Kostas Papamichael: Vocals/Guitar/Dumbek

Kostas Papamichael started singing as a child, listening to his father singing popular Greek songs of the 50s and 60s and his grandfather singing traditional Greek songs, mainly from Peloponnesus. When he was about ten years old he joined the chorus in his neighborhood church. After he converted a tennis racket he received as a gift, to a single string guitar, his folks bought him his first guitar. A few years later he started classical guitar lessons at the Macedonian Music School in Thessaloniki.

While attending Anatolia, Thessaloniki's American College, he joined the Anatolia choir as a tenor. In the meantime, he was learning songs composed and performed by his favorite Greek artists at that time, Kostas Hatzis, Arleta and Dionisis Savopoulos. In his late teens, Kostas played the guitar and sang Greek folk songs at clubs in Thessaloniki.

In 1973, Kostas started studying Architecture at the University of Thessaloniki, which led to graduate studies in the U.S. The heavy academic load did not leave any time for music. It was after he completed his Ph.D. work at Berkeley, in 1991, that Kostas once again had time to devote to music. He bought a bouzouki and focused on Greek "Rebetiki" music. During this period he...
   
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