It is unclear exactly when the bouzouki long-necked lute came to Greece. Its roots go back to the fourth century BC. The current form of the instrument, named after "Βυζί", the Greek word for the female breast, is relatively young and has been widespread in Athens and the Peloponnese since around 1920. Originally played in bars and at private parties, it became more widespread with the revival of the "rebetiko", the "Greek blues", from the 1960s onwards. "Originally, there was a lot of improvisation on the bouzouki," says Georgios Propkopiou, "much more than later. From the 1950s onwards, they were taught to play professionally. A lot of things became more fixed". Since then, the metallic sound of the instrument has become almost synonymous with Greek folklore as an accompaniment to songs and dances... especially with the composer Mikis Theodorakis, who produced more than a few catchy tunes. The bouzouki's jazz career, on the other hand, had yet to take off. It took a detour via Stockholm to get things moving. "The combination of bouzouki and jazz is not so obvious at first," says pianist Joel Lyssarides. "For me personally, it has to do with my grandfather, a Greek Cypriot. He came to Sweden in the 1940s. I always liked Greek music, but I wasn't really familiar with it. In any case, I found the bouzouki fascinating. During the pandemic, I bought myself an instrument to learn a little. While browsing the internet, I discovered Georgios through a TV concert, a tribute to Theodorakis. I was totally thrilled and asked around in Stockholm if anyone knew him. He actually happened to be playing a concert in a hotel bar nearby a few days later. That was in the fall of 2022. Joel Lyssarides listened to Georgios Prokopiou, spoke to him and they arranged to meet for a session. They jammed and improvised, quickly came together musically and played their first concert together in the summer of 2023. "It's very unusual for someone to improvise on changes with the bouzouki," Joel Lyssarides continues. "It's a traditional instrument with a clearly defined role, mostly accompaniment with doubled thirds and sixths. Georgios, however, does much more. At first I had no idea how incredibly virtuosic and stylistically variable he is. His versatility opens many doors. We had a lot of fun with the new possibilities right from the start. And I had never heard anyone play like that before. I absolutely had to write music for this". Lyssarides told ACT boss and producer Andreas Brandis about the idea for the duo and he was also immediately enthusiastic: "In ACT's interpretation, the term jazz primarily stands for a vocabulary with the help of which musicians tell their own story against their personal cultural background. It is fascinating that constellations are constantly being created here that never existed before. And the music that Joel Lyssarides and Georgios Prokopiou create together is absolutely surprising and new on the one hand, but at the same time sounds so organic and natural as if this constellation had always existed." However, it is not only the instruments piano and bouzouki that have come together, but also the special characters and stories of the two duo partners. Joel Lyssarides from Stockholm combines great virtuosity with impressive ease and a strong sense of mood and dynamics in his playing. He works with artists as diverse as Anne Sofie von Otter, Benny Anderson, Nils Landgren and Viktoria Tolstoy and is part of the Esbjörn Svensson tribute "e.s.t. 30". The ACT debut "Stay Now" by Lyssarides' own trio has been listened to an impressive 25 million times on Spotify alone since its release in 2022. Georgios Prokopiou, from Athens and Stockholm by choice, first played the bouzouki at the age of six and a half, made his concert debut at the age of eight and already had permanent music engagements in bars and brothels at the age of ten. Since then, he has worked in a classical context as well as in folk and experimental music, playing the bouzouki as well as the saz and other string instruments. The requirements for the album "Arcs & Rivers" were therefore as diverse and open as possible. After a rehearsal concert at the ACT Art Collection in Berlin, from which the live piece "Zafeirious Solo" was included on the album, the two met again at the same location to record other facets with studio equipment. "For example, we wanted to include quiet parts, mic'd up close. We also wanted the great sound of the grand piano that once belonged to Alfred Brendel. Overall, however, a lot was very spontaneous. The whole album was recorded in one go, within four hours, mostly with the first takes. I'm usually a perfectionist and spend days reworking music in the studio. This time, however, I wanted it to be as direct and spontaneous as possible. And it worked: "Arc & Rivers" is a dialog sketchbook with a standard-setting effect. Whether new compositions or adaptations of traditional rhythms and patterns as in "Kamilieriko Road" - this music has a dazzling, magical sound. And the duo itself radiates a naturalness of cultural fusion that transcends the narrowness of styles. And it makes it clear: it really is time for a little more bouzouki in jazz, in improvisation and on the stages of the international music world.