Nana Simopoulos

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Nana Simopoulos (* 1958 in Baltimore ) is an American guitarist, bouzouki and sitar player who first became known in ethno jazz and sometimes also plays New Age music.

Live and act

Simopoulos, who comes from a Greek migrant family, learned the piano as a five-year-old and then devoted himself to the classical guitar. As an adolescent she spent some time in Greece , where she studied folk and rock music and played in relevant bands. At the age of 19, she returned to the United States, where she received lessons from Eddie Van Halen and Pat Metheny . In San Francisco , she took in 1983 a first album with Ray Pizzi , Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins on which the critics of the magazine " Downbeat distinguished", and then went to New York City , where she met Don Cherry played music and 1986 for Enja their Recorded Wings and Air record with musicians such as Naná Vasconcelos , Jim Pepper and Charlie Haden. In 1987 Still Waters followed for the same label . In the 1990s she developed her own aesthetic approach, with which she penetrated the field of "New Age" music and which was initially documented on her album Gaia's Dream (1992). On her last records she worked with the Indian sarangi player Ustad Sultan Khan . Her album Daughters of the Sun , on which Badal Roy also participated, reached good positions in both the new age and world music radio charts. On the album Skins (2016), she partially focused on modern jazz again (with Dave Liebman and Mary Ann McSweeney, among others ). Simopoulos also composed film and ballet music.

Simopoulos is a professor at New York University and the New York City School of Visual Arts . She is also the co-founder and musical director of the Topia Arts Center .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Simopoulos, Nana
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer, guitarist and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH Baltimore