The Nābu Pēra music project, hailing from the vibrant streets of Nicosia, is a trio that blends tradition and modernity into an original and surprising sound landscape and language. Comprised of Savvas Thoma (bendir, vocals), Natasa Hadjiandreou (vibraphone, percussions), and Demetris Yiasemides (flute, sylphyo electronic wind instrument, and electronics), Nābu Pēra was formed in Cyprus with a clear mission: to rewrite the way we listen to and interpret the soundscapes that surround us.
Their debut album, due out on October 10th, 2025, on the Italian record label Zero Nove Nove, is titled Soundscapes of Nicosia, with distribution on all major digital platforms by Believe and available on CD and LP through Self (Italy), Inouïe (France), and Xango Music (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg).
Soundscapes of Nicosia is a sonorous map that explores, reinterprets, and transforms the auditory identity of the Cypriot capital. Nicosia becomes not only a source of inspiration, but also an instrument: the voices that pass through it and its echoes intertwine with acoustic instruments and electronic textures in an original and contemporary musical narrative.
Nicosia, Europe's last divided capital, is a city crisscrossed by geopolitical and cultural borders, where complex histories, Greek and Turkish traditions, Middle Eastern influences, and traces of a colonial past coexist. This unique crossroad of cultures and tensions is also fertile ground for artistic experimentation: a city rich in contrasts, where past and future constantly collide. It is within this context that Nābu Pēra's original sound sprang forth, rooted in the ever-evolving soul of the city yet, at the same time, radiating out to the world.
The urban soundscape, too often ignored thanks to the frenetic pace of modern life, actually reflects a city's identity. It is composed of a complex interweaving of sounds, some ancient and others generated by new technologies, which recount stories, emotions, and transformations. Nābu Pēra invites the listener to slow down, to awaken the senses, to pay attention, and to rediscover the invisible signals that define the profound character of the places we inhabit.
It is World music, indeed, but filtered through a personal lens that blends contemporary classical music, improvisation, electronic beats, and Mediterranean traditions. The result is a layered musical universe, where ambient flutes, polyrhythmic percussion, electronic vibrations, and evocative vocals blend into an immersive, multisensory listening experience.
Conceived as an invitation to redefine one's relationship with the auditory environment, Soundscapes of Nicosia is a journey that leads the listener down a sensorial path of discovery of the city of Cyprus, a rare experience even for those who live there or have passed through it. Familiar yet often overlooked sounds — like the rhythm of footsteps, faraway memories, an electric buzz hovering in the air — become transformed into musical material, opening up new listening perspectives. Recorded at Hot Soap Studio in Larnaca, the album is the result of intensive research and collaboration among musicians from diverse backgrounds, united by the desire to offer audiences something authentic, modern, and deeply rooted in the Mediterranean.
Nābu Pēra does not limit itself to simply ‘playing’ the city sounds: it listens to it, deciphers it, and reinvents it, thereby creating a new way of experiencing music and, within it, the space we move through every day.