Kontovourkis & Co.

Cypriot band Kontovourkis & Co. are what you’d least expect to find belting out country tunes à la skiffle craze of yesteryears - yet the band carries an ungovernable joviality that’s hard not to kick your shoes off and dance to.

The story of Kontovourkis & Co. begins in Larnaca’s southeast coast of the much-coveted island of Cyprus, a country not quite in any of the three continents it intersects, with local dialects that aren’t quite Greek or Turkish, and with a cultural identity long effaced by more conquerors across the millenia than its fellow EU members can bear to admit. Yet rather than succumb to overworn PR stunts of anthems of resistance or exotic folk-psychedelic fuzz fusion, the band take things as they come, liberated by any sounds that bring music to their ears.

Formed in 2016 by Michalis Kontovourkis, a key figure in Larnaca’s music hub, Kontovourkis & Co. honed their sound through their live gigs, drawing inspiration from foundational artists across the rock, singer-songwriter, and indie genres spectrum. After turning heads on the island with his 2018 singer-songwriter album ‘Ap tin Arxi’, Michalis spearheaded Kontovourkis & Co.’s formation as its band members offered more creative direction to the songs. Marking Kontovourkis & Co.’s debut, the band is releasing a string of three singles penned by horn and harmonica player Duncan McCowan, who himself brings along his musical past in London's roots busking scene of the 1980s.