A concert created and toured in Cyprus, June 2022 — three performances setting contemporary and traditional Cypriot poetry to music.
“In her show ‘Stories, Odes and Chants‘, Rania Chrysostomou weaved a mesmerizing collage of emotions so fine, so eloquent, and so elegant, much like a spider creates so naturally and effortlessly webs that, observed closely, reveal mastery and art. I am so glad that one of my poems found a “home” in this beautiful weft, and hope to have another chance to enjoy this work.
Maria Kouvarou – Poet
When and Where
In June 2022 I created and toured a series of three concerts in Cyprus. The premiere was held at Kasteliotissa Mediaeval Hall, Nicosia. The project set eight songs to music — five poems by living Cypriot poets, two traditional folk poems, and one free arrangement of a traditional song — woven through a coming-of-age story about a woman searching for a mystical spider who weaves magic mantles, set in a fairytale, old-world Cyprus.
The story carries themes of women’s empowerment, shifting expectations between men and women, and how society treats those who don’t fit its idea of normal.
The songs move through different shades of love — a parent’s love for a child, love lost through a child’s eyes, contentment with one’s own life, love as something inescapable, and one poem using sarcasm to confront tragedy and the unfairness of death. The two traditional poems speak to willpower and mortality — one a playful exchange between a bird and a beautiful woman, the other a dialogue between God and Death.
Old meets new throughout: a well-known Greek song reimagined through improvisation rather than performed as written, and a zeibekiko in 9/4 that breaks from its usual form — no refrain, unexpected harmony. Elsewhere the writing moves closer to contemporary classical language — microtonal singing, free improvisation, loop pedals, unconventional timbre across voice and instruments.
I set living poets’ words to music because their concerns are today’s concerns. Supporting contemporary poetry and staying connected to the present is central to why this project exists.
What It Is
The performance brought one singer and three instrumentalists together to tell this story, moving through different shades of love — family, life, loss — using a blend of colourful harmony, singable melody, Greek folk rhythms (Kalamatianos, Zeibekiko), irregular metres like 11/8, and improvisation.
The music is nostalgic and spirited at once — colourful harmonies, singable melodies, Greek folk rhythms (Kalamatianos, Zeibekiko) alongside irregular metres like 11/8 and improvisation. Together they trace different shades of love: family, life, loss.
Musicians
Flute: Demetris Yiasemides
Voice: Maria Andreou
Piano: Stefani Soteriou
Vibraphone: Andria Nicodemou
Poets
Tasoula Markou
Maria Kouvarou
Elena Gonata
Charalambos Chrysostomou
Composer
Rania Chrysostomou
The Musicians
Demetris Yiasemides – Flute
Stefani Soteriou – Piano
Maria Andreou – Voice
Andria Nikodemou – Vibraphone
The Poets
Charalambos Chrysostomou – 21 Nyfoules (1973) and In the Clouds
Charalambos Chrysostomou, from Kyra Morfou, trained as an Electrical Engineer and worked across Saudi Arabia and Cyprus before retiring in 2020. He has written poetry since secondary school, including Prayer of a Small Child, 21 Brides, In the Clouds, My Island, and Flight. His short story Green Line 1974, drawn from his own experience as a Probationary Lieutenant during the Turkish invasion, was set to music by Rania Chrysostomou and performed by the Shadanga Duo at the Ode to the Wind festival in Denmark. In the Clouds, dedicated to his granddaughter Olivia, was also performed in a different version by Plektó Duo in Cyprus, 2020. Plektó Duo
Tasoula Markou – Elpida
Tassoula Markou was born in Paralimni in 1939 and worked as a primary school teacher and director for 39 years. She has a long history of community service, including founding the Philoptochos Brotherhood of Paralimni and serving as President of the Provincial Association for the Welfare of the Blind of Free Famagusta from 1995 to 2013. A member of the Union of Greek Writers since 2011, she has written poetry since youth under the pseudonym “Vanda,” with work published in the newspaper Kypros. Her 2012 collection Emergence of the Soul was named Book of the Year 2017 and won First Prize from the Hellenic Cultural Association of Cypriots in Greece. Unfolded Memories is her debut novel.
Elena Gonata – An mborousa (If I could)
Elena Gonata is a Cypriot conductor and educator with a PhD in Music Theory and Education from Charles University, Prague. She studied choral conducting in the Czech Republic and orchestral conducting at the University of York, and teaches at Meridian International School in Prague. Her acapella work Requiem – A Prayer for Him premiered in Nicosia in 2018. She has written poetry since age sixteen; If I Could is part of a trilogy written for her father after his death, published in 2013 in Athlitiko Vima.
Maria Kouvarou – Odi ston Erota (Ode to Love)
Maria Kouvarou holds a PhD in Sociology of Popular Music and works as a Research Specialist at the University of Cyprus, studying the Cypriot popular music scene. She has published two poetry collections, The Birth of the Bitch (2017) and Travelling Still (2018), and the novel Skiamachia (2019). A founding member of the Collectiva Inanna artistic group and contributor to Larnaka: The Anthology (2021), she is also a piano and song performer. Her poem “Ode to Love” was written in 2018.
With thanks to the Cultural Services of the Cyprus Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport and Youth, and the Archdiocese of Cyprus, for their support.
And to my family, friends, and everyone who helped bring this project to life.