The premiere of the Attica Roots Festival — the new music festival launched by the Region of Attica — got off to a spectacular start on the evening of Thursday, June 25. Aiming to become a landmark cultural institution, the festival brings tradition into the present through a series of open, free-admission events held at iconic venues across the Athens basin. The curtain rose at the Roman Agora, a site of profound historical and symbolic significance, where hundreds of attendees enjoyed the opening concert, performed by Mode Plagal. Responding to the Region of Attica’s invitation, the audience was taken on a musical journey through a unique sonic blend, where the sounds of jazz, funk, blues, and Afrobeat merged organically with the rhythms and scales of Greek musical tradition.
Read more: Attica Roots Festival: Dimitra Galani to perform a free concert at Sounio
Nikos Hardalias: “Supporting contemporary creativity”
The Governor of Attica, Nikos Hardalias, who attended the concert, made the following statement: “Attica is a modern metropolitan region that creates, inspires, evolves, and opens itself to the world with confidence. With the Attica Roots Festival, we are charting a new creative path — one that reflects how we envision culture in the country’s leading region: with aesthetic sensibility, dignity, seriousness, structure, and a great deal of methodical work. This festival is only the beginning. We have much more to do to clearly communicate our vision for culture — a holistic vision that will span all 12 months of the year and extend well beyond music. We want a culture that is open and accessible to everyone; a culture that belongs to every citizen, every generation, and every neighborhood. We support contemporary creativity, we give space to artists, and we bring art closer to everyday life. Attica has depth, history, identity, and dynamism — and these are precisely the qualities we want to highlight, with consistency and lasting commitment.”
Also in attendance were the Deputy Governor of Attica, Christina Kefalogiannis; the Regional Vice-Governors of Eastern Attica, Dimitrios Damaskos; Piraeus, Stavros Voidonikolos; Western Sector, Charalampos Alexandratos; Finance, Stavroula Makri; Spatial Planning and Urban Affairs, Theodoros Koutsogiannopoulos; and Volunteering, Evgenia Barbagiannis-Adamopoulou. Other attendees included the Region’s Press Spokesperson and Advisor Konstantinos Zombos, the Cultural Affairs Advisor Bessy Argyrakis, the President of the Metropolitan Committee for Tourism Promotion and Development Nikos Chiotakis, SOSCHE member Christos Theodoropoulos, the leader of the main opposition group on the Regional Council Giorgos Ioakimidis, regional councillors Evangelos Albanis, Anna Antoniou, and Eleni Avramopoulou, the Special Secretary of the Region of Attica Elena Raptis, and the General Director of the Local Government Development Organization “New Metropolitan Attica S.A.” Efi Filiopoulou.
About the Attica Roots Festival
The Attica Roots Festival is the Region of Attica’s bold new cultural initiative, rooted in a living connection to musical heritage. The festival features an ambitious programme of 9 concerts and live performances running from June 25 to July 25, held at archaeological sites, public squares, and places of collective memory — all free of charge. The festival treats tradition not as a relic of the past, but as an active field of inspiration and creation, while also celebrating the rich tapestry of musical currents that, over the centuries, have crossed paths, taken root, and flourished across Attica.
From the Roman Agora and Sounio to Eleusis, Drapetsona, the Zappeion, Dexameni, and Kotzia Square, the Athens basin is transformed into an open musical map — one where traditional songs, folk memories, Mediterranean melodies, and the sounds of the East, Crete, Smyrna, the Balkans, and urban Athens all come together.
The festival lineup features acclaimed artists and ensembles, including Dimitra Galani with the Estudiantina of Nea Ionia and the Greek Byzantine Choir, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Evanthia Reboutsika, Hainides, Eleni Tsaligopoulou, Martha Fritzila with The Kubara Project, Gadjo Dilo, and Barikada.
Next stop: Sounio with Dimitra Galani
Following the successful premiere at the Roman Agora, the festival continues its journey to another iconic Attica landmark, reaffirming its core mission: to connect the musical experience with place, history, and collective memory. The next Attica Roots Festival concert will take place on Sunday, June 28, at 9:00 p.m., at the refreshment area of the Sounio archaeological site. There, acclaimed singer Dimitra Galani, together with the Estudiantina of Nea Ionia and the Greek Byzantine Choir under the direction of Giorgos Konstantinou, will perform works by Vasilis Tsitsanis.
The work of this unforgettable folk singer, composer, and lyricist touches the very soul of Greece, giving voice to the hopes and anxieties of its people. His musical roots, however, run far deeper than the boundaries of traditional folk song — and it is precisely these deeper dimensions that Sunday’s concert will seek to illuminate.
The festival’s media sponsors are Next Step Media Group and iefimerida.gr, while the television media sponsor is MEGA. For more information about the Attica Roots Festival 2026, visit: www.atticaroots.gr.
