Greek Music Express: Play Bouzouki – Yannis Stamatiou – Sporos | 09 April 2024

This week here at GME is dedicated to the greatest virtuosos of Greece’s most popular musical instrument: the bouzouki! Yannis Stamatiou (“Sporos” – also known as John Stamatis) was a superb bouzouki soloist and even today, many years after his passing away in 2011, he is widely regarded as a legend of Greek music. He collaborated with all the great folk singers of the 1950s, who desperately wanted his participation in the studio recordings because he improved the intros of their songs with his ingenious improvisations. In 1958, he went to the US and settled there until the late 1970s. Sporos’ magical “penies” attracted huge audiences to his live appearances and his dedicated fanbase included names such as Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Harry Belafonte.