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Kkismettin

Antoniou Antonis

Kkismettin

Label: Ajabu

Genre: World Music

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Kkismettin means fate, destiny. The word is used by both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, the two largest communities inhabiting the island of Cyprus. In this deeply political conceptual album Antoniou attempts to craft a portrait of his divided home-town Nicosia. Many black pages appear in the island’s turbulent history including the current division and continuous political confrontation. For peace warriors struggling for reunification, this painful situation cannot be accepted as the island’s destiny. The course of Kkismettin can be manipulated by the people and brought to a fresh beginning with new foundations. The re-written kkismettin will be filled with laughter rather than pain, with hugs rather than hostility, with bridges and rolling barrels rather than checkpoints and walls.

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Kkismettin is the first solo album of Antonis Antoniou, founder and driving force behind the award-winning bands Monsieur Doumani and Trio Tekke. In his native Greek-Cypriot tongue, Antoniou blends together soundscapes and textures that have arisen throughout the course of his adventurous musical journey (from classical music to jazz, rock, traditional, experimental, sound art). The lute's middle-eastern melodies (one of Cyprus’ main traditional instruments) resonate with analogue synthesizer glides and edgy guitar riffs, pushing the boundaries and forming a distinct contemporary musical mosaic. The checkpoint barrels of the divided city of Nicosia literally become musical instruments, providing the rhythmic bedrock and creating a rusty/grimy quality.

The album was created during the unprecedented lock-down/confinement period that was enforced in Cyprus, as a measure to tackle Covid19. During the confinement period, people felt suffocated behind closed doors. They were reminded of the limitations to their freedom of movement and to other fundamental freedoms in this divided country, where streets have been forcibly interrupted by rows of concrete-filled barrels, placed there by the ghosts of the past. These toxic barrels represent political agendas but they also reflect the effects of blind nationalism, which does not allow us to enjoy the beauty of this island. Viewed on a more symbolic level, these rows of barrels, could be seen as material expressions of alienation between people, chasms and corruption in society.
In the album Kkismettin, the rusty barrels literally turn into musical instruments which resonate, establishing the rhythmic layout and the texture of the sounds. In this way, the barrels of Cyprus’ division are kicked playfully, they are deconstructed and the sad and tragic stories that they hide are exposed and then drift away. The barrels roll to far away fields and a fresh breeze brings celebrations, hugs and kisses. Thus, kkismettin is re-written with new terms of reference.