The Pirates

It all began in a French vineyard.

I met Agusto there. A young contrabassist from Argentina with such love for music that we became friends instantly. Two years later, he planned to visit me in Greece for a few days.

He arrived. The next day, COVID locked the world down.

His six-day visit became six months.

We transformed a backyard storage room into a bedroom. We turned our home into an unofficial academy of music theory. The lessons never stopped. Every day: Agusto playing, me composing or accompanying on piano. Every night: dinners that stretched until morning, discussing music, feelings, theories, jamming until the sun peeked over the village.

Before Agusto, I thought I knew the contrabass. A slow, deep, mammoth beast. Then I heard him play Argentinian tango. The beast woke up. It became clear, sharp, agile, rhythmic, scherzando. A hero, not a shadow. I had to write for him!

The Hero was my first attempt. But it wasn't enough. I needed to go deeper. Find rhythms and patterns worthy of a player like Agusto. Maybe it was the isolation. Maybe the moonshine. Maybe the sheer madness of two musicians locked in a Greek village with nothing but time and strings.

The image came: The Pirates.

Not the romantic kind. The dirty, gold-toothed, limping, laughing, scheming kind. The kind who walk barefoot on wooden decks, climb rigging like monkeys, and plan betrayals in candlelit huddles.

I started composing. The music poured out like a curse.

But a pirate needs more than a chieftain. He needs a hero.

I searched for a cellist for three years. Not because there weren't players, but because there wasn't a Privateer. Not yet.

Then I found Ioannis Stefos.

Kind. Lovable. Humble. The sort of person you'd trust with your secrets.

And then he picked up his bow.

The transformation was absolute. The kind, lovable man vanished. In his place stood a deadly corsair, eyes sharp, bow arm fierce, every note dripping with defiance. The Privateer had arrived.

..and the cursed cycle began!

..let's Sail Wildly at Heart!