Paul Pacanowski

Ilios Steryannis: Babylonia Suite

by Dan McClenaghan
October 15, 2023

Canadian drummer Ilios Steryannis traces his family roots back 2,500 years to ancient Babylonia. With his Babylonia Suite, he explores the family tree and his maternal grandparents' diasporic journey from Baghdad to Mumbai to Manchester and finally to Canada with a world music selection of sunshine bright music, with eleven life-affirming compositions. The instruments include piano, bansuri flute, violin, tabla, oud and saxophone. The result is a sort of Middle Eastern, Indo-jazz fusion that shifts into the direction of “Blue ...