Tasos Kofodimos & Yvonne Melissa w/ Mahyar Tahmasbi, Laia EscartinKormós ★ album release
Magic Carpet Sessions | Adventurous, intimate & crossing borders with music from around the world!
Thursday 15.10.2026 @ Mezrab

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Kormos is the new album by Tasos Kofodimos (Greece) and Yvonne Melissa (Greece) created in collaboration with Mahyar Tahmasbi (Iran) and Laia Escartin (Catalunya). The work consists of eight composed pieces and one free improvisation, written for a specially designed chamber ensemble of four string instruments: violin, viola, cello, and the Greek steriano lute.

Each piece is inspired by a different tree, drawing on its mythology, geomorphology, physical characteristics, and the folk beliefs associated with it. The title Kormos (Κορμός, meaning tree trunk in Greek) reflects both the conceptual core of the project and the organic nature of the wooden string instruments at its heart.

The ensemble brings together musicians from diverse musical and cultural backgrounds, forming a rich and distinctive musical mosaic. Kofodimos and Melissa are active figures in the contemporary Greek music scene; they released their first duo album Myrra in 2023 and have performed extensively in Greece and abroad. For Kormos, they are joined by Laia Escartin, a Catalan violist, singer, and composer, and Mahyar Tahmasbi, a renowned Iranian cellist and sitar player specializing in Persian classical music.

The musical language of Kormos blends elements of Greek traditional music, the wider Eastern Mediterranean, Persian musical traditions, gypsy jazz, and the formal structures of a classical string quartet. On the recordings, the ensemble expands into a quintet with the addition of Greek double bassist, composer, and improviser Thodoris Ziarkas, and features two distinguished guests: Kudsi Erguner, internationally renowned ney master and UNESCO Artist for Peace (2016), and Andreas Polyzogopoulos, a leading figure on the international jazz scene on trumpet.

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Tasos Kofodimos – lute, composition
Yvonne Melissa – violin, composition
Laia Escartin – viola
Mahyar Tahmasbi – cello

Tasos Kofodimos & Yvonne Melissa w/ Mahyar Tahmasbi & Laia Escartin – Platanos

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Doors open: 20:00
Concert: 21:00

Tickets: 16 EUR*
Limited student discount tickets: 11 EUR*

*including 0,50 EUR bank fee

MUSIC TAGS:
#GREEK
#UD
#FOLK
#STRINGS
#CONTEMPORARY