Vangelis & Irene Papas - Odes (1988)

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Vangelis & Irene Papas - Odes (1988)

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Vangelis & Irene Papas - Odes (1988)

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The heroic opening track is about an army of youthful freedom fighters on their way to war. It has a few equally dramatic outbursts by Vangelis plus a few exchanges between a little choir representing the youths and Irene Papas representing an old man they meet along the way, set to marching music. The slow lyrical piece that follows is about the fading colors of a tired old orange tree, presumably symbolizing the tragic plight of Greece during occupation. ‘La Danse du Feu’ is the first of the Vangelis composed instrumental pieces. After a fast intro it settles down to a more lyrical mode where Vangelis again uses that deeply expressive vaguely Arab bass-sound also employed on his album 'Earth', to great effect. ‘Kolokotronei’ refers to a famous family in Greece’s history and is again a slow lyrical song, this time sung a cappella by Irene Papas, with Vangelis making it sound like she sings it in a church, using lots of echo. ‘Le Fleuve’ has a more persistent rhythm to go with the poem about the river of life and some beautiful flowing instrumental passages. ‘Racines’ (meaning ‘roots’) is the second instrumental composed by Vangelis and longest track on the album. It consists of a sequence of slightly bluesy keyboard-solos using alternatively a flute-like sound and the same bass-sound as in the first instrumental, set against a slow sequencer-pattern. The two ladies wrote a few accompanying lines about Vangelis remembering all sorts of impressions which go into his music, a bit like his own text in the booklet for Mythodea. The title of the penultimate track ‘Lamento’ speaks for itself, a tragic atmosphere is set up by low string sounds and long suffering notes, again with flute and bass keyboard-solos by Vangelis. In contrast, the last track is more upbeat although the song apparently relates a tale of Menousis defending his honor against other men by killing his wife. Vangelis plays along with the tune and adds some simple percussion, and the little choir also makes a brief return.

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Vangelis & Irene Papas - Odes (1988)

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Vangelis has stated he made this album to “resurrect” these songs which were in danger of becoming dusty old museum pieces and that consequently it became quite a popular work in Greece, this at a time when he was still working far away in England. Maybe those more traditionally inclined would have felt this to be tampering with the original material, and one could say that the high-pitched sort of cosmic noises introduced in some tracks are a touch superfluous. Nevertheless, this must count as a tasteful and sincere work by three Greeks keeping the flame of their ancient culture burning.