Semeli Tagara

Semeli Tagara’s music is rooted in her haunting vocals and unsparing lyrical eye for reflection, whether on her own records, or with the variety of projects she’s dived into and the artists she’s collaborated with — a list that stretches from her jazz rock band What?Ever, the experimentalisms with Transformation of Silence, and her side project FaSol Giants, all the way to David Lynch and Sabadu Trio. She was also the co-creator of the tribute to Leonard Cohen in venues across Greece, has opened concerts for Calexico, Dot Allison, and Thalia Zedek, and she’s even participated in gigs alongside Steve Wynn in Thessaloniki and Athens.

Born and raised in Thessaloniki, she showed an early flair for music, penning her first composition at the tender age of six. She tried studying piano and cello at the New Conservatory of Thessaloniki, while also writing poems. Her professional journey began when she collaborated with Stefan Schwerdtfeger from the alt pop/rock band Big Sleep, and, soon after, she signed a deal with Sony Music. Her debut album, “Ginetai astra ki istera skoni” (it becomes stars and then dust), a paraphrase of a well-known verse by poet Tasos Leivaditis, and especially the standout track “Kapnos” (smoke), triggered a promising career during which she never stopped pushing the boundaries of her creativity, embracing new perspectives, and enriching her personal style.

Semeli kept herself busy with many creative encounters, such as dance, cinema, and theater. She wrote music for short films, she improvised for the documentary “Voices of the City”, she performed “Dreams within Dreams” at the venue of Vitruvian Thing, she collaborated with the Die Wolke art group for the play Cascade, and she also contributed to the Thessaloniki International Short Film Festival, having composed the themes for the opening ceremony and the awards’ announcements.

Following her 2024 EP “Horizon”, she released the intricately crafted singles “1,2,3” and “The One” as parts of her new album “Insane Sane”, set for release in February 2025 via Fine!Records. With the lyrics mainly focused on relationships, Semeli Tagara is often brassy and assertive, and even more than capable of expressing heart-aching vulnerability in a realized and cohesive work.

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