Personal statement

Nassos Polyzoidis is a guitarist, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, music theorist and analyst from Athens, Greece.

He pursued extensive studies in various musical domains including electric guitar, music theory, jazz harmony, contemporary composition, vocals, piano, and songwriting, under the guidance of notable tutors such as Dr Davey Ray Moor, Professor Amanda Bayley, Pantelis Gertsos, Max Milligan and Nikos Panagiotakis.

He holds a PhD  in Music and a Master's degree in Songwriting from Bath Spa University, an Associate Diploma in Music Teaching from the University of West London, a degree in Music Harmony from the Musical Praxis Conservatory, and a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from the University of Athens.

Currently serving as the course leader for songwriting and electric guitar studies at two music schools, Nassos also imparts knowledge in acoustic guitar, music theory, jazz harmony, and occasionally ukulele at the National Conservatory, MusicFor network, and Diesi music school.Since October 2024, Nassos has a temporary teaching role at the Department of Music Studies of the University of Ioannina.

He released his debut album, Love in Crisis (2017), four singles (2017, 2022, 2023, 2024) and an EP (2024) under the pseudonym ‘Nassos Conqueso’ and is about to release his second album in early 2025.

He has also released six singles with his side project Sakké ConQuéso, he has contributed to other artists’ releases, as well as to the European Union's Introspection Music Experience project.

Nassos's interests in the areas of songwriting and production, intercultural songwriting and analysis, cross-genre theory and forms, processes of composition and lyric-writing, stem from his PhD at Bath Spa University on Blending rebetiko with blues, jazz, and rock. 

Nassos regularly presents his research at international conferences, including the SotonMAC 2019 (Southampton), the AVAMUS 2019 (Valencia), the IASMP UK&I 2020 (London), the KISMIF 2021 (Porto), the EuroMAC-10 (Moscow),the Rhythm Changes 2022 (Amsterdam) and AVAMUS 2024.

He has also published an article in 'Quadrívium' (2019) and a chapter in 'Keep it Simple, Make it Fast! An approach to underground music scenes' (2022).

Academic qualifications

  • PhD Music – Bath Spa University
  • MMus Songwriting – Bath Spa University
  • BSc (Hons) Computer Science - University of Athens
  • ALCM (TD) Music Teaching – University of West London

Professional memberships

  • Society for Music Analysis (SMA)
  • International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM)
  • Royal Musical Association (RMA)
  • International Musicological Society (IMS)
  • British Forum Ethnomusicology (BFE)
  • International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD)
  • Independent Society of Musicians (ISM)
  • Songwriters Hall of Fame (SongHall)
  • Panhellenic Musical Union (PMU)
  • Performing Rights Society (PRS)
  • Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL)
  • Registry of Guitar Tutors (RGT@LCM)

Thesis title

Blending rebetiko with blues, jazz, and rock: intercultural songwriting and analysis.

Research supervisors

Professor Amanda Bayley and Dr Matthew Sergeant.

Research interests

Songwriting, intercultural songwriting, popular music, transcultural music analysis, cross-genre theory and forms, ethnomusicology, primitivism.

Research and academic outputs

Articles

Chapters

Conference and workshop items

  • Polyzoidis, N. (2024) 'Drunk' rebetiko blues fusion: dissecting two contemporary songs. In: Music in the Mediterranean: East and West, Traditions and Modernities - AVAMUS International Conference, 12 July 2024, Facultat de Filologia, Traducció i Comunicació , University of València, Spain.
  • Polyzoidis, N. (2022) Rebetiko modes in a contemporary context: dromoi brightness, mirrors, and families. In: IASPM-Norden Conference "Disciplining Music Heritage", 14 October 2022, Seinäjoki Unit, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland.
  • Polyzoidis, N. (2022) Zembékiko: jazz guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg's rebetiko jazz tune. In: 7th Rhythm Changes Conference: Jazz Then & Now, 27 August 2022, Conservatorium van Amsterdam.
  • Polyzoidis, N. (2021) Westernisation of rebetiko modes: dromoi brightness and darkness. In: 10th European Music Analysis Conference (EuroMAC-10), 23 September 2021, Moscow P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
  • Polyzoidis, N. (2021) Reharmonising rebetiko modes in a contemporary context. In: Royal Musical Association 57th Annual Conference, 15 September 2021, Newcastle University.
  • Polyzoidis, N. (2021) Rebetiko songs labelled as "The Blues of the Prince [of Greek rock]". In: Birmingham Music Analysis Conference (BrumMAC 2021), 30 July 2021, University of Birmingham.
  • Polyzoidis, N. (2021) The commonalities between the DIY cultures of rebetiko and blues. In: "Keep it Simple, Make it Fast! DIY cultures and global challenges" KISMIF International Conference 2021, 9 July 2021, University of Porto, Portugal.
  • Polyzoidis, N. (2020) Rebetiko and blues: from Yiorgos Batis's "O Boufetzis" (1935) to Georges Pilali's "Teketzis" (1994). In: London Calling - IASPM UK&I Conference, 2 June 2020, University of West London.
  • Polyzoidis, N. (2020) 'Uncannily Alike'. In: Deductive and Inductive Working Methods: C21MP Online Practice Research Symposium, 2 May 2020, 21st Century Music Practice Research Network.
  • Polyzoidis, N. (2020) How I Write Songs. In: Introspection Music Experience, 12 February 2020, Laboratorio de las Artes de Valladolid, Spain.
  • Polyzoidis, N. (2020) Tsibiti: the country blues and Texas blues fingerstyle rebetiko. In: BFE-RMA Research Students' Conference 2020, 10 January 2020, The Open University, Milton Keynes.
  • Polyzoidis, N. (2019) Rebetiko meets the blues: the songwriting of Pavlos Sidiropoulos. In: Southampton Music Analysis Conference, 30 July 2019, University of Southampton, Southampton
  • Polyzoidis, N. (2019) Fingerstyle Rebetiko: the revival of a lost technique. In: The Mediterranean: Migrant Sounds - AVAMUS International Conference, 25 July 2019, Centre Cultural La Nau, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.

Audio recordings