Koza Mostra is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

rock band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

founded in 2012. It consists of Ilias Kozas (lead singer, classical and electric

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

), Dimitris Raptis (drums), Stavros Apostolidis (

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', , from Greek , from Turkish ) is a musical instrument popular in West Asia (Syria, Iraq), Europe and Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey). It is a member of the long-necked lute fam ...

, backing vocals), Giannis Bellos (

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, backing vocals), Tasos Gentzis (

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

, backing vocals) and Asterios Fragos (electric guitar, backing vocals). The band fuses

ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

, and rock music together with the style of traditional

Greek folk music Greek traditional music (, , 'traditional music'; also , , 'folk songs') includes a variety of Culture of Greece, Greek styles played by Greek people, ethnic Greeks in Greece, Cyprus, Australia, the United States and other parts of Europe. Apar ...

such as Macedonian Greek music and

rebetiko Rebetiko (, ), plural rebetika ( ), occasionally transliterated as rembetiko or rebetico, is a term used to designate previously disparate kinds of urban Greek music which in the 1930s went through a process of musical syncretism and develope ...

. They represented Greece in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2013 The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the 58th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Euphoria (Loreen song), Euphoria" by Loreen. Organised by the Europea ...

with

Agathonas Iakovidis Agathonas Iakovidis (; 2 January 1955 – 5 August 2020) was a Greek folk singer of rebetiko style. He represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with Koza Mostra and the song " Alcohol Is Free". Career Agathonas Iakovidis was bor ...

and the song "

Alcohol Is Free "Alcohol Is Free" is a song performed by Koza Mostra and Agathonas Iakovidis. It was the Greek entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013, where it eventually came 6th at the finals. It was composed as a mix of ska, punk and rebetiko music s ...

", placed 6th in the final. Their debut album ''Keep up the Rhythm'', released on March 22, 2013, reached triple

Platinum certification Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

from Greek music industry authority IFPI. It was published by Panik Platinum Records, which is a sublabel of Panik Entertainment Group responsible for "Greek Ethnic music". On December 15, 2017, they released their second album entitled ''Corrida''. This album was published by Panik Oxygen Records, also a sublabel of Panik Entertainment Group. Subsequent releases were self-released without a label by Koza Mostra. The album artwork for Koza Mostra's two studio albums, was created by Paul Hitter, who is also responsible for the majority of American punk band

Gogol Bordello Gogol Bordello is an American punk rock band from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, formed in 1999 by musicians from all over the world and known for theatrical stage shows and persistent touring. Much of the band's sound is inspired by Roma ...

's artwork. On February 1, 2020 they released a single entitled "Requiem" featuring Pedro Erazo of Gogol Bordello. On June 27, 2022, they released a single entitled "Bilio". On January 6, 2024 they released a single entitled "Elvis". On September 28, 2024 the band announced on social media, that they would be doing an album preview tour in the United Kingdom, and revealing the title of their upcoming third album, ''Malaka''. The release date was later revealed to be 30 November 2024.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Awards

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Greek musical groups Greek ska groups Musical groups from Thessaloniki Eurovision Song Contest entrants