PETROS DRAGOUMIS
Petros Dragoumis has been an active member of the international music scene for the last 35 years, while having a career rich in collaborations, recordings, television appearances, teaching, writing books, and anything related to musical expression. Born in Edessa, Greece, his love for music was expressed from a very young age in a natural and spontaneous way, starting with the drums, moving on to the guitar, and finally the bass.
His life followed its own path, and since he couldn’t resist his destiny, he created an enviable career both in numbers and quality. Even though he started as self-taught due to living in a small town and disconnected from substantial information sources, and even though he had followed from his early steps a strong career path, his love and endless search for learning and progress made him an eternal student and researcher of the art and science of music.
Petros pursued classical studies at the Macedonian Music Conservatory of Thessaloniki (Theodoris Grounis, Dimitris Athanasiadis), he then studied bass and jazz theory at the Art Conservatory of Giorgos Fakanas in Athens (Giorgos Fakanas, Athanasios Zervas, Sammy Elgazar), and then continued at the Bass Collective School of Music in New York (John Patitucci, Mike Pope, Lincoln Goines), and finally he was accepted at Codarts (Rotterdam Conservatory) for a Master’s degree program with a focus on Latin and World music. At the same time, he never missed any given opportunity to take lessons and participate in seminars offered by high level musicians such as: Matt Garrison, Gary Willis, Dominique Di Piazza, Anthony Jackson, Adam Nussbaum, Antonio Sanchez, Jeff Berlin, Mike Stern, etc.
From his very first professional steps he was fortunate to get involved in high level collaborations, starting at the age of 22 with a tour in the United States along with Eleni Vitali. He then continued with Nikos Papazoglou for 2 years playing with “Loksi Falagga” at some of the most beautiful theaters of Greece. The culmination was the legendary live recording of a concert of Papazoglou at Lykavittos Theater in September of 1991, and thus being part of one of the most remarkable records in the history of Greek music. Then he switched gears and he was found on popular-“laika” paths with the orchestra of Vasilis Karras during Karras’ top moments of his carrer, as well as with Pashalis Terzis with whom he collaborated for several years, and, once again, he participated in two of the most notable recording of the Greek music scene. Those recordings include the record “Mia Vradia stin Saloniki” with Terzi, Mela, and Fotiadi, and also Terzi’s record at Iera Odo with the title “Tragoudia mias Zois”.
All the collaborations with different artists lead him to over 3,000 live appearances in various venues, recordings of over 1,000 songs, television appearances such as television shows (Eleni Menegaki, Elda Panopoulou, Andreas Mikroutsikos, Roula Koromila, Spyros Papadopoulos, Giorgos Marinos, Vlasis Bonatsos, Kostas Hardavelas, etc.), television game-shows (Na i Efkairia, Fame Story, Dream Show), and finally his two-year collaboration with Semina Digeni on the show “Koita ti ekanes”, as well as the ERT television series “Ixnilates” created by pianist David Nahmia.
At the same time, he participated in 10 international tours to the United States, Canada, Australia, and South Africa with Eleni Vitali, Vasilis Karas, Lefteris Pantazis, Viky Mosholiou, Pashalis Terzis, Kaiti Garbi, and Nikos Makropoulos. He performed multiple times in most European cities, and of course all over Greece.
In addition, he composed pieces, orchestrated recordings, created jazz festivals and jazz nights with many notable guest musicians in the music scene of Athens and Thessaloniki, he participated in musical theater performances (Sia Koskina, Giorgos Hraniotis, Alkis Kourkoulos, etc.), he established his own Jazz Fusion group “Minimal” with which he recorded his first personal CD containing strictly his own compositions, and he performed multiple times in venues of this kind as well as in many festivals of contemporary jazz and improvisational music with various groups.
The most noteworthy ones were “Power Trio” (Zahariadis, Anastasiadis, Dragoumis), “Jazz Utopia” with extraordinary drummer Nikos Kapilidis (7th European Jazz Festival of Athens), and “Minimal Fusion group”. In general, music was always the absolute means of creativity and expression throughout every moment of his life.
Petros is a member of the Panhellenic Music Association as a musician, member of AEPI as a composer and lyricist, and the Apollon Association as a studio and TV session player.
The multifaceted expression of his musical curiosity lead to the path of teaching which he began early on by establishing at a young age the “Fillipos Conservatory of Veroia, followed by the “Contemporary Music Spoudastiri” in Athens, while at the same time he was teaching at significant music education establishments over the last 20 years. Some of those are: Music Conservatory Fillipos of Veroia, Arts Conservatory Giorgos Fakanas in Athens, Municipality Conservatory of Peristeri, Municipality Conservatory of Kalamaria, Municipality Conservatory of Kozani, Modern Music School of Athens, Odeion School of Music in Chicago, all of which included several seminars and master classes. The private lessons that he has taught include over 70 students many of whom have succeeded in the Greek music scene and abroad.
Finally, over the last few years and while feeling that some areas had been completed and other new ones were opening up ahead, he concentrated with much love, patience, persistence, and research in the writing of educational music books. His goal was to present his own views on music education since he discovered areas that lacked certain kinds of educational material. He tried to cover those areas in the most comprehensive way possible while at the same time sharing all his lifetime personal knowledge and experience. His books include: a. Theoritical Treatise of Jazz & Contemporary Music (Published, ISBN: 978-618-5178-07-9), b. A comprehensive, clever, simple, and geometrical learning system which covers technical aspects of the bass as well as other related instruments such as guitar, bouzouki, and other string instruments. This system includes approximately 20 books, c. A series of two books for beginners on learning how to play the bass. There are also future plans for additional educational material.
Over the last few years, Petros has been living in the United States and has had the opportunity to get to know the culture of Greeks of diaspora while at the same time incorporating afro-american elements along with his own rich traditional background. With all of the above, he has been able to combine the past with the present, the east with the west, and the present with the future, giving himself the opportunity of continuous creativity and development. -
ARTISTS COLLABORATIONS
JAZZ & CONTEMPORARY
Marco Djordjevic, Jimmy Mahlis, Vaso Dimitriou, Nikos Kapilidis, Kostas Anastasiadis, Andreas Mouzakis, Kostas Liolios, Mihail Iosifof, Sami Amiris, Dimitris Tsakas, Takis Barbas, Michael Kapilidis, Sakis Zahariades, Nikos Anadiotis, Maximos Drakos, Costas Anadiotis, Sam Marlieri , Julie Massino, Sia Koskina, Janet Kapuja, Evi Siamanta,Tzimys Makoulis, Errika Broyer, Nandia Fondana, Sophia Lazopoulou Dimitris Matsis, Spyros Dorizas, and more.
ETHNIC & ROCK
Nikos Papazoglou, Manolis Mitsias, Sokratis Malamas, Dimitris Mpasis, Giannis Spanos, Agamoi Thytai (Dimitris Starovas, Ieroklis Michailidis, Thodoris Atheridis, Christos Mitrentsis), Eleni Peta, Pyx- Lax, Kostas Bigalis, Sophia Vossou, Takis Zacharatos, George Chraniotis, Despina Olympiou, Alexandros Hatzis, Morfw Tsaireli, Giota Negka, Marianna Efstratiou, Irini Zwi, Maria Soultatou, Giannis Bezos, Bessy Malfa, and more.
MODERN POPULAR GREEK MUSIC
Despina Vandi, Elena Paparizou, Giorgos Mazonakis, Elli Kokkinou, Natasa Theodoridou, Nikos Kourkoulis, Nikos Vertis, Kaity Garbi, Dionisis Schoinas, Stelios Rokos, Stephanos Korkolis, Paola, Andreas Stamos, Christos Pazis, Christos Holidis, Nikos Makropoulos, Marw Lytra, Ina Lazopoulou, Fani Drakopoulou, Giorgos Tsalikis, Giorgos Lianos, Chryspa, Eleni Chatzidou, Sambrina, , Dimitris Kokkotas, Eleni Karousaki, , Eleana Papaioannou, Stella Kali, Petros Imvrios, Giorgos Daskoulidis, Lena Papadopoulou, Valantis, Lambis Livieratos, Giorgos Lembesis, Maria Louiza Vasilopoulou, and more.
"LAIKH" GREEK MUSIC SCENE
Giorgos Zambetas, Grigoris Bithikotsis, Vicky Moscholiou, Eleni Vitali, Dimitris Mitropanos, Poly Panou, Paschalis Terzis, Vassilis Karras, Zafiris Mellas, Pitsa Papadopoulou, Nikos Nomikos, Katerina Kouka, Lefteris Pantazis, , Lefteris Mytilinaios, Makis Xristodoulopoulos, Themis Adamantidis, Giorgos Margaritis, Katerina Stanisi, Antypas, Spyros Zagoraios, Mairi Vasou, Nandia Karagianni, Christina Maragkozi, Elias Klonaridis and more.