Greek Music Express

May is an emotionally intense month, symbolising the passage from Spring to Summer, the blooming of nature and of our inner worlds. It is a month of protest and struggles, including the struggles of the working class that we talked about yesterday. But it is also a month of love, of passion, of liberation...

May 1 at GME means remembering the workers’ struggles that secured the social and economic rights enjoyed by our societies today. And it also means celebrating the identity and culture of the working classes, old and new. A part of this identity consists of the Greek labour songs that reflected an e...

Today, here at GME, we are celebrating the life and work of an important figure of folk music, a radio producer and music journalist who died exactly twenty years ago, on April 30, 2005. With his texts and broadcasts, he remained faithful to his ideals – folk song, social justice, artistic originality –...

Today, we are remembering an important poetess who died 95 years ago, on April 29, 1930, at the age of just 28. Lyrical and sensitive according to some observers, torrential and dynamic according to others, her powerful poetic voice was transformed into songs performed by some of the greatest female...

Vassilis Dimitriou is the creator of the great instrumentals of Greek music, primarily written for the original scores of popular TV series. “The Dress Rehearsal”, “The Execution”, “The Great Anger”, “Love Was One Day Late”, and so many others… Director Costas Koutsomytis wrote about the composer: "Wh...

George Dalaras with Dulce Pontes, Haris Alexiou with Sezen Aksu, Locomondo with Tonino Carotone, Thanos Mikroutsikos with Milva, Lavrentis Machairitsas with Salvatore Adamo and Angelo Branduardi – endless international collaborations, endless blending of cultures, peoples and geographies leaving a n...

What we will be listening to today is not really a collaboration but rather an indirect coexistence, between a leading Greek vocalist and a prominent American composer. This is the live recording of a concert with excerpts from works by George Gershwin, performed by Maria Farantouri, which was given...

Today, we will be celebrating the joint appearance on stage of a superb Greek lyrical singer with various international stars, from Deborah Myers and Lara Fabian to Lucio Dalla. Mario Frangoulis is a Greek vocalist, famous for his refined tenor vocals. He has recorded songs in Italian, Spanish, English,...

This week here at GME is dedicated to some notable international collaborations that have marked modern Greek music, i.e. an exchange of ideas and melodies between one Greek and one or more renowned foreign music artists. Today, we are heading …East! Specifically, we accompany Irish-Cretan multi-instrumentalist R...

This is a week of international encounters here at GME – of fruitful interactions between Greek and foreign music artists that have led to new works and important recordings. Today, we will be enjoying the encounter of a talented Greek vocalist with a renowned Argentine composer-guitarist. Georgia V...

Today, on Good Friday we listen to sad songs that refer to the day itself – with the voices of Phoebus Delivorias, Vicky Moscholiou, Manolis Mitsias, Eleni Tsaligopoulou and Vasilis Korakakis, among others. We conclude our tribute with Dimitris Mitropanos' plea for equality and justice: "Christ, do m...

Holy Thursday marks a more subdued tone, with Nena Venetsanou remembering “You were a child, like Christ” and Areti Bellou confessing “I loved you like Christ”. The “Prayer” with Maria Farantouri is accompanied by Alkistis Protopsalti “knocking on the God’s door” and George Dalaras concluding: “You ...

On Holy Wednesday we shed light on the inspiration that the folk muse draws from God, with Paschalis Terzis observing “Another is the god of the world” and Elias Klonaridis comfortingly saying “Christ, you are not alone”. And while Stratos Dionysiou asks for “a hearing by God”, Babis Goles reminds us ...

Holy Tuesday has both art and popular features, with Nana Mouskouri wondering “Which God wanted it?” and Giorgos Romanos asking “Where is God?”. Above all, we turn to Lizeta Nikolaou’s complaint: “When God was deciding was each should take / I ended up taking bitterness and a troubled life”. Τραγούδια για τον θεό ΙΙ: Έντεχν...

Unlike previous years when, here at GME, we chose religious or devotional music for Easter, this year we turn to Greek song and how it converses with the divine element, with God. There is no end to the references of our song to God, as there is no end to the injustices or pain or love or anticipation...

Vassilis Dimitriou took the leading element of mass culture, television, and turned it into a form of high art by dressing popular TV series with his exquisite songs and melodies. His allies were some of the best voices of Greek music: Christos Thivaios, Marinella, Anastasia Moutsatsou, Fide Kӧksal, ...

The main conclusion that we will be drawing from today’s GME is just how multi-faceted and versatile Vassilis Dimitriou was as a composer. You see, he always felt that music is unified. When he went to the conservatory in the early 1960s to study music, genres like traditional, modern, popular folk m...

Greek Music Express: Composer Vassilis Dimitriou: His folk side | 09.04.2025The main conclusion that we will be drawing from today’s GME is just how multi-faceted and versatile Vassilis Dimitriou was as a composer. You see, he always felt that music is unified. When he went to the conservatory in t...