In the Greek publishing house “Web” and in the Athletic Association of Pera, in its center, the doubles fill the space as long as the lesson is ongoing. Andreas Sarantidis, originally from her Koufalia, teaches bouzouki lovers the technique of their favorite musical instrument.
The students are, of all ages, but also Greeks of the Greek community, who, holding the bouzouki in the arms, follow the technique of Buzukist – the book of learning the bouzouki Grammenos method in Greek and Turkish – who has been edited by 2020. It is the “Gospel” to initiate neighbors to the famous double.
“The Turks are frustrated with the sound of the bouzouki, they don’t lose a lesson”
“The Turks are frustrated with the sound of the bouzouki and they don’t lose an hour of lesson. They also have in their culture and in their sounds similar stringed instruments, such as saz, oud, Lafta, ”says Mr Sarantidis at the Athenian/Macedonian News Agency, explaining how the Turkish students are not slow to learn.
“They learn easily because they are disciplined, born in music, love and respect Greek, as well as any other kind. After all, the Turks also have excellent organ players and I have met some who passionately study Greek music and history, with a special love in rebetiko and traditional. They even visit our islands every year, participating in the workshop of great skills in Greece. They are experiencing experience and return with more appetite to learn more, ”the Greek musician adds.
The bouzouki lessons in the Turks “press” on his book, which is about learning the method of this musical instrument and its pages include in Turkish detailed instructions from scratch to the last … penny so that students are able to play the curriculum.
The Music gene, the city and the other… love
Andreas Sarantidis started the bouzouki from a young age and was only seven years old, when he played for the first time -he never left it. In the family there was the stimulus of his father, who played amateur clarinets and his uncle, who played guitar. Therefore, as he says, the “Music Gene” existed within him.
As for the story with Constantinople, it began to be written in 2014, after completing his studies and having already extensive experience in the field. “In 2014 they were looking for a Greek to play bouzouki for New Year’s Eve in Istanbul. I was offered the proposal, I accepted it right away and that I think was the beginning.
After a few months, in the summer of next year, I found myself in Bodrum for the summer season, again with the same orchestra and before the season was over, they asked me to stay in Constantinople for the whole year. At the same time, I started my collaboration with the pop -up Café Aman Instanbul musical band of Stelios Berberis, ”notes the music teacher.
In 2016, shortly before the coup with frequent attacks in Turkey, he felt insecure as he did not know the language, and returned to Thessaloniki for the next two years.
But he kept contact with the city, at first at regular intervals and then permanently, when he entered his life, besides the bouzouki, another love even greater.
“My wife, Dilek, with whom we met in 2015, got married in 2017 and with whom we got both of our twin boys two months ago is the most important reason I now live in Turkey. My family is my inspiration and the driving force for everything and I am grateful to God for this gift, “he describes.
The course of Andrea Sarantidis, the successes
Since 2019, his career in Turkey has been important and includes conservatories, state orchestras, music scenes, bouzouki, Turkish theater and cinema.
A graduate of European Classical Music Theorist, with a bouzouki diploma, he has dozens of collaborations with the city’s home schools, with big names on the Greek music scene, but also with famous Turkish standup comedians, actors and singers. She has participated in the play that is played to this day with great success (Zarifi Apartmani) and which was honored in 2024 with the 2nd Auxiliary Female Award Award in Turkey.
But also in the documentary movie “Searching for Rodaki” as a music curator and protagonist, awarded five times in Turkey, Greece and Europe. In his first personal record label in Turkey, he recorded the orchestral song entitled “Friendship” with Serkan Hakki, a virtuosoze clarinetist from Aleppo.
In his second work record, he writes a song with his own music and lyrics by Turkish artist “Canım Avuçlarımda” (the soul in my hands), dedicated to his father and children who have lost their parents. From 2020 to the present, alongside music, she has been working and saving the offices of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in Fanari.
Next time, Andreas Sarantidis is to re -release his book, with the addition of two more bilingual figures, to the Anglo -Turkish and Greek -English, while also preparing his first personal album with orchestral orchestrations. At the same time he is preparing for his summer performances in concert venues in Turkey and Greece.
