A LIVE POPUP CONCERT BY THE US CYPRIOT GROUP SOUNDS OF CYPRUS TOOK PLACE ON TUESDAY APRIL 25th at the Gantry Plaza State Park in Long Island City New York.
Sounds of Cyprus is a Cypriot orchestra co-founded by Elena Christou and Peter Douskalis in New York City. The group performs the traditional music of Cyprus in varying orchestrations and styles that both consciously honor the time period of composition and period instruments as well as performing with a modern approach. Elena Christou, vocalist, front person, and Creative Director of the group, sings the traditional songs in the Cypriot dialect of Greek, as well as in Turkish for songs that contain lyrics in both languages. Peter Douskalis, Music Director, plays the laouto, oud, mandolin, and guitar in the group, switching between the proper instrument as needed for the authentic and modern orchestration of the pieces. The group also includes Alex Tasopoulos on violin/viola, Erikos Vlesmas on contrabass, and Mark Katsaounis on percussion with New York City-based attorney and woodwind player Stavros Papadopoulos on pithkiavli .
