On August 18th fifteen gifted, young, Greek musicians improvised together for 10-hours in one of the worlds most remote and tectonically active sites, pushing the boundaries of what is a venue.

Konstantinos Dagritzikos, the artistic director and mastermind of 634-Minutes Inside a Volcano, owns and runs the music and art venue as well as label, “six d.o.g.s” in Athens. The hostile nature of the enormous 300 m diameter Stefano Crater is what attracted him to the location.

He spent months developing the line up as well as consulting with volcanologists about safety and logistical measures. With fumaroles around the inner edge of the crater intermittently releasing jets of sulfurous gases into the air guests and artists were advised to leave the crater for fresh air throughout the event.

“I like to play with time and challenge,” he said. “Our whole lives are just a click. That’s why I like to challenge people to actually think about what they’re experiencing.”

Outside of the crater, vendors sold grilled souvlaki and corn on the cob and guests drank beer and raki.

“That’s Greece, the whole situation upstairs, everyone drinking and talking and eating souvlaki, and then under them this pagan ritual,” Mr. Dagritzikos said.

The unprecedented experimental nature of the performance showcased a wide array of musical backgrounds from jazz, classical, electronic, and traditional Mediterranean instruments like the oud and the kanonaki.

The carefully chosen artists included in the project:
Jannis Anastasakis (electric guitar, live sampling), Orestis Benekas (synthesizers, loops), Stratos Bichakis (data sonification, modular synthesizer), Christos Chondropoulos (drums, percussion), Taxiarchis Georgoulis (oud), Tania Giannouli (piano), Dead Gum (electric guitar, electronics, vocals), Mihalis Kalkanis (double bass), KOSTADIS (modular electronics, DIY contact mic, ribbon devices, vocals), Sofia Labropoulou (kanun), Sébastien Marteau (wind instruments), Vasilis Ntokakis (electric guitar, synthesizers, electronics), Stavros Parginos (cello), Stelios Romaliadis (flute), Sofia Sarri (vocals)

“Sometimes here in Greece we will play eight, 10 hours at a wedding, but this was something different,” said Taxiarchis Georgoulis, a 23-year-old who plays traditional Greek and Ottoman music on the oud.
Lit only by the August full moon to avoid cell phone recording and enhance the experience, artists were asked to draw musical inspiration from their other worldly environment. Artists formed a large circle and were each hooked up to a center-facing amplifier, which fed into a 16-channel mixing board, all powered by a generator, and entered and exited the ever changing mix as they felt moved.

A final forte, and 634 minutes later, at 6:32 am as the sun beams peaked over the volcanic island and the music silenced.

Check out the full photo album HERE 

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