CALLIOPE aka Calliope Gerakianaki is a musician and performer based in Athens. For Worldwide FM, she has created a mixtape named "Brass, My Oldest Friend", which is a patchwork of favourite tracks from Serbia, Romania, North Macedonia and Greece, all discovered through Agia Fanfara.

"It’s been a little over three years now that I’ve been following, whenever I get the chance - almost religiously - wherever they play: in the streets, neighbourhoods and parks of Athens, as well as across the Greek countryside, a brass band called Agia Fanfara. A collective of nearly 25 street musicians with a strong social and activist spirit. Although they come from different backgrounds, have different references and truly diverse musical influences, they share one common obsession: brass and the music of the Balkans.

Agia Fanfara means Saint Fanfare*. And it truly is. I believe. For three years now, I've believed in brass and its power. I discover and study pieces and rhythms I first encountered through this Sacred Brass Goddess. I watch people and the way they react to the sound of brass. I pick out, almost with envy, those experiencing it for the very first time. That extraordinary, sacred Brass Baptism. I keep coming face to face with something I feel has been living inside me for a long time. Something wild and primal. Music that makes you bold and uninhibited. Hands thrown in the air, hips set in motion.

I first picked up the euphonium in 2025 and looked at it as if I were holding some all-powerful weapon of alien design. I wonder how something so cold to the touch and to the eye can set my heart and chest on fire. It moves me at a slow pace. Makes me part of the circus. Part of the circle. Shows me how alike we are. With courage and breath, it sings, just as I do. It reminds me that, beyond being Cretan and Greek, I am Balkan, too. And that brass is, truly, my oldest friend.

Among them are also two of their own pieces, “Karydia” and “Tsaousa”, which they kindly entrusted to me to include in this collection. And I thank them for this gift."

*Fanfare: A brass and percussion band that plays mainly in the streets, at festivals, celebrations and gatherings. Across the Balkans, fanfares are an integral part of folk music traditions, accompanying weddings, dances and communal festivities.