Introducing Tasos 

Tasos Asonitis is a composer of electroacoustic music. He was born and raised in Athens, and his music-making began when he was 15 years old, and got his first guitar. He picked it up because it was a ‘cool’ thing to do for a high school pupil at the time. In time he was playing in various bands and playing in venues throughout Greece. In 2014 he had the chance to tour Russia, which was one of the most inspiring experiences of his life, and led him to commit to being a musician professionally. 

A transformative move to the UK 

Tasos moved to the the UK five years ago to study music as an undergraduate. He had been playing in bands and touring, but feeling stale. His was reading Financial Studies at the University of Athens but broke this off. He had planned to refresh his music-making by moving to Germany, but made a last-minute decision to change, and read for his Bachelors’ degree in Music at the University of Huddersfield, ultimately with a focus on composition. 

“And that's where the interesting things started happening, because my initial goal when I moved was, I wanted to be a better performer and specifically a better guitar player, because that was my main thing, I was playing guitar in bands, I was playing rock music, metal music. But as soon as they moved to Huddersfield I was exposed to new experiences, new musical worlds I had absolutely no idea they existed. And I found them very fascinating… so suddenly, I got to find these new things that I could explore from scratch, and I had no idea about, and it was a very exciting time of my life. So I was, I was actually surprised at how easy it was for me to just leave some things I was taking for granted aside, and focus on new, new paths.” 

Following this transformation he moved to Manchester to pursue study at Master’s level, and is currently a PhD student at the University of Manchester. 

“Manchester is a very vibrant place, it has so many musicians, so many events going on, it was, it was a challenge and at the same time, an exciting experience, moving in such a great city. So I did, and I did not regret it, and I finished my Master's after one year, I left a gap of studies where I had the chance to work, and at the same time develop a proposal for my PhD. And here I am doing my PhD now specialising more and more into composition, into things that combine a lot the computer aspects, technical aspects of the computer like machine learning, and trying to use sound and computer graphics in, in a way that we let us explore things that are happening in the computer while it's training, some sort of this aspect of artificial intelligence. So yeah, for me moving here was literally a game changer.” 

Tasos’ music falls into the category of electroacoustic composition, which he first discovered in Huddersfield. He is currently writing multi-channel studio works that involve the specialisation of sound in different speakers around the room. These works emerge from the facilities available in Manchester, which have simultaneously led Tasos to branch into the audio-visual sphere. 

“I also had the chance to incorporate, to incorporate computer graphics. So the way I like to compose now is audio-visual music. So these two go together, I try to see them as one thing, as a synergy, that sort of each aspect is contributing to the overall experience. So the main venues that these sort of artistic practices are being performed are either specialised festivals, like the MANTIS festival that we have hearing in Manchester, which is part of the University of Manchester events. It involves performing in a in a space where there's a big diffusion sound system of er, 54, if I'm not mistaken, speakers, so all the composers are performing the music and they're diffusing the sound live in real time, which is a great experience, both as a performer and as an audience. And at the same time, I would say, mostly festivals that are geared towards art and science crossovers. So, so far, my music has been performed in festivals that have to do with digital arts, and electronic music, like extended reality festival in Athens, and also the very well-known Athens Digital Arts Festival." 

"Now with my PhD, and with it being a research project that sort of involves a scientific aspect as well, I aspire to also have my music being played in venues, like perhaps, science museums, or conferences, places where people go both to get informed, but at the same time to perhaps enjoy some works of art. At the same time, in my sort of spare time, I like to sort of make music that does not directly relate to scientific subjects. And although I have not had the chance to perform this music live yet with the pandemic and everything, that could definitely be performed in like, just venues for live music, like clubs, or bars, or anything.” 

The sounds of Greece 

As a guitarist in a band, Tasos was exposed to a range of musics in Greece, and his interests shifted from blues and jazz into rock and beyond. He also heard some more local traditions, and enjoys them today, from a distance. 

”I'm a great fan of Greek music. It's not, it's not exactly folk music, but it's a, I guess it's a sub-genre of folk music that sort of dates back to the first half of the 20th century. It's called rebetiko, and it's a type of music that strongly relates to the working class and deals with issues like poverty, and inequality, and even drug use, which was very popular in those circles back at the time. It was a music that back in the time when it was actually created, it wasn't popular at all, it was considered a thing that you would find in, in slums, and in not very popular places. But after the 70s, it gained popularity a lot in the big cities of Greece. So I, I can say, I get to enjoy this music a lot, although I have never performed it myself. But it's still, I'm still going to find myself playing back some songs of, of this genre and enjoying them, in sort of a connection with where I come from. And it is strongly relates to the Ottoman occupation, because the Ottoman occupation was mostly a thing happening in the Greek mainland. So in islands, there was Italian occupation, or … different affiliations. So they, the different influences are very dominant in the traditional music of each place, and it's something that is really very striking.” 

When he first came to England, Tasos realised gradually how many Greek composers were already actually working in the field that I was just entering. Although they had all entered it through their studies outside Greece, there was nevertheless a movement of Greek electroacoustic work, and an interest in developing it in Greece. 

“I realised that we have very few festivals that are actually dealing with the sort of activities in Greece, and I'm trying to sort of support this festival as an artist, and at the same time, get supported by them. Athens Digital Arts Festival is an attempt towards this direction, towards familiarising the Greek audience with musics and with artistic endeavours that they're definitely not familiar with, they have no idea about. And I know for many friends of mine, that it's actually very exciting for them to visit these festivals (before the Coronavirus situation), and learn about all these things and how so many artists around the world actually combine technology, and perhaps science, and create art that has some sort of direction. And they were not aware of it before they visited this festival, so these places are really creating audiences, and I really support that, and I hope we see more of that in the future in Greece.” 

“Cinematics of the Inbetween” 

Cinematics of the Inbetween above is an audio-visual piece composed by Tasos in Summer 2020, and it was premiered in the latest edition of Athens Digital Arts Festival, which took place online. It explores an in-between space between noise and form, both sonically and visually. 

“I'm very much interested in, is this sort of interplay between structure - things that are recognisable, things that are relatable – and things that we just categorise as random, as noisy, something that we cannot apply any sort of pattern on them. I like this in-between stage where things sort of dissolve then they come back together, and how this can affect the attention of the listener, of the audience in general. So this is, this is a work that falls on this category." 

The majority of Tasos’ listeners are specialist, whether technically-oriented academics or other sound art creators. Tasos is trying to expand his audience by incorporating a visual dimension. 

“I just didn't want to, to create compositions that were completely abstract, and just meant to be performed in a dark room with people who just close their eyes and listen to the sound diffusion. I mean, that's, that's nice, and that's very enjoyable, but it's something that the average audience might not want to relate to. So I'm trying to make my words a bit more immersive by incorporate more types of media, and hopefully, yeah, open the doors to, to people who would like to see a more accessible form of this music."