Summer Music in Corfu - Agiotfest

Joe Brown
Joe has worked as a rock and roll singer and guitarist for more than five decades. He was a stage and television performer in the late '50s, a recording star in the early '60s, made six films, presented a radio series for the BBC, appeared on the West End stage and has written an autobiography. In recent years he has again concentrated on recording and performing music, playing two tours of around 100 shows every year and releasing an album almost every year. Brown was first spotted in 1958 and went on to have Top 10 hits in the early '60s and was voted 'Top UK Vocal Personality' in 1962. He plays acoustic and electric guitar, ukulele, mandolin and fiddle. In 2009, Brown was presented with a MOJO lifetime award for his outstanding contribution to music and in the same year was awarded an MBE.

One Drop Forward
The band was formed in 1991 by a group of friends from Thessaloniki and they have taken their brand of brass-backed reggae all over Greece and further afield. They have regularly appeared at anti-war, anti-racism and anti-capitalism concerts as well as at reggae festivals alongside stars such as Max Romeo.

4Square
This Manchester-based quartet play and sing a melodic blend of tunes and songs, both traditional and self penned. Since their humble beginnings in a freezing cold farmhouse near Rochdale in the Winter of 2006, the band's music has gelled and matured into the funkiest, most energetic and powerful music you'll hear on the British folk music scene today. They play with technical prowess that defies their age, as well as fiery energy, and always a touch of fun.

Laura Zakian
A true jazz vocalist, Laura employs her voice as a musical instrument, improvising and moulding the melodic line to lend each lyric the best possible effect. She studied in New York with Nancy Marano from the Manhatttan School of Music, and then performed with some of the leading jazz musicians in Rome, appearing at the Umbria Jazz Festival. Laura is now gaining prominence in the UK with the release of three CDs, 'Nobody Else But Me' nominated as CD of the Week in the Observer newspaper and 'Just One Of Those Things' as heard on Michael Parkinson's BBC Radio Two show. Re-working neglected standards to jazz interpretations of contemporary tunes, Laura's highly accessible set boasts an eclectic and ingenious repertoire. Her third album 'About Love' is probably her finest and most assured work to date.

Kuriri
Their first few gigs were in their hometown Pirot, in south-eastern Serbia, before moving on to play in central Serbia and Belgrade. In 2009 the audience voted them the best band at the Serbian GBOB FInal (Global Battle of the Bands). Their performances are energetic and stimulating and bursting with positive vibrations. The sound is a mixture of alternative and post-rock, and the English lyrics are about love and all the things that really matter in life. In December 2009 the band published their demo CD "Xenon Project" which is free to download and which has had excellent reviews by both listeners and musical critics. At the moment, they are recording a video for the song "Fade Away" and are touring the Balkans including gigs in Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania and Bosnia.

Omega 5
Omega 5 was formed six years ago on Corfu. The band operates out of the north of the island. Vocalist Steve Dell is the ex-singer with 1980s rock band Tiger Tail while guitarist/vocalist Barry Packman has been playing since the early 1970s and has worked with Fairport Convention, 10cc, War and Big Jim Sullivan. They are accompanied by drummer Thanasis Gogas, lead guitarist Antonios Leontitsis and bass player Giorgos Pagiatis.

The Good Ole Boys
Frank Bloomfield and Russ Bartlett play electric, acoustic and pedal steel guitars. Both 'old boys' came to Corfu some four years ago having previously followed differing, but extensive, musical careers in the U.K. where touring brought them into contact with a range of top line artists. Ultimately this lifestyle led them to '‘retire' to Corfu, where they thought they would just play the occasional gig, but due to their popularity they appear to be in constant demand, so 'retiring' is not quite what it appeared to be!

Sonia Grammatikos
Sonia plays the clasical guitar and piano, and sings ballads. She has performed in several piano bar restaurants in Corfu and Athens. As she says, in a rather humorous manner, she made the mistake not to allow herself any further musical studies when the time was right.
She is the mother of two children, ten and seven years old.

Jemma Bartlett
Daughter of Russ Bartlett (The Good Ole Boys) Jemma Bartlett, who is 20, almost stole the show last year, singing alongside her father; she is back this year by popular demand to wow the boys.