You can imagine how much poverty there was. I remember that many times at home there was nothing to eat for dinner. We would buy a preserved herring from the grocer's and my father would light a newspaper to cook it. The four of us would share it. We would [...]
One Sunday afternoon a wedding was taking place. My father, since he didn’t go to cafes and he didn’t drink also, he was following the ceremonies in the church more as a pass time. My mother remained in the tent, since she was pregnant with my sister at the time. [...]
It went on for years: work, music, school. I was busy all day long. That is how I spent my youth. All that period, from 1941 to 1945, I lived in Kolonaki, whilst the other three lived in Kaisariani. I remember that on October 12th [1944], which was a very [...]
One of the songs I first produced on record, I think was Xasteria, the song that was later to become a chant of the youth and the students, in 1960 or 1961 with Manolis Perrakis and a young men's choir. Another song that was a great success was Dirlada with [...]
Since then, when I was a little child, my ears would absorb every music and sound. My father used to chant very well. He was not a chorister, but he did chant and sing very nicely. I remember that when he would get back from work, he would sit me [...]
Overcoming the shame for traditonal songs ⬥ By 1971 we reach another turning point in my life: my meeting with Dionysis Savvopoulos and his invitation to me to sing at the Rodeo Club. I must say that until then it had not even crossed my mind to sing in front [...]
Close to Simon Karas I learned many things, not just Byzantine music. Although I used to sing as a child, I did not know anything about traditional music, not even what it was. Karas initiated me to traditional music and its different forms. All this was taking place during the [...]
In the beginning I went to school in one of the shacks, just as the church was also in a shack, instead of the massive building it is now. Later on, Venizelo's school was built up in Kaisariani and I attended there for the rest of my schooling. I can [...]
I was born in Kaisariani in 1928. My parents were from Asia Minor. My mother came to Greece in 1922 with the refugees, alone, without any other relatives, just with fellow villagers. She left her village of Bayindir, and went to Smyrna. She would describe to me how she hid [...]
The years passed and in 1954 I joined EIR as an employee of the department of National Music, which was headed by my teacher Karas. He helped me to get the job of course and I started by making programs from recordings on record or tape. My work in the [...]
