Elegio produces a few drops of miracle to the ears, eyes and skin, to each of the senses that yearns for the Homeric Greece, mythical yet brutally real at a time when Europe is confused and seems to be lost between islands, States, men… Photis’ work resonates today like an unquestionably essential chord, consubstantial to a reconstruction of the Old Continent. “No new world without a new language,” said Ingeborg Bachmann. No exaggeration in my statement. I would not write poetry if I did not have enough faith in the power of language. He imparts this new language, or rather shows you that a pre-poetry can become a post-poetry in the commercial world… I listen to him and with him without ceasing, the poets who broke down this blind prejudice: they remind me that the mystery is best unraveled through the light — than through the darkness. Photis Ionatos recreates parcels of his story for 45 years. A story that goes through the Greece of the poets, a personal exile and a timeless transmission. In this twelfth album, the author and composer sublimes the ordinary life through a long breath on a slow rhythm, yet intense. The expression is sometimes static, the interpretation delivered without melodrama. Photis Ionatos speaks in French to facilitate the understanding and sings in Greek to attain higher levels. He captures the words of S. Tsambiras, Y. Ritsos, Homère, O. Elytis and other immortals. In La ville de K. Kavafis, he sings : “I will travel by another land, I will travel by another sea, I will surely find a better city than this”. And he succeeded, and the voyage continues with this masterpiece. – Yves Bernard (« Le Devoir » Québec Canada)