Greek Music Express

Mihalis Papazisis is one of the many singers who come from Thessaloniki and have supported with their talent and dedication the case of the art or entehno song. Today, we will be listening to songs from his two personal albums composed by Giorgos Kazantzis and Costas Kaldaras respectively, two composers...

Maryo is the last grande dame of rebetiko, a true ‘rebetissa’ and one of the most expressive and original representatives of the genre. When asked what brought her to the world of singing, she answers: "the rebetiko song from the gramophone and my father who was a musician", but also "the Smyrna...

Born and raised in Thessaloniki, Pashalis Terzis has been associated with the nucleus, the soul of the city. The backbone of today’s track list is a 1986 album titled “National Squad of Thessaloniki” with songs composed by Thodoros Derveniotis and Christos Nikolopoulos – a creator who helped...

Throughout her discography, Lizeta Kalimeri has demonstrated her immense musical and interpretative range, experimenting with different styles while always maintaining her artistic consistency. She has collaborated with leading art-song creators, like Giorgos Kazantzis, top-class composers such as Nikos...

The death of Vasilis Karras on December 24, 2023, sparked a huge public debate over the notion of ‘kapsoura’, i.e. strong erotic desire, infatuation and the grievance that accompanies a break-up. Irrespective of the opinion one might have concerning the aesthetics of the genre that Karras represented,...

How can we summarize Tsitsanis’s contribution to Greek music? He was brilliant as a composer, lyricist and bouzouki player. He removed the stigma that had originally been attached to the bouzouki, which became a legitimate lead instrument. And he incorporated western features, eliminating some...

Today, we are celebrating the collaboration of Tsitsanis with two magnificent female voices: Alexandra and Dimitra Galani. Galani recalls: “My interaction with Tsitsanis was characterised by honesty, respect and kindness above all. He was a very kind man with a special sense of humour, but also a...

During his long career, Vassilis Tsitsanis collaborated on stage and in the studio with many great interpreters of popular song. However, a special place in Tsitsanis' discography is held by his collaboration with Grigoris Bithikotsis and Stelios Kazantzidis, because they were not just some random singers....

Vassilis Tsitsanis was born on January 18, 1915, and died on January 18, 1984. Thus, this week here at GME is dedicated to this influential figure of Greek music who left a huge footprint on laiko and rebetiko song. Tsitsanis wrote more than 500 songs and is still remembered as an extraordinary composer...

We conclude our week-long tribute by sharing information about the three mountains of Athens, Penteli, Parnitha and Hymettus, and by listening to songs from three albums that contain the mountains in their title: "My Inner Mountain" by Soulis Liakos, "I Want to Go to the Mountains" by Theodore Theodorides,...

Cretan music is an ‘island’ of its own, just like its place of origin. Artists like Costas Mountakis, Nikos Xylouris, Charalambos Garganourakis, Psarantonis and Hainides contributed to the evolution of a genre that is totally distinct from mainstream Greek song, with tonnes of rhythm, energy and...

The adjective ‘contemporary’ groups together the most diverse set of artists and styles, united only by their flair for innovation, experimentation and improvisation. The melancholy of Kore.Ydro meets the radicalism of Social Waste and the reggae coolness of Locomondo coincides with the blending...

Our menu today includes a fascinating array of art-song performers, including Dimitris Zervoudakis and the Three Mountains, Lizeta Kalimeri and the Unconquered Mountains, and Thanasis Moraitis and the Good Mountains. Mountains, in this genre, are locations of mystery and imagination – symbols of nature...

After spending more or less an entire summer here at GME celebrating the islands and the deep blue sea, it is only fair to dedicate a week to Greece’s mountains and songs about mountains. Today, we are shedding light on the presence of mountains in Greek folk and rebetiko songs. From Michalis Genitsaris...

The Birds is a comedy by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It has been acclaimed by modern critics as a perfectly realized fantasy remarkable for its mimicry of birds and for the liveliness of its songs. Unlike the author's other early plays, it includes no direct...

Thanos Mikroutsikos, who wrote music for, among others, Assembly women, said in an interview: “Everything in theater needs to be justified. If it is not reasoned, it is just an idea of the mind. When reasoned, any idea can be applied. We are used to performances of the ancient drama by modern directors...

The close relationship of composer Vassilis Dimitriou with the theater proved extremely fruitful and of timeless value. The composer, who sadly passed away in 2015, had permanent collaborations with a range of theatre companies involved in ancient drama performances, comedies or tragedies. As for Aristophanes,...

Two extremely talented composers, Nikos Kypourgos and Minos Matsas, composed music for Peace, a comedy written and produced by the Greek playwright Aristophanes. The plot concerns the flight to heaven on a dung beetle by Trygaeus. He searches for goddess Peace, discovers that the god of war has buried...