IMAM BAILDI Music

Living Postcards |

| 12 October 2015

Imam Baildi is a very popular Southeast Mediterranean dish consisting of aubergine stuffed with onion, garlic, and tomatoes simmered in olive oil. It is a similar fine blend that brothers Lysandros and Orestis Falireas and their band do - only in musical terms!

Here’s what happens in their melting pot: Bouzouki meets electro swing, Greek roots meet hip hop and mambo big band orchestration, and original Greek - Balkan brass action meets uplifting MC’s and Cuban montuno’s.

So, forget phony folklore! Imam Baildi’s sound is a unique urban blend of retro gems with new orchestration, production and remixing techniques. Nothing similar is to be found in world music, and what’s best is that this is not just home-cooking: it’s about 8 people on stage blending the intensity of Greek music with massive new sounds into a 100% danceable live act.

Their self-titled debut was released in 2007 to an international critical acclaim, followed by ‘The Imam Baildi Cookbook’ -Dec ’10, which reached no.5 in the European World Music Charts (June ‘11).

Even before their album was distributed in European markets, Imam Baildi were discovered in the web and invited to perform in major European festivals such as Transmusicales de Rennes and Roskilde Festival. 2009 and 2010 found them performing more in Europe while playing an average of 80 gigs per year in Greece.

Followed by several European shows in 2011, among which Rudolstadt TFF Festival ’11, Amsterdam Roots Festival, Oslo World Music Festival, on February 2012 Imam Baildi went on tour in Germany and Denmark, with sold out shows in Berlin, Copenhagen, Cologne and Frankfurt. This was followed by a summer tour with over 20 concerts in Greece and performances in several European Festivals, among which Sziget (HU) and Lowlands (NL) Festivals.