Recorded and mixed by Andreas Matheou – at Hot Soap Studios in Winter of 2024.
Release: Single ”Long Way to Nirvana”
Written by: Michalis and Panayiota Kontovourkis
Kontovourkis & Co. debut with freewheeling country-teased single ‘Long Way to Nirvana’
Cypriot band Kontovourkis & Co. are what you’d least expect to find belting out country tunes à
la skiffle craze of yesteryears that invaded the island’s former reigning empire – yet their debut
‘Long Way to Nirvana’ is a love story that recalls just that era and carries an ungovernable
joviality that’s hard not to kick your shoes off and dance to. Slated for release on 29 March
2024, ‘Long Way to Nirvana’ is an uncomplicated bluegrass jaunt that holds a foot-stomping
pulse and is accompanied by a music video capturing the band revelling in music’s conviviality.
The story of Kontovourkis & Co. begins in Larnaca’s southeast coast of the much-coveted island
of Cyprus, a country not quite in any of the three continents it intersects, with local dialects that
aren’t quite Greek or Turkish, and with a cultural identity long effaced by more conquerors
across the millenia than its fellow EU members can bear to admit. Yet rather than succumb to
overworn PR stunts of anthems of resistance or exotic folk-psychedelic fuzz fusion, the band
take things as they come, liberated by any sounds that bring music to their ears. With their
‘Long Way to Nirvana’, its harmonica-powered engine and rowdy rendering, Kontovourkis & Co.
are befitting just that.
Formed in 2016 by Michalis Kontovourkis, a key figure in Larnaca’s music hub, Kontovourkis & Co. honed their sound through their live gigs, drawing inspiration from foundational artists
across the rock, singer-songwriter, and indie genres spectrum. After turning heads on the island
with his 2018 singer-songwriter album ‘Ap tin Arxi’, Michalis spearheaded Kontovourkis & Co.’s
formation as its band members offered more creative direction to the songs. Marking
Kontovourkis & Co.’s debut, the band is releasing a string of three singles penned by harmonica
player Duncan McCowan, who himself brings along his musical past in London’s roots busking
scene of the 1980s. Led by ‘Long Way to Nirvana’, the band will follow with ‘Avrio Mesimeri’ – a
Mediterranean chanson about two star-crossed lovers, and singer-songwriter number ‘Last
Farewell,’ out this Spring.
The song expresses the universal, farcical dilemma arising when an unsophisticated guy falls
for an enlightened, cultivated woman. He’s panic-stricken, but ready to sacrifice his world to
reach hers. There’s an endearing vulnerability about him, and an alluring, charismatic charm
about her, explain the band.