About the agency...
ASTAMATITOS World Music is an independent concert- & booking-agency with a focus on Reggae and World Music from Greece. It was founded in 2005 by Nikos Nikiforos and initially emerged from the fusion of the two former independent projects ASTAMATITOS and THREE BLIND MICE, which were connected by a long lasting friendship and many common projects. Having started as a DJ and local promoter, by now Nikos alias ASTAMATITOS has successfully organized and carried out over 208 concerts, 25 tours and two festivals in Germany and Europe. In doing so, ASTAMATITOS World Music is responsible for the entire tour management, allowing the artists to do just what they love most - playing music. Technical equipment (Backline, PA etc.), tour busses (incl. driver) and (almost) everything else can be arranged for.
To provide for the expected quality, ASTAMATITOS World Music represents solely professional musicians and only a small - but exquisite - selection of artists and bands. Further, ASTAMATITOS World Music is able to resort to a wide network of promoters, locations and media representatives which has been formed by previous successful collaborations. To extend this network and to live up to its reputation of being a reliable, honest and professional partner is ASTAMATITOS main objective.
ASTAMATITOS World Music places a special focus on artists from the Greek world music scene, being the only promoter inthis very special domain for quite a long time. While Greek pop and mainstream artists already toured Germany, playing almost merely for the Greek community, the agency has provided young Greek artists with the possibility to attract a new audience. The resulting encounters do not just overcome national borders and age differences. In times of the so-called crisis, these encounters are supposed to counter the heated and splitting rhetoric of mainstream media and politicians which erodes the solidarity among people.
The Story so far…
The foundation of the project ASTAMATITOS World Music is the music collection of Nikos Nikiforos, who started DJing at the age of thirteen. While in the first years he mainly focused on US-Hip Hop music (Eazy E, Too Short, Gang Starr, De La Soul, Wu Tang Clan, Tony Touch, Cash Money and others), he eventually upgraded his Hip-Hop collection with releases from GB, Spain, France, Germany and especially Greece in the following years.
Nikos depicts his experiences as follows: “In these days, these special mixtapes, LPs and CDs were extremely hard to get and were only available at selected record stores. Thereby one was forced to engage in music even more, in my case leading to an even greater identification with my music and my collection.”
While growing up, Nikos expanded his musical horizon incorporating Reggae, Mestizo, Latin-Ska, Cumbia, Balkan Beats, Gypsy Brass, Greek Folk and Rembetiko into his record case. Armed with this explosive mix, in 2005 Nikos started to name himself ASTAMATITOS and teamed up with his old friends from THREE BLIND MICE in order to share his selection with the audience. Results of this collaboration were numerous parties and events in the area of Cologne and Bonn as well as the popular world music party series FOLXTANZ.
Also in 2005 Nikos made a real catch when he fished the CD “12 meres styn Jamaica“ (12 days in Jamaica) of the Greek Band LOCOMONDO out of a shelf of his favourite record store in Thessaloniki. The fact that the long player was recorded in the legendary Studio One in Jamaica by none other than VIN GORDON of THE SKATALITESpiqued Nikos interest and the strong mix of Jamaican sound with Greek lyrics and musical elements left a deep and lasting impression.
Excited by this experience, Nikos contacted the band and invited them to play some gigs in Germany. With the following LOCOMONDO-Tour in 2006, ASTAMATITOS and THREE BLIND MICE were able to demonstrate their organizational skills regarding concerts and tours for the first time. Further, the band was pleased with playing in locations like the Gebäude 9 in Cologne and experiencing media interest, e.g. by the radio station WDR Funkhaus Europa which is still one of ASTAMATITOS closest partners.
To immerse deeper into their new hobby of organizing concerts and tours, in 2007 the two projects founded the THREE BLIND MICE Agency with Nikos being responsible for booking, tour management and promotion. In the same year, the second LOCOMONDO-Tour was organized and conducted, this time with seven concerts in Germany and one in the Netherlands. ASTMATITOS and THREE BLIND MICE moved on in 2008 to host the World Music Festival KOSMO PAREA in the Gloria Theater in Cologne which attracted visitors from near and far for two days. The festival was opened by LOCOMONDO who were followed by the ORIGINALKOCANI ORKESTAR with their star trumpeter KING NAAT VELIOV , LA CHERGA, the AMSTERDAM KLEZMER BAND, DJ CLICK, DJ KOSTA KOSTOVand the GYPSY SOUND SYSTEM. Also in 2008 the agency was again able to bring LOCOMONDO to Germany for a tour with ten concerts, leading to an additional festival-tour (Chiemsee Reggae, Fusion Festival, ...) in 2009. In the same year, the second KOSMO PAREA took place in the Stadtgarten in Cologne. Among the artists on stage were LA CASA BANCALE from France and ROTFRONT from Berlin. In 2011, the fourth and most successful tour of LOCOMONDO, which included a concert in the legendary Ost Klub in Vienna, was carried out.
After all these positive experiences and with a deep trust in his abilities and work relationships, in 2012, Nikos founded the agency ASTAMATITOS World Music as an individual entrepreneur. His main ambition is to provide guidance to even more top-artists of the Greek world music scene and introduce them to a wide audience in Germany. The start of the new agency could not have been better as ASTAMATITOS World Music signed IMAM BAILDI and conducted their first tour outside Greece (twelve concerts in Germany and Denmark) in the same year.
In 2013, while LOCOMONDO went on their European tour (e.g. Paris, Antwerpen), ASTAMATITOS World Music additionally realised its largest project up to that point with the IMAM BAILDI-Tour, which included 19 concerts in 25 days. Having acquired a taste for it, in 2014 IMAM BAILDI toured even twice (May and September), whereas especially the European tour with gigs in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Benelux countries were a big success for both the band and the agency. Further, with MARAVEYAS ILEGÁL the ASTAMATITOS World Music family welcomed the next outstanding artist and sent him straightaway on tour through Germany. Meanwhile, LOCOMONDO toured for the seventh time in the last nine years.
The current artist roster includes LOCOMONDO, IMAM BAILDI, MARAVEYAS ILEGÁL, EISVOLEAS & THE TEDD’S, ONE DROP FORWARD, LA CASA BANCALE and TRALALKA. Additionally, with the signing of the fabulous OPERA CHAOTIQUE, ASTAMATITOS World Music was able to strengthen its portfolio with a very unique crossover cabaret show.
For further information about the artists, please click here.