abdel Wahab · Zehra [31]
- Rachele Andrioli · Leuca · Finisterre [-]
- Päivi Hirvonen · Kallio · Nordic Notes [21]
- Majid Bekkas · Joudour · Igloo [-]
- Cimarrón · La Recia · Cimarrón Music [8]
- Momi Maiga · Nio · Segell Microscopi [-]
- DjClick & Masha Natanson · Violins Against Bombs · No Fridge [-]
- Minyeshu · Netsa · ARC Music [10]
- Lass · Bumayé · Chapter Two / Wagram Music [7]
- Denez · Ur Mor a Zaeloù · Arsenal Productions [39]
- Lamia Yared & Ensemble Oraciones · Ottoman Splendours / Lumières Ottomanes · Analekta [32]
- Yanna Momina · Afar Ways · Glitterbeat [14]
- MAI (Mariana Baraj, Anna Sato, Irma Osno) · Brisa con Tres Aromas · Beans / Ahora Co. [-]
- Fanfara Station · Boussadia · Garrincha Gogo [19]
- Dawda Jobarteh · Do You Know a Place Called Flekkerøy? · Ajabu! [-]
- Vieux Farka Touré et Khruangbin · Ali · Dead Oceans [-]
- Star Feminine Band · Star Feminine Band In Paris · Born Bad [-]
- Lorraine Klaasen & Mongezi Ntaka · Ukubonga / Gratitude · Justin Time [-]
- Madalitso Band · Musakayike · Les Disques Bongo Joe [16]
Founder members and administrators Transglobal World Music Chart:
Ángel Romero (US), Araceli Tzigane (ES), Juan Antonio Vázquez (ES)
Current active members:
Ankur Malhotra (IN), Alexis Herrería (MX), Rosângela Britto (BR), Ula Nowak (PL), Liana Cisneros (PE), Banning Eyre (US), Seth Jordan (AU), Tony Hillier (AU), Charlie Crooijmans (NL), Nigel Wood (IE), Dore Stein (US), Roger Holdsworth (AU), Madan Rao (IN), Gil Medovoy (US), Chris Heim (US), Ciro De Rosa (IT), Scott Stevens (US), Hendrick T S Foh (MY), Cliff Furnald (US), Rob Weisberg (US), Toni Polo (FR/ES), Nicolás Falcoff (AR), Masakazu Kitanaka (JP), Jordi Demésenllà (ES), Rafael Mieses (DO/US), Luís Rei (PT), Jean Trouillet (DE), Evangeline Kim (US), Willi Klopottek (LU/DE), Alejandro López (ES), Jon Kertzer (US), Ken Stowar (CA), Jiří Moravčík (CZ), Mu Qian (CN), Carlos Ferreira (PT), Gil Rouvio (IL), Bouna Ndiaye (SN/US), Kutay Derin Kuğay (TR), Robert Gregor (SK), Yatrika Shah-Rais (IR/US), Armen Manukyan (AM), Rolf Beydemüller (DE), François Bensignor (FR), Eleni Ziliaskopoulou (GR), Marija Vitas (RS), Jaïr Tchong (BE), Enrique Blanc (MX), Tiago Lucas Garcia (BR), Zekeriya S. Şen (TR), Benjamín Muñiz (PR), Daryana Antipova (RU), Mika Kauhanen (FI), Luisa Piñeros (CO), Toni Pennacchia (US), Chen Hanzi (CN), Takuya “Salam” Unagami (JP), Janaína Ávila (BR), Roger Short (UK)
More at: https://www.transglobalwmc.com/
