GREEK MUSIC JOURNEY (GMJ)
AN ACCLAIMED CONCERT SERIES
HIGHLIGHTING THE DIFFERENT REPRESENTATIVE ASPECTS OF GREEK MUSIC
"GREEK MUSIC JOURNEY" (GMJ) concert series was introduced by Elena Maroulleti in 1994 and fully established in 1997 to support the cultural mission of the non-profit Media and Arts Cultural Organization, AKTINA Productions, Inc. GMJ a/k/a "AKTINA's Greek Music Journey," is devoted to further promote and preserve the different aspects of the representative music of Greece such as, the traditional, folk, popular folk and rembetika genres which comprise the basis of Greek music. Initially the series featured New York-based representative Greek American singers and musicians, and performances were mostly given in local venues in the Borough of Queens, New York until their fame surpassed the boundaries of Queens with concerts given at renowned theaters as well as international music festivals in Manhattan, New York. For three consecutive years, in 1998, 1999 and 2000 GMJ was selected by the Lincoln Center concert committee to represent Greece during their annual “Lincoln Center Out Of Doors Festival” given every August before over 10,000 spectators. On March 7, 1999, "Greek Music Journey" was given at Manhattan's prestigious landmark theater, The Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. The sold out performance featured 34 Greek American performers consisting of singers, musicians and folk dancers in a one of a kind musical production which showcased the different representative music genres of Greece such as, Byzantine, Demotic, Island Folk, Rembetika, Laika (popular-folk) and Contemporary.
Since 2006, Greek Music Journey concert series has been exclusively featuring distinguished and prominent artists directly from Greece performing at renowned New York City landmark theaters in Manhattan. Between 2006 and 2010 GMJ was hosted at The Town Hall Theater and since 2013 at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College. In 2013 the series was expanded to include two annual concerts, the first given in the spring and the second in the fall. Starting in 2014, CYPRECO has been collaborating with the non-profit cultural organization, AKTINA Productions, Inc., and together they have co-produced and presented several concerts from this series in support of their mutual cultural mission. The concerts are given to benefit the public service and commercial-free media, AKTINA FM and AKTINA TV.
Each new concert is dedicated to a specific music theme thus making each new performance unique and one of a kind. The participating artists, who are invited from Greece to perform, are carefully selected and fully represent AKTINA’s selected music theme. Over a period of thirteen years, starting from 2006 to 2019, seventeen (17) different concerts have been given with Greek leading stars accompanied by their musicians and in their majority were sold-out. All concerts have been crowned with huge success and have received raving reviews from the press and from those in attendance. The stars who have participated thus far include: Alkistis Protopsalti (2006), Kostas Makedonas (2007), Manolis Mitsias (2008), Melina Aslanidou (2009, 2010, 2013), Lavrentis Machairitsas with Panagiotis Margaris and Dimitra Papiou (2013), Lavrentis Machairitsas with Miltos Paschalis (2015), Lavrentis Machairitsas with Giannis Zouganelis and special Guest Star Mario Frangoulis (2017), Nasia Konitopoulou, Dimitris Kontogiannis with folk violinist Michalis Gampierakis (2014), Giannis Savvidakis (2014), Yannis Kotsiras (2015, 2017), Eleni Tsaligopoulou & Bogaz Musique (2016), Babis Tsertos (2016, 2018), Andreas Karantinis (The Magic of Bouzouki 2018) and Bouzouki Legend Thanasis Polykandriotis (2019). Watch all music videos from these concerts on the AKTINA TV Youtube Channel in the Playlist Category, Greek Music Journey Concert Series (GMJ).
The global coronavirus pandemic that struck the world in 2020 ruined our plans for the production of our concerts and other live activities for that year. Among the immediate steps we took in early 2020 to safeguard the health and safety of our concert fans, was to cancel our spring concert, GMJ 2020 with Kostas Makedonas which was scheduled for May 19, 2020 at the Kaye Playhouse Theater and which was planned and advertised many months prior with many pre sold tickets.