Almost a year after forming, Cypriot vocal quartet Avanti 4 have just finished their first concerts. NAOMI LEACH meets them
“Why do we do this? For the fun we had last night. You want to be fulfilled and that is exactly what happened last night,” enthuses Alexis Sophokleous.
It’s the day after Avanti 4’s sell out gig in Larnaca, the culmination of 10 months of hard work for the Cypriot vocal quartet and their dedicated team. Avanti 4 are on a high, thrilled with the positive reception they received from young and old alike on home soil. I catch them on their day off before performing at Limassol’s Rialto, the following evening.
First to arrive for the interview is Alexis, a tenor and the organiser of the band. “When he has an idea it’s going to be done,” bandmate Pieros later confirms. Alexis has a background in musicals having studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and produced the Notre Dame musical two years ago. He is self confessed Londonphile referring to the capital as his “village”.
“We’re not Popera. Someone came up with that after Il Divo for other groups G4, Amore etc. They’re pop songs covered by opera singers. We’re a vocal ensemble or vocal quartet which combines a classical and modern sound but is not entirely classical. In our set we sing reworked U2, Abba, Gene Kelly, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Il Divo and Cypriot folklore songs,” explains Pieros Kezou.
Pieros, an elementary school music teacher, is crackling with anecdotes as he declares his love of Kate Bush and Suede. Outside of Avanti 4 he writes electronic music and piano ballads. He is a tenor but he can hit lower notes also “because I smokes it gives me a husky colour to my voice and I can do falsetto as well,” he says. Along with Petros Solomou, he is keen to compose music for the four piece in the future.
Petros hails from Astromeritis, the ‘place of stars’ unlike the rest of the band who are Nicosians. He is a music teacher also and specialises in jazz. He sings baritone, can play the lute and performs a lot of Greek music on a traditional bouzouki.
Andreas Vanezis, the baby of the group, has a voice that exists somewhere between baritone and tenor. He plays the piano, enjoys musicals and has a potential rock voice. He jokes his role in the band is “just to get the coffees”.
Each singer brings their own wealth of experience and diverse musical influences to the group. Alexis says he had the idea of putting together a quartet a long time ago but just needed to meet the right people. He attributes fate and their ‘fifth’ member Ioanna Pettemeridou-Pavlou with finding and supervising them. Ioanna, of the Maestro Music School, was on the phone to Alexis who already had three people in the group and was looking for a baritone. Ioanna said “let’s try to find you a bariotone. And at that precise moment she heard me singing and rehearsing in a room next door,” smiles Petros incredulously.
This was May 2011 and Avanti 4 was born. They launched into an intense rehearsal schedule where three times a week became twice a day in preparation for their January shows. “I didn’t know what to expect. It was a bit confusing at the beginning, we have a vocal diversity and different tastes in music so we were trying to figure how are we supposed to be singing classical, pop and folk. It came naturally at the end. We reached a point where we thought this is our identity,” says Petros.
Ioanna’s husband, Akis Pavlou, is the group’s arranger and they have a team of stage co-ordinator, voice coach, pianist and stylist. The group insist they are not a cover band: “the whole thing is unique, our different colours creates a new colour. To build something unique we don’t copy anyone,” Pieros states.
It’s when Avanti 4 start to talk about different artists that their shared passion for music emerges. They become more animated, laughing, debating and praising different acts. Their emphasis on teamwork and mutual respect is also apparent.
“We co-exist, we accept each others’ hiccups. Everyone understood we each come from different musical areas, we put a different song on the table and try to be open minded, even if we don’t like that kind of music,” says Alexis.
Andreas, the quietest member of the group, admits “I didn’t expect that we would join four voices and make it one. We are different characters and we try to get together and be friends.” Petros agrees: ”I don’t feel like I’m working in Avanti 4. I do it for fun.”
Avanti 4 has made the decision to always include a traditional Cypriot song in their set, not for reasons of patriotism but because it is simply their identity. They share the frustration of all Cypriot artists, expressing the strain of an underfunded music industry which lacks the support necessary to reach an international audience. They suggest cultural tourism should be developed. Alexis insists Cyprus needs to start promoting itself and see itself as a small country not as a collection of small villages.
Despite these limitations Avanti 4 are upbeat and excited about their future. They plan to record a CD and to perform in Nicosia later this year. “It’s like raising a child. Avanti 4 comes to a point where you have to let it be and it will go somewhere and be something. As long as it is healthy, vibrant and original there are no expectations,” says Pieros.
“If you believe in something, then everything will happen,” Alexis reassures them knowingly.
