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Maria Pelekanou lives in Bremen, Germany and works as a sound artist and composer for interdisciplinary projects. She combines electronics, electroacoustics and 3D sound technology with visual elements in live performances to penetrate deeply into the physical and emotional essence of sound and space. Since childhood, music has accompanied Maria throughout her life. She grew up singing and playing piano in Thessaloniki. During her studies at the Department of Music Technology and Acoustics of the Mediterranean University of Crete, she gradually found her way as a creative composer. Her artistic research is based on immersive sound, listening and perception and is mainly influenced by the human voice for embodiment, human-machine interaction and acoustic ecology.

Her works have been presented at "next_generation" at the "Zentrum für Kunst und Medien", at the "Long Night of Music" in Oldenburg (2020,2021) and Bremen (2021), at the Greek Days of Electroacoustics at the University of Ioannina (2021), at the "6th Conference on Acoustic Ecology" at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and at the Spanish radio RTVE. One of her most recent compositions was selected in a competition for the CD of the 30th anniversary of DEGEM and was presented at the concert ceremony at the ZKM in Karlsruhe.

NEW ALBUM "TESLAM", out NOW on Abduction 

The Invisible Hands is a transcontinental collaboration between Alvarius B. (Alan Bishop of Sun City Girls) and four stellar young musicians from Cairo, Egypt: Cherif El-Masri, Aya Hemeda (both formerly of the popular Egyptian group Eskenderella), Adham Zidan and Magued Nagati. On Teslam, The Invisible Hands expand the already panoramic range of their eponymous debut LP with a haunting set of melodic, impeccably crafted songs whose vintage psych/hard-rock edge conjures up early Alice Cooper almost as often as it recalls Sun City Girls and 20th-century icons like Ennio Morricone and Serge Gainsbourg. The band's exquisite sonic palette is deepened by Cairo-based guest musicians Mohamed Ibrahim, Mohamed 'Moe' Asem, and Sammy Sayed, as well as by longtime SCG compatriot Eyvind Kang. Recorded in Cairo between 2013 and 2014, Teslam represents a further evolution of Alvarius B.'s peerlessly idiosyncratic pop sensibility, which is just as volatile and unclassifiable as his more experimental work. His songwriting -- both on his own, and in partnership with Cherif El-Masri -- is marked by a unity of purpose that has compressed countless musical and emotional incongruities into a handful of sharp-edged, pitch-black jewels. A brooding track composed by keyboardist Adham Zidan ('The Great Implosion') perfectly complements the record's uneasy mood. As usual, Alvarius B.'s lyrics comprise an apocalyptic pile-up of cruel metaphors at the intersection of culture, politics and international crime. But they take on new power and new implications as sung by El-Masri and Hemeda, whose seductive voices are as inviting as a welcome mat at the gates of hell. Each song stands on its own while also fitting into a planet-sized jigsaw puzzle detailing dark associations and secret narratives that stretch back as far as the foundation of the world. Arguably Alvarius B.'s most accessible work to date, Teslam is a generously baited steel-jaw trap for the unwary listener. Like The Invisible Hands' 2013 debut, Teslam inevitably reflects the precarious political circumstances in which it was conceived and recorded. As such, it's a vivid document not just of an unlikely musical collaboration, but also of a critical moment of hope, defiance, rage and sorrow in one of the world's most venerable cities. [This limited-edition razor-edged stainless-steel CD comes in a beautiful die cut balsawood jacket that folds out to form a fully operational guillotine. Just kidding, but it does come as a digipak CD with lyrics booklet and lovely artwork]. --B. Kearney	

Vakula is a singular artist and musical story teller

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