The week that starts today here at GME has a more classical scent, as it explores piano versions of Greek songs or works written especially for this instrument. Today, we will be celebrating the encounter of Manos Hadjidakis with traditional and rebetiko rhythms and melodies, as it has been reflected...
The Rast bouzouki quartet was created in 2000, based on a joint idea of Giorgos Altis, Thanasis Vassilas, Nikos Katsikis and Pantelis Konstantinidis, four virtuosos of the bouzouki. The name of the group comes from the musical road "Rast", which belongs to the basic musical scales of the Eastern Mediterranean...
The beautiful bouzouki tunes that we shall be listening to belong primarily to three albums of Christos Nikolopoulos titled Folk Passages, Roads of the East and Cyclamens of Mount Olympus. The last album, released in 1997, also hosts the fantastic Florina Brass Band. Now, today’s tracklist includes i...
Thanasis Polykandriotis, son of folk master Thodoros Polykandriotis, is a great composer and bouzouki soloist as well as a dedicated teacher. He has left his mark with hundreds of compositions to his credit and has appeared in the most famous concert halls of Europe, the United States and Australia....
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 legen...
Bouzouki instrumentals – this is the theme of our week-long tribute that starts today. And our starting point is the crème-de-la-crème of bouzouki soloists: Giannis Papaioannou, Markos Vamvakaris, Manolis Hiotis, Vasilis Tsitsanis, Giorgos Zambetas, Giorgos Mitsakis, Dimitris Stergiou, Costas Papadopoulos, Lak...
The backbone of today’s tribute to painter Theofilos is a 1976 collection of songs titled Paintings of Theofilos, written by Akos Daskalopoulos and composed by Notis Mavroudis. The songs are performed by Alexandra and Haris Galanos. Next to them, we will be listening to songs with references to Theofilos p...
This week, we are taking a tour aroud the most beautiful artwork of Greek music albums and the painters behind it. After George Stathopoulos and Yannis Tsarouchis, it is time for Alekos Fassianos, his tremendously impactful international career, and his presence in Greek music albums with the artwork...
We started with a 2-day tribute to George Stathopoulos and our next stop, today, is Yannis Tsarouchis. Tsarouchis, who was born in 1910 and died in 1989, was a modernist painter and set designer, and one of the very few Greek painters to achieve international fame. Known particularly for his homoerotic...
Painter Stathopoulos notes: “I really like Hadjidaki's music. I like Greek musicians. And I like Theodorakis, Xarchakos, Savvopoulos, Leontis, Loizos, Kouyoumtzis, and Mamagakis. These are all important artists. I listen to 90% Greek music, and I also have a 10% of foreign music that I listen t...
Today, our track list includes songs from albums with artwork drawn by painter George Stathopoulos. In particular, we shall be focusing on more folk paths, with creations by Nikos Mamagakis, Apostolos Kaldaras, Stavros Kougioumtzis, Stavros Xarhakos and Stamos Semsis. Stathopoulos is not only a top-class...
Although the film Chariots of Fire is a period piece set in the 1920s, the Academy Award-winning original soundtrack composed by Vangelis uses a contemporary 1980s electronic sound, with a strong use of synthesizer and piano among other instruments. This was a departure from earlier period films, which...
Nemostudios.co.uk mentions: “When film director Ridley Scott asked Vangelis to write the score to his upcoming film Blade Runner, contrary to public belief, the use of electronic music was not a deliberate attempt by Vangelis to copy commonly used ideas and sounds as seen in science fiction films. E...
Odes is an album of Greek folk songs by Irene Papas and Vangelis. All the songs are traditional, except two which are original compositions by Vangelis. Recorded in Nemo studios, in 1979, the entirety of the album is performed and produced by Vangelis, with the addition of a five-people choir in the...
Prior to his work for Alexander film, Vangelis was already famous for his scores to Chariots of Fire, Blade Runner and Conquest of Paradise. He was directly approached by Oliver Stone. "I tried to remember how it was to live at the time, to be there. At the same time, I must speak the music language...
Today, here at GME, we will be celebrating the Greek Independence Day with songs about the heroes of the Revolution of 1821. The backbone of our track list will be the album “Fighters of Freedom”, with poetry of Dimitris Iatropoulos, Pantelis Prevelakis and George Seferis set to music by composer Nik...
Iasis group, cofounded by Costas Baltazanis and Petros Kourtis, appeared for the first time on the Athens music scene in 1995, playing their own compositions for guitar, percussion and bass. What characterizes the group is the continuous search for traditional, Balkan and international influences....
Floros Floridis, one of the country’s more accomplished musicians, knows all too well how to solve the dilemma of pioneering artistry versus popularity. Ever since releasing his debut album, the 1979 “Improvising at Barakos” with pianist Sakis Papadimitriou, Floridis, a daringly fluent winds player, has c...
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