Monika

Monika Christodoulou first rose to prominence among Greece’s leading independent acts and later extended her reach into theatrical composition, establishing herself as an artist who consistently defied conventional limits. She entered music by joining her brother’s rock ensemble at seventeen, then launched a solo career several years afterward. Drawing on introspective material shaped by Leonard Cohen, Ennio Morricone, and the Arcade Fire, she uploaded her recordings to MySpace; grassroots attention around “Over the Hill” secured the 2008 release of her debut album Avatar on the independent imprint Archangel. Ottomo handled production while Calexico’s Martin Wenk supplied string and trumpet arrangements, and the record earned both critical praise and platinum certification in Greece, marking Monika as one of the nation’s most notable emerging voices. She reunited with Ottomo for the 2010 follow-up Exit, whose material incorporated elements of opera, French chanson, and Greek folk traditions. In 2011 she moved into live theater by composing the original score for Angela Brouskou’s production Mom -- Life Is Wildly Incredible. During a 2012 visit to Daptone Records in New York she encountered Homer Steinweiss of the Dap-Kings and Menahan Street Band; after sharing demos with Steinweiss and Thomas Brenneck the three agreed to collaborate. Throughout 2013 Monika presented selections from Avatar and Exit within the multimedia series Primal and also created the music for a staging of Sophocles’ Antigone that opened at the Benaki Museum Atrium. Work on her third album with Steinweiss and Brenneck began in 2014. Released in October 2015 on Other Music Records, Secret in the Dark featured contributions from musicians associated with the Menahan Street Band, the Dap-Kings, and Antibalas while Monika ventured into disco, art-pop, and adjacent styles.