PAGAN are a Greek folk-rock group founded by composer and multi-instrumentalist Stavros Tsumanis. Although the band officially came together during the COVID-19 pandemic, its foundations lie in almost two decades of musical, historical and anthropological research through which Tsumanis explored the relationship between traditional music, rural memory and contemporary artistic expression.
Fronted by Greek-Syrian actress and vocalist Evelyn Assouad, PAGAN transform Greek folk songs into expansive modern arrangements built from electric and acoustic guitars, bass, drums and traditional instruments including gaida, kaval, ney and clarinet. Rather than reproducing tradition as a preserved historical object, the group treat it as living material, combining regional Greek melodies and rhythms with progressive folk, rock and broader world-music influences.
Their recorded catalogue includes Nona, Sfagi, Hydro, Kita me, Karotsa and Gianni. Several of these works reinterpret traditional songs from Epirus, Central Greece, Drama and Macedonia, while others use original music to explore migration, loss, love, death and humanity’s relationship with nature. Their official catalogue currently centres on individual releases rather than a completed full-length album.
PAGAN’s concerts are conceived as theatrical productions in which choreography, costumes, lighting, storytelling and physical movement are integrated with the music. This ritualistic approach has helped establish them as a distinctive presence in contemporary Greek folk music, connecting demotic tradition with the sound and visual language of a modern live band.
