Yannis Adoniou/KUNST-STOFF, Catherine Clambaneva & Leonidas Kassapides

San Francisco, CA

Yannis Adoniou, the artistic director of KUNST-STOFF, has become known for his unusual and highly visual theatrical dance works, which merge different art forms, often creating unexpected collisions and provocative beauty. His next artistic project will explore the origins and evolution of Rembetiko in a collaboration with singer Catherine Clambaneva, and shadow theater artist Leonidas Kassapides. Rembetiko music — similar to that of the tango, flamenco, the blues, and Fado — was born out of sorrow, pain, desire, and yearnings, specifically those of Turkish Greek refugees seeking to adjust to a new life in a new country, far from home.

Festival Weekend 3 Artist
Performing Thursday-Sunday, November 19-22, 8pm
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“Rembetiko”
Choreography: Yannis Adoniou
Vocals: Catherine Clambaneva
Shadow Theater: Leonidas Kassapides

Rembetiko is the “illegal” folk music of the underground hashish dens of Pireaus and Thessaloniki, frequently compared to the American blues as a form of musical expression for the desperate and despairing. The Greco-Turkish War uprooted some two million people, and Rembetiko gave voice to their extreme anguish. Using elements of Greek folk and post-modern dance, darkness and song, choreographer Yannis Adoniou, vocalist Catherine Clambaneva and shadow theater artist Leonidas Kassapides excavate their homeland’s history to create a sensorially captivating work.

The 1923 exchange of population was a forcefull way for the Greek refugees to preserve their memory of their experiences and art forms because deep inside they knew that they were never going to return back to their beloved Asia Minor. My grand parents Leonidas and Despina spoke mostly in Turkish at home and they [...]

The actual performance of Rembetika was a very powerful experience because it felt dangerous in way that reminds me when we had to do experiments in chemistry class and didn’t know the outcome. The performers were all very brave precise and fluid and seemed to understand the heavy soul of a Greek spirit that is [...]

Rembetiko is not just a stylle of music, it is also a way of life an attitude that constanly questions authority in crative ways. The solo dance of the rembetes although based on traditional moves and technique is always breaking rulles and evolving as a living art. The Rembetika lyrics touch subject matter that is [...]

After Kemal Attaturk beat Eleftherios Venizelos Greek troups in Turkey there was an exchange of population of the two countries. All the Christians had to move to Greece all Muslims had to move in Turkey. The refugees that went back to Greece had to start all over because although they were prosperous they had to [...]

One of the most dreamy artistic experiences was when Yanni’s choreography and Katerina’s singing allowed with the help of athletic dancers a simple light source like a flashlight to tell a story while feeling the same breeze that one feels when the shadow of a dozen leaves try to keep still on our faces.

Rembetiko is a type of music and lifestyle that was developed by the Greek refugees that lived for countless generations in Turkey and then were forced to move back to the motherland of Greece because of the threat of genocide. Yannis Adoniou Catherine Clambaneva and Leonidas Kassapides are exploring the style and importance of Rembetika [...]