The Sani Festival is the brainchild of the owners of the Sani/Ikos Group, an expression of their passion for music and the arts, complementing 28years of providing unique art experiences on Sani Hill.

The vision was always there, the bold idea, and the people who were to channel their own passion and enthusiasm into the new institution. And when the curtain rose, it was all just as they had hoped and imagined, a combination of nature’s beauty and the excitement for the arts. But what no one could have predicted on those August nights in 1992 was the wave of enthusiasm that would carry them all along – organizers, audience and musicians – on a journey that has now lasted twenty-eight years, and has every prospect of a long and successful future.

China Moses, Cassandra Wilson, Madeleine Peyroux, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Lizz Wright, Salif Keita, Terence Blanchard, Kurt Elling, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Charles Lloyd, Joshua Redman, Myriam Alter, Terri Lyne Carrington, Sasha Pepelyaev, Hugh Coltman, Eric Harland, Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Lionel Loueke,  Joss Stone, Yaron Herman, Michael Wollny, Hiromi, Daniel Hope, Till Brönner, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Angelique Kidjo, Christian Sands, Joachim Horsley, Gunhild Carling, Dionysis Savvopoulos, Alkistis Protopsalti, Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Natassa Bofiliou, Dimitra Galani, Stavros Xarhakos, Manolis Mitsias, Eleni Vitali, Katerina Polemi, Elli Paspala, Vassilikos, Nikos Portokaloglou, Savvina Giannatou.

These are only a few of the artists that Sani Festival has hosted over the years, a programme that often staged Greek young and emerging artists presented also by MATAROA (ex Giorgos Emmanuel Lazaridis, Dimitris Maramis, Nikolas Anadolis, Simos Papanas, Petros Klampanis, Zoi Tsokanou).

Through these years, Sani Festival has been the only private-sector festival in Greece to be so highly respected both nationally and internationally, and one to have to have become a major date in the cultural calendar. There are many reasons for its success, perhaps most important is that it was established by people with faith, supported by talented associates, featured legends of the international musical scene and the cream of the Greek music industry, and is appreciated by an ever-growing audience.

Over the years the team of Sani Festival watched the festival grow, rewarding the commitment and passion they had put into it and acquiring equally enthusiastic audiences, who returned to Sani Hill each summer to enjoy performances by a whole host of musicians and other artists, some famous, some less well-known – but all of them making their own contribution to the evolution of the Festival into an international institution, a landmark date in the cultural calendar, an educator of its own kind.

Quote by President of SANI/IKOS, Mr Stavros Andreadis

The Sani Festival is a work of love. It has a life of its own, being independent, and vital to be subject to cultural preconceptions or narrow political or business objectives. This is what the audiences love about the Festival – this and the originality and variety of the performers. Every winter the team allows themselves to dream… and every summer they see those dreams come to fruition, allowing their imagination free rein, untrammeled by rigid commitments or ulterior objectives. And this is the secret which keeps each year’s Sani Festival new and fresh, which helps us avoid the trap of predictability and staleness.