| Locomondo | |
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Locomondo (Photo by Delia Woehlert,courtesy of Amstel)
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| Background information | |
| Origin |  Athens, Greece |
| Genres | Ska, Reggae |
| Years active | 2004 – Present |
| Labels | Music Box international |
| Members | Markos Koumaris Yiannis Varnavas Stamatis Goulas Spyros Mpesdekis Stratos Sountris Mike Mourtzis Thanasis “Spogos” Tampakis |
Locomondo is ska-reggae band from Greece.
The 7-member band fronted by Markos Koumaris, the main songwriter and composer of the group, fuses Reggae, Ska and Caribbean sounds with Greek traditional musical elements.
They have released 6 albums, including Locomondo Live!, an album which turned gold in December 2011. Two of their video clips have received the “Best Alternative Video Clip” award from Mad-TV Greece (in 2007 and 2010).
Locomondo is the most known Reggae band in Greece, as well as the only Greek group that has recorded in Jamaica. This happened in 2005, when the band followed an invitation of ex Skatalites trombonist and Studio One legend Vin Gordon to the “island in the sun” and recorded the album “12 meres stin Jamaica” (12 days in Jamaica).
The album contained two songs that meant to be great hits in Greece, but also attracted attention beyond the Greek borders.
The first was a reggae cover of the Rembetiko song Frangosyriani composed in 1935 by the legendary Markos Vamvakaris.
Taking notice of this interesting musical mixture the German film director, screenwriter and producer of Turkish descent Fatih Akin included the song in his Venice Film Festival Special Jury Prize winning film Soul kitchen in 2009, and used it as the soundtrack for the red carpet event of his film.
The second hit of this album was “Den kani kryo stin Ellada” (It’s Not Cold in Greece), a hymn to solidarity and optimism. The song became a slogan in Greece and received millions of hits on YouTube.
Other important collaborations in this album where the ones with Spanish singer Amparo Sanchez (Amparanoia) in Barcelona and Natty Bo (Ska Cubano) in Athens. In 2010 Locomondo recorded “Goal“, a romantic song about football, which turned out to be an unofficial soundtrack for the Greek National Football Team qualifying for the second time in its history in the final phase of the World Cup.
Markos Koumaris (Photo by George Karahalios)
The video clip of the song featured Greek national player Dimitris Salpingidis who scored the qualifying goal against Ukraine. Although the Greek team disqualified in the first round in South Africa,†the band considered it as a strike of luck as Salpingidis scored against Nigeria in the 2nd match, becoming the first player to ever score for Greece in a World Cup final phase.
Other interesting facts
- In 2007 the band collaborated with Greek American director Christine Crokos composing and recording the sound track for the comedy “Gamilio Party” (wedding party).
The film sold over 250.000 tickets and the song “Gamilio Party” became one of the most beloved wedding songs.
- They have shared the stage with artists and bands such as Manu Chao, the Wailers, Alpha Blondy, the Skatalites, Chumbawamba, Culture, Mad Professor, Amparanoia, Ojos de Brujo, Aswad and Ska Cubano among others.
- In 2010 the Band recorded a reggae cover of the popular German song ” de:Griechischer Wein “(Greek wine) of the Austrian composer and singer Udo Jürgens . The song was produced by Marco Baresi, drummer of thede:Far East Band that used to play for German Reggae star Gentleman (musician), and is included in Locomondo’s last release “Locomondo- Best of “.
- The band also recorded a cover of the song “L’ombelico del mondo” (The Navel of the World) of the Italian singer Jovanotti.
- In the album “Me wanna dance” and “Gamilio Party”, the band used a great variety of Greek traditional musical instruments such as bouzuki, baglama, violin, Gaida, Tsampouna (Greek bagpipe), Kaval, Santouri, Cretan Lyraand Laud which gave the Caribbean sound a special Mediterranean touch.
- The song “P.E.S.” of the Italian rap group Club Dogo, released in 2012 and taken from the album “Noi siamo il club”, takes its refrain from the Locomondo song “Pro”.
Band members
- Markos Koumaris – Vocals/Guitar
- Yiannis Varnavas – Guitar/Vocals
- Stamatis Goulas – Keyboards/Sampler
- Spyros Mpesdekis – Bass
- Stratos Sountris – Drums
- Mike Mourtzis – Percussion
- Thanasis “Spogos” Tampakis – Sound Engineer
Additional musicians
- Antonis Andreou – Trombone
- Vasilis Panagiotopoulos – Trombone
- Manos Theodosakis – Trumpet
- Nikos Vlahos – Trumpet
- Dimitris Gasias – Violin
- Giorgos Makris – Gaida/Kaval
- Natasa Mindrinou – Vocals
Former members
- Stefanos Psaradakis – Drums
Discography
- 2004 Enas Trelos Kosmos (A crazy world)
- 2005 12 Meres Jamaica (12 days in Jamaica)
- 2007 Me wanna dance
- 2008 Gamilio Party (OST) (The wedding party)
- 2009 Locomondo Live
- 2010 Goal (digital single)
- 2011 Locomondo Best Of
- 2013 New Day Rising
References
- Imdb – soundtracks
- Radiochango – Locomondo
- The band’s official web site
- The myspace page of the band
- The last.fm page of the band
- The Facebook page of the band
