The start of 2023 will be about new music and new art as Pyrgatory Studios launch the album Ex Opseos by x.ypno with artwork by Khaled Khalifa. To mark the occasion and celebrate a new body of work, a performance event will take place on January 4 at Nicosia’s Thkio Ppalies.

“x.ypno’s new collection of neo-canticles,” say the organisers, “revolve around vernacular politics and the dichotomous state of a musician in Cyprus that finds themself unable to decide between which language or dialect to express themself in.”

x.ypno (Tasos Lamnisos) talking about this new album says: “Blurring the boundaries of ethnonational belonging and its sonic manifestations through a blind-faith act of code-switching (definition: when a speaker alternates between two or more languages, or language varieties [e.g., the Greek-Cypriot Dialect], in the context of a single conversation or situation). In the torn polity of southern Cyprus, Hip-Hop culture and, more broadly, electro-vocal music tends to exhibit several colloquial alterations whereby lyricists employ distinct languages of communication to address their audience. Dichotomous in the sense that one is disconnected from the vernacular dialect to such an extent that they feel like this mode of communication is inappropriate or, perhaps, that it oozes a smell of vulgarity that only SMG (Standard Modern Greek) speech can extinguish.”

Opening the event on January 4 will be a DJ set at 6pm by Ziryab which will last for two hours before DJ Spivak takes over. At 9.15pm, the evening’s live music sessions will begin with gr;fos before the x.ypno live band performs at 10pm. Closing the event will be a set by Inyø.

Album Launch and Exhibition

By x.ypno with live music, DJs and artwork by Khaled Khalifa. January 4. Thkio Ppalies, Nicosia. 6pm