A beautiful bird, bangles jingling, falls down a well. It’s her friends who help her out. That’s the tale behind the Greek folk song “Yerakina,” and the spirit that animates New York’s Banda Magda.

This spirit thrums on the big, vivid band’s latest album. The perfect complement to 2013’s Amour, t’es là? (named one of the year’s best world music albums by NPR), Yerakina vibrates with the same bright, bold strokes. Now, instead of charismatic bandleader/composer Magda Giannikou’s wild and wildly romantic originals, the Banda had turned to traditional and classic tunes. They are tales of love and devotion as strong as the bonds that bind the band’s diverse players.

“I wanted this album to be about the band,” Giannikou reflects. “I wanted my bandmates and collaborators have more freedom and initiative in the creative process. The album sprang from our friendship and love, and you can really feel that in the songs.”

The camaraderie echoes in the music, as diverse rhythms and melodies from different corners of the globe cross-pollinate, giving chansons Afro-Peruvian sway or Greek folk tunes with a mad dash of Northeastern Brazilian beats. Traditional Greek rockers (“Trata,” “Yerakina”), gentle but driving ballads (“El Pescador,” “Petite Fleur”), samba and baião numbers incorporate everything from kitchen ware to hammered dulcimer, from full and rich horn arrangements to shimmering vibraphone, in wonderfully seamless, addictive songs.

“In many ways, Yerakina has nothing to do with music,” smiles Giannikou. “It's about one hand holding the other, climbing up that deep, dark well, together, towards the sunlight.”

{full story below}

Like a shoreline scintillating in the distance, New York’s Banda Magda’s sound blurs distinctions and suggests wonders: a bangle-shaking buzzard, a moonstruck fisherman, battered but seaworthy boats. And it all comes from the close-knit band’s commitment to perfection.

Giannikou is a self-admitted stickler when it comes to music. Her charts go into all the details, right down to detailed articulations for horn and string players. Her arrangements—which often come full blown into her head on airplanes or behind the wheel—are tight, full, and exacting. But her vision for a song Banda Magda had played for years, Vinicius de Moraes’s classic samba, “Senza Paura,” eluded her.

“I was so sleep deprived, writing all the rest of the arrangements out in detail. Tons of ‘Senza Paura’ drafts, but knew they would fail. I was about to collapse by the time Michael [League of Snarky Puppy, the album’s co-producer] arrived at the horn session,” recalls Giannikou. “He looked at me and said, ‘Let’s do something from scratch.’ He brainstormed some thoughts on the piano and after 10 minutes or so, he had the arrangement formed in his mind and instructed the horn section with lalalala’s and toudoudou’s. And this track magically became one of my favorites in the album!”

Giannikou has broad talents, united by a razor-sharp focus on perfection. A graduate of Berklee who had a long history of arranging and composing behind her when she moved from her native Athens to Boston and New York, Giannikou has composed for film and TV, and collaborated with major lights like Kronos Quartet and Louis C.K.

On a whim, she started her own band to perform the songs that kept coming to her in French and embraced her ongoing passion for Brazil’s multifaceted musical traditions. Giannikou’s far-flung obsessions—the Francophone songbook, Greek music, and the Afro-Latin roots that run the length of South America—set the tone for the group.

“We click because we feed off each other,” explains percussionist Marcelo Woloski. “She comes up with songs that inspire me, and I usually come up with various world rhythms for the songs that resonate with her, too. So it is easy to work together.”

“We all play at our best level because we know that Magda is putting out so much effort,” agrees vibraphone player Mika Minura.

The ties that bound Banda Magda grew ever tighter, as the diverse group of musical kindred spirits played, performed, and recorded. The madcap camaraderie and friendship are audible on Yerakina. “You can hear the late-night mayhem, the raucous gatherings, the long talks in the tour van, the hard but fun rehearsals,” remarks percussionist James Shipp.

“Every time we go on stage, there is this excitement because we are never sure of what will happen,” remarks guitarist Nacho Hernandez. “Each experience is unique to each show, full of surprises, funny moments, confusion, happiness and love.”

Many of the tracks on Yerakina evolved during shows, as the band gelled. “Doralice” was polished over the course of months, as part of a standing duo gig with Banda bassist Petros Klampanis in Alphabet City. “Sabia,” by Brazilian legend Luis Gonzaga, morphed over the course of many Banda Magda shows. The Banda turned the tune on its head, with a little gender role reversal: With a female vocal lead, the chorus—all women in Gonzaga’s version—had to be guys.

Colombian favorite “El Pescador,” made famous internationally by Totó La Momposina, went from beloved dance song to a pensive anthem, thanks to new harmonies suggested by Giannikou and League’s arrangement, which includes a cameo appearance by Gregorio Uribe. Though Giannikou has often turned to Greek rhythms in her songs, Yerakina showcases three tunes from the bandleader’s homeland, two popular folk songs and a song by Greek midcentury songwriting heavyweight, Manos Hadjidakis “Karotseris,” with a sweet coda added by Petros Klampanis and a strong pinch of Bollywood glitz in the arrangement.

The sparkling arrangements got a further thoughtful boost in the studio. “It's always a challenge to make acoustic instruments sound as present and commanding as the electronic counterparts that will be played before or after them on the radio or people's devices and phones. I have been working on achieving a very modern sound with traditional instruments for years now,” muses co-producer Fabrice “Fab” Dupont, one of the other driving forces behind Yerakina’s sound. “Magda has tremendous taste in musicians, however and the players were great.”

“ ‘Trata’ is a fishing boat. It’s about a leaky, beat up boat, but you keep fixing it,” explains Giannikou. “It’s an empowering song, and whenever people sing it at a party in Greece, everyone starts dancing like crazy. But there’s a deeper meaning to it, one that links all these songs. It’s about being devoted to something, to your craft, to something you love, an inseparable part of your life. That’s the spirit that brought the whole album together.”

A beautiful bird, bangles jingling, falls down a well. It’s her friends who help her out. That’s the tale behind the Greek folk song “Yerakina,” and the spirit that animates New York’s Banda Magda.

This spirit thrums on the big, vivid band’s latest album. The perfect complement to 2013’s Amour, t’es là? (named one of the year’s best world music albums by NPR), Yerakina vibrates with the same bright, bold strokes. Now, instead of charismatic bandleader/composer Magda Giannikou’s wild and wildly romantic originals, the Banda had turned to traditional and classic tunes. They are tales of love and devotion as strong as the bonds that bind the band’s diverse players.

“I wanted this album to be about the band,” Giannikou reflects. “I wanted my bandmates and collaborators have more freedom and initiative in the creative process. The album sprang from our friendship and love, and you can really feel that in the songs.”

The camaraderie echoes in the music, as diverse rhythms and melodies from different corners of the globe cross-pollinate, giving chansons Afro-Peruvian sway or Greek folk tunes with a mad dash of Northeastern Brazilian beats. Traditional Greek rockers (“Trata,” “Yerakina”), gentle but driving ballads (“El Pescador,” “Petite Fleur”), samba and baião numbers incorporate everything from kitchen ware to hammered dulcimer, from full and rich horn arrangements to shimmering vibraphone, in wonderfully seamless, addictive songs.

“In many ways, Yerakina has nothing to do with music,” smiles Giannikou. “It's about one hand holding the other, climbing up that deep, dark well, together, towards the sunlight.”

{full story below}

Like a shoreline scintillating in the distance, New York’s Banda Magda’s sound blurs distinctions and suggests wonders: a bangle-shaking buzzard, a moonstruck fisherman, battered but seaworthy boats. And it all comes from the close-knit band’s commitment to perfection.

Giannikou is a self-admitted stickler when it comes to music. Her charts go into all the details, right down to detailed articulations for horn and string players. Her arrangements—which often come full blown into her head on airplanes or behind the wheel—are tight, full, and exacting. But her vision for a song Banda Magda had played for years, Vinicius de Moraes’s classic samba, “Senza Paura,” eluded her.

“I was so sleep deprived, writing all the rest of the arrangements out in detail. Tons of ‘Senza Paura’ drafts, but knew they would fail. I was about to collapse by the time Michael [League of Snarky Puppy, the album’s co-producer] arrived at the horn session,” recalls Giannikou. “He looked at me and said, ‘Let’s do something from scratch.’ He brainstormed some thoughts on the piano and after 10 minutes or so, he had the arrangement formed in his mind and instructed the horn section with lalalala’s and toudoudou’s. And this track magically became one of my favorites in the album!”

Giannikou has broad talents, united by a razor-sharp focus on perfection. A graduate of Berklee who had a long history of arranging and composing behind her when she moved from her native Athens to Boston and New York, Giannikou has composed for film and TV, and collaborated with major lights like Kronos Quartet and Louis C.K.

On a whim, she started her own band to perform the songs that kept coming to her in French and embraced her ongoing passion for Brazil’s multifaceted musical traditions. Giannikou’s far-flung obsessions—the Francophone songbook, Greek music, and the Afro-Latin roots that run the length of South America—set the tone for the group.

“We click because we feed off each other,” explains percussionist Marcelo Woloski. “She comes up with songs that inspire me, and I usually come up with various world rhythms for the songs that resonate with her, too. So it is easy to work together.”

“We all play at our best level because we know that Magda is putting out so much effort,” agrees vibraphone player Mika Minura.

The ties that bound Banda Magda grew ever tighter, as the diverse group of musical kindred spirits played, performed, and recorded. The madcap camaraderie and friendship are audible on Yerakina. “You can hear the late-night mayhem, the raucous gatherings, the long talks in the tour van, the hard but fun rehearsals,” remarks percussionist James Shipp.

“Every time we go on stage, there is this excitement because we are never sure of what will happen,” remarks guitarist Nacho Hernandez. “Each experience is unique to each show, full of surprises, funny moments, confusion, happiness and love.”

Many of the tracks on Yerakina evolved during shows, as the band gelled. “Doralice” was polished over the course of months, as part of a standing duo gig with Banda bassist Petros Klampanis in Alphabet City. “Sabia,” by Brazilian legend Luis Gonzaga, morphed over the course of many Banda Magda shows. The Banda turned the tune on its head, with a little gender role reversal: With a female vocal lead, the chorus—all women in Gonzaga’s version—had to be guys.

Colombian favorite “El Pescador,” made famous internationally by Totó La Momposina, went from beloved dance song to a pensive anthem, thanks to new harmonies suggested by Giannikou and League’s arrangement, which includes a cameo appearance by Gregorio Uribe. Though Giannikou has often turned to Greek rhythms in her songs, Yerakina showcases three tunes from the bandleader’s homeland, two popular folk songs and a song by Greek midcentury songwriting heavyweight, Manos Hadjidakis “Karotseris,” with a sweet coda added by Petros Klampanis and a strong pinch of Bollywood glitz in the arrangement.

The sparkling arrangements got a further thoughtful boost in the studio. “It's always a challenge to make acoustic instruments sound as present and commanding as the electronic counterparts that will be played before or after them on the radio or people's devices and phones. I have been working on achieving a very modern sound with traditional instruments for years now,” muses co-producer Fabrice “Fab” Dupont, one of the other driving forces behind Yerakina’s sound. “Magda has tremendous taste in musicians, however and the players were great.”

“ ‘Trata’ is a fishing boat. It’s about a leaky, beat up boat, but you keep fixing it,” explains Giannikou. “It’s an empowering song, and whenever people sing it at a party in Greece, everyone starts dancing like crazy. But there’s a deeper meaning to it, one that links all these songs. It’s about being devoted to something, to your craft, to something you love, an inseparable part of your life. That’s the spirit that brought the whole album together.”