Ηρακλής Οικονόμου

Today, we are remembering the world’s greatest innovator of tango music, who was born on March 11, 1921, and we are exploring his presence in the Greek music scene. In other words, we will be celebrating the Greek connection of Astor Piazzolla, the artist who revolutionised traditional tango, blending i...

Today, here at GME, we are returning to two masters of Greek popular music who died on March 10, in 1967 and in 1992 respectively: rebetiko creator Giorgos Batis and urban folk composer and bouzouki soloist Giorgos Zampetas. Specifically, we will be listening to some of Batis’ best known songs and t...

Today, here at GME, we are celebrating March 8 - the International Women’s Day and the struggle for a world with more gender equality and justice. Out track list includes songs about women performed by exceptional vocalists such as Anastasia Moutsatsou, Eleni Dimou, Glykeria, Stratos Dionysiou, Lakis H...

Today, here at GME, we are continuing our mini-tribute to surrealism, an immensely significant art movement with a far-reaching impact and legacy. Specifically, we will be exploring how a French and a Greek poet were inserted into Greek music with the help of leading composers and songwriters. Our destination:...

Today, here at GME, we are continuing our mini-tribute to surrealism, an immensely significant art movement with a far-reaching impact and legacy. Specifically, we will be exploring how a French and a Greek poet were inserted into Greek music with the help of leading composers and songwriters. Our destination:...

Today, here at GME, we are starting a 3-day mini-tribute to representatives of an immensely important movement that shaped the art of the 20th century: Surrealism. Our destination this afternoon? The setting to music of the poetry of Nikos Engonopoulos. Engonopoulos is widely regarded as a pioneer of...

Today, here at GME, we are honouring the memory of an outstanding Italian singer-songwriter who was born on March 4, 1943 and who inspired a number of Greek colleagues of his. This multi-faceted artistic personality excelled in singing and songwriting, played clarinet and keyboards, and solidified his...

Greek Music Express is celebrating Clean Monday with songs that refer to a theme that is directly associated with this special festivity: Kites. The selection is endless, from Mikis Theodorakis' orchestral "Kites" to Diafana Krina’s "Torn Kite". Leading voices such as Anastasia Moutsatsou, Melina A...

“I found myself after the breakup at the station, in my carriage / a life in a suitcase my dead dreams / suddenly there in the crowd a voice so familiar / a voice that becomes a scream as it says my name / and the train started and you again far from me. And I wanted so much to tell you that I love y...

Today, here at GME, we are mourning the loss of a fantastic singer who sadly passed away yesterday at the age of just 65. Manolis Lidakis was born in beautiful Crete, the birthplace of endless music artists. His connection with music started at the age of 12, when he became a member of the Philarmonic...

Today’s tribute to songs about trains takes a more electrified turn with rock songs containing references to rail travel. Key protagonists of Greek rock are present, from Christos Thivaios to Dimitris Poulikakos and from Manolis Famellos to Vassilis Papakonstantinou. Also, rock mega-bands will be a...

Here at GME, we tried to think of the most appropriate way of honouring the souls lost at the Tempi disaster. We could spend hours talking about the inefficiency of the Greek state and the responsibilities of consecutive governments that undermined public services, privatised the Greek state railways...

We, here at GME, love trains. They are by far our favourite means of transportation, having offered us countless moments of departing, arriving, contemplating and a real sense of travel, especially in Northern Europe, in Belgium, Sweden, Wales and elsewhere. It is no coincidence that the name of our...

Today, we are exploring the contribution of Fotis Polymeris to the development of light song – the dominant style of music in Greece in the 1930s and 1940s. Polymeris, who passed away in 2013 at the age of 93, was one of the leading vocalists of his time and an equally talented songwriter who gave u...

Orfeas Peridis has been described as one of the most important singers-songwriters of his generation, although he prefers the word “troubadour”. As for Costas Makedonas, for more than 30 years he has stood out as one of the most expressive and uplifting modern male voices in art-folk. Today, here at ...

Who really was Nikos Gounaris and what enabled him to be accepted by everyone? What is it that launched and maintained his legend well beyond the confines of his genre, light song? The famous rebetiko musician Yiannis Papaioannou writes in his autobiography: “Of those so-called ‘Europeans’, only one i...

Kostas Hatzidoulis was a researcher, producer, writer and lyricist. A deep connoisseur and lover of folk and rebetiko, he dedicated his entire life to research and the production of records and books. Hatzidoulis curated dozens of compilations of old folk and rebetiko songs, as well as many record productions,...

This week, here at GME, we have been celebrating the outstanding work of Yorgos Kazantzis, a talented composer who has played a key role in boosting art song, the dominant genre of Greek music in the last half a century. Today, we will be exploring the song collections that he released in the 21st century...