Greek pianist Thodoris Economou shares his love for Indian ragas and musical collaborations
As he began performing to a full house at India Habitat Centre recently, several heads in the audience bowed in reverence. Each was transformed to a different world. It was a big reward for pianist Thodoris Economou.
Even though the brief narrative in the beginning was in Greek and the music was also from the same land, the crowd connected with it. Thodoris played the score he wrote for Odyssey, a theatrical piece by renowned American director Robert Wilson.
The pictures on the screen that were appearing along with the background music and the combination of lights on stage, red-green-blue-white, were adding to the experience. Based in Athens, Thodoris loves piano and even though he can play other instruments as well, he prefers to be known as a pianist. The intensity of his love could be seen in the performance where his light and effortless touch on the keys resulted in music that hooked the entire audience for around an hour. Thodoris created a moment of trance.
Collaboration is something Thodoris has always been keen on. His musical journey’s highlight has been a collaboration with the director Robert Wilson. “When you collaborate with people who are better than you, you become better too. And he (Robert Wilson) is not just better than me, he is one of the topmost director. I thank him all the time.”
When asked about his opinion on Indian music and the prospects of seeing him collaborating with Indian musicians, he said he would love to collaborate with musicians here. He listens to ragas and has been a fan of Pt Ravi Shankar.
The article was originally published by The Pioneer in their Vivacity section on May 23, 2014
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