Maria Manousaki – Sole Voyage
Music, says Maria Manousaki, is a personal journey.
Today we talk about the Cretan connection of the musician with African roots and her other faces nowadays.
Maria Manousaki was born in Johannesburg. Her father is South African and her mother is Greek. She completed her classical violin education in Athens and, after winning a scholarship to Berklee, moved to New York. The place where you are constantly learning - so she says. Half African, half Greek, Maria lives all over the world and plays jazz with leading names, but decides to return to traditional Cretan music.
So life took her to Chania in Crete, and to one of the oldest jazz clubs in Greece - Fagoto. A club that has already been mentioned by us. In Chania, Maria Manousaki also founded the annual music festival. Music has always played a huge role on this southern mini continent.
Of course, everything related to Crete brings awe. And Maria also decided to turn to her Cretan roots in music and record an album with Cretan music refracted through her prism. Thus was born her first project Cretan Jazz Project, released in 2018.
This upgrade leads to a second album, the colorful and vibrant Soul Voyage, released in 2020.
Proof that music is eternal and in the right hands it can surprise.
Crete and the depth that is in the air. Pride and independence. This is felt during every visit there.
Whether because of wildlife, because of myths, because of the people… One fact is undeniable - a person who has once touched this magic, can never take it out of his heart.
This is our point of view from our meetings with the island. For those born there, everything is far different, far deeper and it can be felt in every melody. Poetry and the truth of life flow from everywhere.
Back to Maria Manousaki. Maria, who lives and works in New York, is returning to her Greek roots with the Cretan Jazz Project and Soul Voyage. Music with oud, qanun and Cretan lyre.
Today we listen to Maria Manousaki's violin from South Africa through Athens to New York and back to Crete.
For a start, a piece from the album Sole Voyage with the piano of Shai Maestro, followed by music with the great Greek bassist also from New York Panayotis Andreu, and for the finale a typical Greek Cretan piece.
January 2021
Image ©МА
