STAGES A/LIVE presents Saske at Nigrita Detention Center, on 20th February, at 21:00
Online premiere:20.02.2022 at 21:00
The latest edition of STAGES A/LIVE goes beyond every expectation. On Sunday, February 20 at 21:00, one of the most successful Greek rappers of recent times is coming to the Onassis Channel on YouTube, directed by Christos Sarris. Saske will be brought to us live from the Nigrita Detention Center in Serres, giving a concert in a most unexpected location.
Photo: Alexandros Avramidis
From Kavala to Miami, and from there to Athens, Saske is ever redefining the Greek rap scene with his every move. With startling tracks, dynamic flows, and lyrics that could never have been written without his life’s experiences. And everything perfectly aligned with the location selected by the Onassis Foundation for the filming of this unexpected concert – the Nigrita Detention Center.
No-one, not even Saske himself, can know whether his life would have taken the course it has – leading him to his spectacular current circumstances as one of the most successful Greek rappers of recent times – had he not spent his childhood in Miami, where he first encountered the sounds and visuals of American hip hop at a very young age.
Born Odysseas Ntzimanis in Chrysoupoli, Kavala in 1998, he brought these references back with him when he returned to Greece as a teenager and began to be influenced in turn by the Greek scene – everyone from Active Member to FFC and TXC. Saske first made his mark on the Greek rap scene back in 2014, when he self-released his first tracks. Two years later, he came of age and moved to Athens, where he studied sound engineering, but music proved to be the inevitable creative path down which he walked with brisk and steady steps. Soon signed by the newly-founded OffBeat Records, he caught everyone’s attention in November 2017 with the single “Safari”, which to date has drawn more than two million views on YouTube.
But it was the runaway success of his two double platinum singles – “Ksero Mana” (“I Know Ma”) and “Cyan” – and his certified gold debut album “Saskepticism Vol. 1” (2019) that firmly established him within the landscape of the new Greek rap scene as one of its gamechangers, precisely because he is never content simply to write and perform with one eye on the past. He thinks outside the box, experimenting with varied genres, and testing his abilities in areas no-one would expect – like last year, when, commissioned by the Onassis Foundation, he recited poems by C. P. Cavafy to honor the anniversary of the poet’s life and death. The truth is that Saske is redefining contemporary Greek hip hop with the surging force of someone with their gaze firmly on the future – in fact, Saske is already there.
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Backstage Photos
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Photo: Alexandros Avramidis
Nigrita Detention Center – located near the city of Serres– is operating since 2010, while today it houses more than 720 inmates from various countries. In 2016 the detention center launched the Second Chance School, a program which gives inmates the opportunity to occupy themselves creatively and productively through an extensive series of activities. As part of this initiative, the Nigrita’s Detention Center inmates have published books, such as “HEAR US! “LOCKE DOWN LYRICS”, and “Writings In-Order”; have made a short film titled “Tomorrow Is Monday”, screened at an international short film festival for students; and have staged various theater performances. Nigrita Detention Center also runs a KETHEA (Therapy Center for Dependent Individuals) PROMITHEAS counselling program called “Online Visit”, though which inmates have the chance to speak over Skype with psychiatrists at the Serres General Hospital once a week.
This concert, part of the Onassis Foundation’s STAGES A/LIVE initiative, is the first music event to be ever held at the institution, aiming to shed some light to the effort of a detention center to engage with its inmates constantly and creatively, but also to remind us that everyone deserves a second chance.
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STAGES A/LIVE was launched to supported Greece’s indie music stages at a time when everything was shut. Stages are coming alive again, this time in some of Greece’s most unexpected locations. STAGES A/LIVE returns to places where important things have happened. We’re supporting the Greek music scene and its artists by creating a digital stage on the Onassis Foundation’s YouTube channel: yet another venue for bringing the local indie music scene to the world’s attention. STAGES A/LIVE second season is here, in ways most unexpected.
STAGES A/LIVE is being reborn – transformed into a completely different project. You can’t imagine what’s coming, so turn the volume up.Concept & Curation: Christos Sarris
Production Coordinators: Elena Choremi, Smaragda Dogani
Production: Onassis Stegi
SASKE
Saske: Vocals
DJ Playboilaflame: DJ
Management: OffBeat Records
NIGRITA DETENTION CENTER
Director: Oikonomou Georgios
Sergeant: Margaritopoulos Athanasios
Guards: Zafeiriadis Georgios, Argyriadis Kostas,
Chatzithomas Markos, Ellinidis Dionysios
FILMING
Director – Camera: Christos Sarris
Director of Photography: Evan Maragkoudakis
Cameras: Dimitris Zivopoulos, Filippos Zamidis, Koralia Dogani
Video Crew Assistant: Andreas Markou
Production management & co-ordination: Yotis Posporeli
Production exec & catering manager: Christos Papanantsidis
Production assistant & back-office support: Giannis “Nox” Efstathiou
Lights Engineer: Dimitris Stampolis
Assistant Lights Engineer: Pavlos Lygouris
Recording: Themis Dimitrakopoulos, Mimis Konstantinidis
Editing/Rough Mix: George Tachtsidis
Monitor Engineer: Mimis Konstantinidis
Backline & Stage Technician: Nikos Foniadakis
Post Mix Production: Themis Dimitrakopoulos, George Tachtsidis
Technical Support & Dry-hire: D-Sound Nikos Ntoulas
Editor: Tryfon Karatzinas
Colorist: Manthos Sardis
Photography: Alexandros Avramidis
ONASSIS STEGI
Technical Manager: Lefteris Karabilas
Production Coordinators: Smaragda Dogani, Elena Choremi
Director of Culture: Afroditi Panagiotakou
Deputy Director of Culture: Dimitris Theodoropoulos
Group Communication & Content Manager: Dimitris Drivas
Campaign Manager: Kanella Psychogiou
Ηead of Content: Alexandros Roukoutakis
Copywriter: Margarita Grammatikou
Social Media Manager: Vasilis Bibas
Social Media Editor: Sylvia Kouveli
Onassis Creative Studio
Head of Creative: Christos Sarris
Motion Graphics: Constantinos Chaidalis
Graphic Design: Georgia Leontara, Jilian Viglaki
Onassis Media Office: Vasso Vasilatou, Katerina Tamvaki
Media Office Assistant: Nefeli Tsartaklea-Kaselaki
LEGAL SUPPORT
A.S. Papadimitriou & Partners Law Firm, Prodromos Tsiavos
