Philathina launch
Philathina is my debut solo EP that you can now listen to on all major streaming services (Spotify, Apple music, Amazon music, YouTube, and others). It's the result of two years of work, a pandemic, a PhD, moving across the USA, and landing an academic position in Germany.
Philathina album cover (by Sonia Chamon)
I wrote the songs in Philathina during 2018–2020 between Philadelphia and Athens. Thus the name of the album: Phila(delphia)athina. It is also the inspiration for the album cover, which depicts a view of the Monastiraki square in Athens infused with architectural elements from Philadelphia, such as the statue of William Penn on top of the dome. The aquarela painting is the work of the amazing Sonia Chamon (also on Instagram).
View from Monastiraki square (Athens, Greece)
The recording itself started in July 2020 as a "pandemic challenge." The idea was to release an EP on Spotify by the end of 2020. Between the pandemic, defending my PhD, and applying for jobs/postdocs, I couldn't finish the album in time to complete the challenge. But that was the beginning of the two-years process that culminated in today's release.
Philathina was recorded between July 2020 and March 2022, part in Philadelphia (photos), part in Berkeley (photos). While I'm responsible for everything you hear, I really only played the guitars (acoustic and electric), the piano, and vocals. The rest (drums, orchestra, brasses, accordion...) are virtual instruments, which I guess I more programmed than played. It then took me three months to mix and master the songs.
While I might have composed, produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered Philathina, I could not have done it without the help of multiple people without whom this EP would never have finished. Among them, I'd like to thank Dimitris for the inspiration; Maria for the incentive; Paulo and Juan for the beta testing; Mellisa, Miguel, Santiago, and Tasos for the quarantine support in Philadelphia; Ann-Kathryn, Yoss, Fede, Diana, and Vera for the support in Berkeley; and so many more that have helped me push through to finish this project.
The launch concert
Watch the Philathina launch concert on YouTube (photo by Maria Navarro)
It was Vera that convinced me there should be an event to celebrate the album launch. So I decided to try and repeat the online concert experience from 2020, this time by myself since Dimitris lived across the country. So joined by friends and family in Brazil, the USA, Europe, I played the tracks from the EP side-by-side other songs that either explicitly talked about nostalgia or had a nostalgic feeling attached to them. These include:
- Chega de saudade, the bossa nova classic;
- Que reste-t-il de nos amours?, including a short Greek version I wrote;
- Η μπόσα νόβα του Ησαϊα (H bosa nova tou Isaia), featuring a Portuguese version I wrote;
- 19 días y 500 noches, doing my best (but not good) Sabina impression;
- Um dia a flor e a lua, a bossa nova version of a song from my old forró band Quaraçá.
You can check out the full set list and watch the concert (or rewatch your favorite parts) on YouTube.