elc team
Eli and the Portraits present “The Jungle Within”, a storytelling debut album set in a mythical jungle where animals confront their nature in a poetic musical fable.
On their debut album, Eli and the Portraits tell the story of The Jungle Within, creating a distinctive musical project shaped like a fairy tale set in an imaginary jungle inhabited by its own animal characters.
One night, Eli falls asleep drunk and, in his dream, wakes up inside a jungle. More specifically, he finds himself at a jungle council where the animals confess a recent struggle they each face with their own nature: an elephant who can no longer stomp powerfully on the ground, a turtle who fears the darkness inside her shell, a monkey who cannot accept that the next evolutionary step after him is the human being, and so on. A seemingly small discomfort grows into an unprecedented crisis for the jungle and for its king, the lion, who must make a crucial decision.
Listen to “The Jungle Within”:
https://fanlink.tv/TheJungleWithin
The video clip for Yellowish Fields, the album’s central track, directed by Lucian Amihaesei, will be released soon. Yellowish Fields is one of the first pieces Christos Papadopoulos wrote in this genre years ago, in Thessaloniki. It is a confrontation with the monster we see in the mirror. Our self-image—its worth and unworthiness, the constant static of our ego in front of the many mirrors of daily life reveals deficits and picks at hastily patched wounds. The only refuge is nature, its imperfect colours (“yellowish”, not even yellow), and its healing dance.
In the video clip, the members of Eli and the Portraits interact with the camera as if it were their mirror. They stare, re-stare, grimace, disapprove, praise, sing, thrash about, and in doing so, exorcize the monster of self-image. This is reinforced by the narrative of a jungle rising up against the unprecedented crisis it is experiencing.
Eli and the Portraits – The Jungle Within
- Christos Papadopoulos – music, lyrics, narration, vocals, guitars, ukulele, banjolele
- Nikolas Platon – trumpet, flute, synthesizer, bongos, drums, vocals
- Katerina Plexida – vocals
- Alexandros Pourloukkakis – piano, vocals
- Sofi Papakosma – double bass
- Rafaela Tsobanoudi – cello, vocals
- Dimitris Tsolis – drums
The recording, mixing, mastering, and production of The Jungle Within took place at Nikolas Platon’s home studio, completed by him—who quickly became an honorary member of Eli and the Portraits, even if he hadn’t expected it. That is, after all, the essence of our small community. We surprise one another. During the production process, they had the joy of welcoming numerous external collaborators—musician friends who offered something of themselves, something to share in our own small “jungle”:
- Antonis Magalios – electric guitar solo on Petey S. Dee
- Giorgos Chrysikos – double bass on Petey S. Dee and The Salt of the Earth, vocals on Petey S. Dee
- Michalis Karanikos – trombone on The Garden, The Forthcoming Tragedy, When I Fall
- Fanis Kosmas – clarinet on Elephant, Ape, The Forthcoming Tragedy
- Giorgos Fasoulas – bouzouki on The Forthcoming Tragedy
- Stella Pavlaki – violin on The Tall Man
- Chrysa Mera, Despina Barda, Evi Ilia, Katerina Mouchtaridi, Maria Ioannidou, Antonis Magalios, Fanis Kosmas, Giorgos Fasoulas, Xanthi – vocals on various tracks
Drum recordings took place at Studio Mosquito with Kostis Pyrinis, who also performed electric and acoustic guitar solos on Your Precious Heart is Growing.
Important collaborators on this journey also include Lucian Amihaesei (photography & video), Giorgos Serepas (artwork & animations), Antonis Magalios and Xanthi (production assistants and overall supporters). And of course, Katerina Trichia for communications.
The album’s funding was supported in large part through crowdfunding, and Eli and the Portraits thank: Alexandros, Dora, Ino, Sofia, Mimi, Paris, Bylio, Xanthi, Dimitris P., Dimitris I., Themis, Chrysa, Vasilis, Konstantinos, Konstantina, Christos K., Vivian, Nikos, Vally, Miles, Aspa, Christina, Antonia, Giorgos T., Christos Z., Kiki, Katerina Ch., Vaggelis, Aliki, Paschalis, Elpida, Fotini, Iliana, Nikoletta, Elena, Mary, Irini, Dimitris V., Krystallenia, Charikleia, Dimitra, Kostis, Thanos, Maria P., Giorgos M., Katerina G., Nasia, Mara, Maria L. — thank you all.
WHO IS WHO
Eli and the Portraits is a storytelling music project. Their stories begin in Thessaloniki, around 2013. There, Christos Papadopoulos (Eli) wrote his first indie-folk songs and presented them in May 2017 with the help of musician friends at the Ef theatre. The storytelling aspect grew out of his desire to “marry” his two favourite forms of narrative: music and theatre.
The name Eli and the Portraits comes from the radio play Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas, in which Reverend Eli Jenkins records the stories of the Welsh village of Llareggub in the form of poems and prayers, “in his cool front parlour where portraits of great bards and preachers hang heavy above his head like sheep.”
From the very beginning, each live appearance by Eli and the Portraits has centred on telling a story with Eli as the protagonist. Christos Papadopoulos is now based in Athens as an actor and musician, and reintroduces Eli and the Portraits as a musical community that is constantly evolving—both in its members and in the type and content of its artistic explorations.
