In
Conversation with
Savvinidis
Georgios
January
2008
A little background:
One of the things that always pleases me
When I do ‘Setting Sun’ is when acts
Contact me after reading interviews I have
Done with other bands and want to be
Interviewed themselves.
Take the case of Greece based artist
‘Savvinidis Georgios’ who contacted me
right out of the blue on my e mail address
saying he liked ‘Setting Sun’ and would
like to be interviewed for ‘Setting Sun’.
Interested of course, I checked out his page
On myspace.com page and really enjoyed it.
Savvindis describes himself as ‘born and living
in Thessaloniki Greece.
He also says he studied and graduated Music Technology
Before adding he studied for more than 8 years
On guitar and 2 years piano.
He also adds Last band was with DRD2 and
Vasileios Kospanos back in 2002.
In 2003,he says he decided to compose music by
himself. After experimenting with various styles of
music,he ended up, in 2005,with film and video game music.’
He further describes himself by saying he also is working
On the upcoming documentary film of director
Zahos Samoladas entitled "The Age Of Fire"
Before concluding by saying recently he finished the music
Score for the short film animation of chief editor of the
"Grafistas Kai Web Design",Ilias Sounas,"Space Alone".
He lists his influences as ‘ Clint Mansell,Sean Callery,
Jesper Kyd,Inon Zur,Jason Hayes, Rod Abernethy & Jason Graves,
Philip Glass,Brian Eno,Harold Budd,Shigeru Umebayashi,
Hans Zimmer,Ennio Morricone,Peter Gabriel,Arnold Schoenberg,
Pierre Schaffer,John Cage,Maurice Ravel,Olivier Messiaen,Claude Debussy,
Moby,Asche & Spencer,Yann Tiersen,Mike Oldfield,
Daniel Lanois,Bang Gang,Sigur Ros,MUM’
I really did enjoy his music so I course then took him up on
His offer and the interview followed shortly after.
Thanks to him for his time and trouble here
For more information – please go to:
http://www.myspace.com/savvinidisgeorgios
Cheers
Andy N
Setting Sun:
How are things and what's happening at the moment?
Savvinidis Georgios:
I have just finished writing the music score for the short film
animation of Ilias Sounas (www.sounasdesign.com) "Space Alone"
and I'm in the post production stage for the upcoming documentary
film of Zahos Samoladas (www.ageofire.homestead.com)
entitled "The Age Of Fire".
I also work for a movie of a student in USA.What attracted me in
his project was the great scenario that this film has.I can't reveal
much but when the time is right you'll get to know more.
Finally I'm trying to compose some songs -with slow progress-
for a side project that I have in mind with collaborations worldwide.
Setting Sun:
Next, can you tell us a little bit about
your music – what started you off or as I like to
say who fired the starting pistol?
Savvinidis Georgios:
What I call my music is Film/Video Game music.I've been
working this sound for almost 4 years.Not much time working
with and not prototype though but still,it's what makes me feel good,
it's what fills my soul.
However,I haven't started with it.Back in 1997 my friend
Vasileios Kospanos fired the starting pistol.I was 15 years old rocker,
trying to learn guitar (...and still trying!!!!) forming (unsuccessful)
some bands.The first good moment was with my band
"Medieval Bards" in 1999 which the Greek edition of Metal Hammer
magazine wrote that we had good composition for our age.
In 2002 Vasileios (which he was playing rhythm guitar),
Georgios Tzagarakis (DRD2 his nick-playing bass and programming)
and myself (lead guitars and piano) we were playing post rock music.
People heard our projects and were saying that we should make
concerts but unfortunately Vasileios had to go to the army,DRD
2 to Athens and me at Kozani for studies.
I came back at Thessaloniki after a year to study Music
Technology. This is where I met my music mentor
Manolis Sideridis. He put me into many genres of music and learned
much in music theory and that's when I've decided to work on
film/video game music.
After graduation I worked as sound engineer at the local T.V
station "TV 100".In 2006 I was met with film director
Zahos Samoladas.I told him about my projects and gave him a
demo.A week later he called me and told me to write music for
his documentary.Which bring us today,having a load of projects in
my back (which I'm happy for it) and chasing the dream of continuing
my studies in England.
Setting Sun:
Music wise, what are your influences and what are
you listening to at the moment?
Savvinidis Georgios:
My influences comes from many music fields.From
Clint Mansell and Sean Callery,to Iannis Xenakis and John Cage.
However,I must admit that Sean Callery and Jesper Kyd are
my favorites.
This period,I'm listening to Piano Magic,Sigur Ros,Jesper
Kyd,Inon Zur,Sean Callery,Portishead,Morcheeba,Cayetano,
Chroma Key and Bang Gang.
Setting Sun:
Do you play concerts? If so, how do they compare to
your recordings?
Savvinidis Georgios:
The last time I played in concerts was 5 years ago!So
I can't answer that because I'm not giving concerts anymore.
However if you want me to compare the concerts I gave
to my recordings with the measures of these days I would say
that I could need an EQ!!!I have a video and all you can hear
from that concert was...noise. Not from the audience but
from the band!
Setting Sun:
I have being listening to all of your songs so far
and have being really enjoying all of them on your
myspace.com, but I think so far my favourite song of
them is 'Find your soul'… Can you tell us a little bit
more about this song?
Savvinidis Georgios:
Find Your Soul" is a song for my side project with collaborations
worldwide.In this song,I've collaborated with Francesca DiGiovanna
(http://www.myspace.com/donnafran),a singer from USA.
I was looking for a female singer and Francesca came out of nowhere
and I'm glad she came out. She's a wonderful person and
musician.
The lyrics are written by Francesca and music from both of us.
This song was done in less than 2 weeks(recordings,mixing
e.t.c).
I believe the song's beauty has to do with its simplicity.
It's based only in 4 chords but the ambiance is making the difference.
Soft synths,orchestral strings,slow drum loops and well played
bass plus the wonderful performance of Francesca!
Setting Sun:
Can you tell us a little bit more about your
collaborations worldwide side project? Are you finding
your approach to music changing with your
collaborations?
Savvinidis Georgios:
This project has multiple purposes.Knowing musicians
worldwide, spreading my music through this project to
people that are not familiar with film,video game music,
spreading others musicians music through this project,
making new friends artists and audience but most of all,
having a good time by composing the music I love with
people that share the same music interests with me.
Through this project I must say that it did affected my musical
approaches. These collaborations are giving me the opportunity
to learn things in music, production,mixing e.t.c.
For example the first song "Find Your Soul" which it
was with Francesca,this collaboration affected my
musical knowledge. Not only in theory but in the production
too. Francesca added some strings and bass line that gave
the whole song a different mood.The way Francesca worked
on this one affected me,in my view,and taking a step front
my productions. I must say that I feel like a mimic!
Setting Sun:
Can you also tell us a little bit about how you go
involved with the scores for both ‘Space Alone’ and
‘The Age of Fire’. Is this a direction you could see
yourself moving in more?
Savvinidis Georgios:
I've met Ilias Sounas (the creator of "Space Alone") through
a common friend or ours Nikolas Sideris.Nikolas told me about
the animation that a friend of his is making and he wanted music
for it. I contact with Ilias through his site (www.sounasdesign.com)
and told him about composing music for the animation.
He wanted to listen my work first. The next day,I received
a mail and he was asking to do the music score.
The director of "The Age Of Fire", Zahos Samoladas, I've met him
when I was working as sound engineer at the local TV station.
He was a guest in a show. I approached and told him that
I'm a composer and seeking an opportunity for a music score
in a film. He told me that he had a documentary film in
mind and he needs a composer.I gave him a demo of
my work and told him to contact with me. I haven't heard news for
2 months.Then one day I received a message at Myspace
profile from him and telling me to go at his office. I went the
other day, discussed what the documentary is all about,
what music should be in the film, the length of each theme,
my salary,the deadlines and the prospects working together
in future projects. We've end up in agreement 2 weeks later.
Setting Sun:
What’s next for you? Do you have any more music or
concerts planned?
Savvinidis Georgios:
No, no concerts for me.Like I said before,my priority and
dream, is to continue my studies in England.I want to find a
work there as a film/video game music composer or making
sound libraries.
Setting Sun:
A few more lighter questions to finish off with,
firstly.. I notice you are from Greece? What's the
music scene like where you are nowadays
been to
any good concerts recently?
Savvinidis Georgios:
The music scene in Greece...Well most people here are listening
to folk-pop music.I would say that a 70% listens to folk-pop
music and a 30% listens various genres mostly Metal,
Trip-Hop and Rap.After all,that's what T.V and radios are
playing...
Now about concerts I can't say much because I don't go
frequently in concerts.The last one was 2 years ago in
Thanasis Papakonstantinou concert at Volos.
It was a good concert,great sound, acoustics and the audience
was amazing. Singing in every song of the artist!
Setting Sun:
What would you be your dream job if you were not an
musician?
Savvinidis Georgios:
Though I can't imagine myself doing something else than music,
I would say that my dream job would be a teacher.People keep
saying to me that I have the looks and the attitude of a teacher!!!
That's not of course the reason of being a teacher.
The reason is that I love the skeptic of passing knowledge
to other people.
Setting Sun:
Lastly, what would you like to be doing when you are 60?
Savvinidis Georgios:
Well...if I reach 60 I would like to be in a small
house in a village with my family.Away from noises,disturbs.
Just living peaceful and who knows???Maybe
writing music!!