‘Marble King’ is a collection of instrumental pieces by Stamatis Spanoudakis inspired by Constantine Palaiologos, the last Byzantine emperor reigning from 1449 until his death in battle at the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Spanoudakis invites us to a journey through time, fuelled by his impeccable abi...
Byzantine Vesper (Vyzantinos Esperinos) is widely regarded as one of the most sophisticated albums of Greek folk music. Released in 1973, this is a collection of songs written by Lefteris Papadopoulos, composed by Apostolos Kaldaras and performed by George Dalaras and Haris Alexiou. Here Kaldaras...
Music critic Giorgos V. Monemvasitis notes: “Charming and distant, the field of Byzantine Music keeps its secrets well and tightly sealed in secluded cells, in sparse libraries, in hermetically sealed chests. It constitutes a timeless challenge for daring connoisseurs. Strong hands and brave hearts m...
The week that starts today is dedicated to the presence of the Byzantine empire in Greek music and song. We start our week-long journey to Byzantium with modern songs that have lyrics containing references to it – to the days, the galleys and the faces of Byzantium. Nikos Androulakis, Costas Mantzios, M...
A big part of the Greek song can be categorised as ‘protest song’, i.e. as a type of song informed by political critique and vision. From Giannis Markopoulos to Nikolas Asimos and from Thanos Mikroutsikos to the Katsimiha brothers, countless composers and creators connected their work with the dem...
Mikis Theodorakis was not only a superb composer but also a deeply political leader and intellectual. His assessment of the situation after the coup d'état of April 21, 1967, was broadly as follows: “The dictatorship of the colonels was in the long run a great mistake on the part of the Americans. It...
The protest songs of Manos Loizos
The political character of composer Manos Loizos’ art comes out effortlessly through his songs, from "The Leader" to "World War III" and from "The Tree" to "The Soldier". Today's walk through his creations, which are replete with humanism and militancy, is based o...
Music critic Ilan Solomon writes: “Panos is the birth of a generation of giving, a generation of hardship and struggle for freedom. He endured until the end of his life without protest, having poetry and song as the balm of his soul”. Today, we will be appreciating the songwriting art of Panos Tzavellas, fue...
Alekos Sakellarios was the man who generously gave laughter, emotion, nostalgia and optimism to Greece during his time; he was popular, lovable, intelligent and very productive: Sakellarios was one of the most important representatives of the post-war modern Greek comedy and one of the most important...
This week is dedicated to the 1973 uprising of the Athens Polytechnic School against the dictatorship and to the anti-fascist struggle today. Our track list today is based on a collection of anti-fascist songs titled “Fascism will not die on its own – kill it!”, which was released in 2014. As the p...
We conclude our week-long tribute to Ritsos with two works that are representative of the sound of the 1970s and the political song that prevailed in the …long second half of that decade. Marios Tokas’ songs are based on ten previously unreleased poems of Yannis Ritsos while Giorgos Kotsonis sets to ...
The setting to music of Ritsos’ Blackened Clay Pot by Christos Leontis is definitely one of the greatest moments in the history of Greek song. This is an album of immense emotional power, through which the political-humanist messages of the poet are revealed in their fullest, universal form. Blackened C...
Dimitris Kyriakidis, son of Stelios Kyriakidis, the legendary marathon runner who glorified Greece to the ends of the earth, is featured on TIME IN GREECE with Nikolas Angelidis. A unique, heartfelt testimony... The life of the legend of Greek sport, his great social contribution and dozens of untold...
From Mikis Theodorakis’ rich and long engagement with Ritsos’ poetry, we choose to focus on Epitafios, a poem that Ritsos wrote in 1936 and that Theodorakis set to music in 1960. Today, we will be appreciating a 2000 live recording of this historic work, orchestrated and curated by maestro Stavros Xar...
The encounter of Thanos Mikroutsikos with Ritsos led to the Cantata for Makronisos, a collection of songs and avant-garde sounds that remains as pioneering as it was when it was released in 1976. In the poetry of Ritsos, composer Mikroutsikos found a fertile ground for experimentation, including an...
A big part of the Greek song can be categorised as ‘protest song’, i.e. as a type of song informed by political critique and vision. From Giannis Markopoulos to Nikolas Asimos and from Thanos Mikroutsikos to the Katsimiha brothers, countless composers and creators connected their work with the dem...
Panos Falaras is the lyricist of endless hits performed by some of the country’s greatest folk voices, from Marinella to Mary Marandi and from Antonis Vardis to Vassilis Karras. At the same time, Falaras has had a lesser known political and rock side that was revealed at the start of his career.
Πάνος Φαλάρα...
The ambassador of the art of Filippos Grapsas is, without a doubt, singer Dimitris Mitropanos. His robust voice and the melodic mastery of composers Marios Tokas and Giannis Spanos turned the lyrics of Grapsas into the raw material of songs that truly defined the folk sound of the 1990s. Brace yourselves...
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