Vaggelis Merkouris
Vaggelis Merkouris is a Greek oud player and singer whose work restores the silenced song traditions of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans. Rather than presenting Greek tradition in a polished, conservatory form, he sings in the languages and modal idioms of the peoples woven into that world — the Karamanlides, the Gagauz, the Vlachs, […]
Vaggelis Merkouris is a Greek oud player and singer whose work restores the silenced song traditions of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans. Rather than presenting Greek tradition in a polished, conservatory form, he sings in the languages and modal idioms of the peoples woven into that world — the Karamanlides, the Gagauz, the Vlachs, the Greek-Roma, and the Jewish, Albanian, Slavic, and Turkish communities whose songs were long pushed to the margins of the modern Greek story.
His concert program La Voce dei Popoli (“The Voice of the Peoples”), presented by candlelight in the church of San Francesco in Cuneo in 2023, pays homage to the languages and songs of these communities. The oud itself carries this memory: central to the urban music of Smyrna, Constantinople, and Cappadocia, and to the rebetiko tradition that took root in Greece after 1922, it preserves a sound world Greek and Turkish musicians once shared — and performing these songs honestly means keeping their histories intact.
Merkouris is closely tied to the Italian world-music scene. He has collaborated with Vinicio Capossela, one of the most celebrated Italian songwriters of the past three decades, performed at the Bologna Jazz Festival, and leads the Vaggelis Merkouris Trio, joining voice and oud with laouto and violin. With guitarist Alberto Capelli he forms the Mysterion Duo, opening the universe of European modal music to initiates and newcomers alike. His collaboration with Kara Gunes — the project of Tapadum’s founder, composer Ozgur Karagunes — and Marta Celli received the Premio Musica nelle Aie – Autori, the authors’ prize of the Italian songwriters’ festival La Musica nelle Aie.
At the Tapadum Music Academy, Vaggelis Merkouris teaches oud and makam theory online, for every level from beginner to advanced. Lessons move between technique and meaning: makam-based melodic thinking, ornamentation, and song repertoire are taught together with the histories the songs carry — approaching the oud not only as an instrument, but as a living archive of the Eastern Mediterranean.