Ananke [uh-nung-kee] is the Greek word for necessity. It's also a wide-open, occasional trio of Achilles Yiangoulli, Nick Tsiavos & Anthony Schulz. Ananke is based in Melbourne, Australia.

The trio has always been an execution of a ‘leap of faith' when creating this sound world. We discard the expected functional roles of our instruments and familiar musical structures, and instead, look for resonance and narratives within the moment.

In a manner very similar to ‘surfing', we three paddle out to sea then wait, bobbing up and down in the swell ‘til a suitable wave arrives – then, it gets complex. As the surge propels you along, you try to negotiate pathways for yourself while at the same time maintaining a dialogue of sorts with the other two. You continually search for moments of self expression, yet are always looking for ways to interact with and respond to the other members, and this is all happening while the ‘wave' is surging under you, constantly changing direction and intensity.

I suppose, when things are working, we get into a state some people call ‘flow'. There is no real conscious awareness in performance, but the sub conscious is working over time.

And, at the end of the day, we three are all romantics and much of our aesthetic lies in the land of bittersweet.

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Nick Tsiavos is a bassist and composer whose work operates at the intersections of a number of cultural boundaries: from 8th century chant to contemporary minimalism, from syncretic hybridisation to experimental improvisation, from church to pub to concert hall.

Since 1994, Tsiavos has been developing new music for the solo bass. As an ‘ethnic' musician he is interested in, and informed by, non-canonical discourse, while refusing the tokenism that ethnicity often entails. The diversity of his cultural influences come together to create a new language for the bass – work articulating an intensely personal response to the problematics of contemporary Australian culture. For more information see www.nicktsiavos.net

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Achilles Yiangoulli is a founding member and lead vocalist with the habibis who won an Aria award for their CD Intoxication which featured in the Australian film Head On.

He is also a key member of the Greek Blues band Rebetiki who were the in-house band for Channel Sevens' hit comedy series Greeks on the Roof. Rebetiki have also recently performed at the National Folk Festival and Woodford Music Festival. His passion in fusing contemporary and traditional Greek music has resulted in the formation of the ensembles Ananke and Eurotrash Taxim who are about to release a new recording of original and improvised music.

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Anthony Schulz is one of the foremost accordion players in Australia. His distinctive accordion style and interpretations make him instantly recognisable in all fields of music. His playing, while being true to its roots in the traditional genres including Berlin Cabaret, Argentinian Tango, Folk and Brazilian music as well as Jazz, Rock, Fusion and Classical music, is unmistakably contemporary and relevant.

He has established himself firmly as a contemporary composer and performer with his work in the cutting edge world music/jazz ensemble Frock. Work with this ensemble has taken him on tours to Europe and Asia including the renowned Montreux Jazz Festival, their last tour coinciding with the release of their second CD.

Anthony is recognised and much sought after in professional music circles and performs regularly with leading Australian and international artists and ensembles including Doug de Vries, Dave Samuels The Australian Pops Orchestra and the Victorian State Orchestra (Wozzeck). He has recorded for Paul Grabowski ,Nichaud Fitzgibbon and Michelle Nicole and tours regularly with World Music award winning singer Zulya.

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