Greek Music Express

Antonis Vardis was a major composer and singer-songwriter who sadly passed away on September 2, 2014, at the age of just 66. In his massive 40-year career, he collaborated with several major singers, including George Dalaras, Vassilis Papakonstantinou, Haroula Alexiou, Christina Maragozi, Manolis Lidakis...

Throughout the week that starts today, here at GME, we will be exploring the theme of streets and roads and other urban paths in Greek music. Today, we start with a tribute to the streets of Athens. Why? Well, because I somehow miss urban songs, i.e. songs that contain references to urban themes and...

Undoubtedly, Stelios Kazantzidis and Sotiria Bellou became famous thanks to their contribution to folk, popular song. However, it is interesting to note that art-song composers also entrusted them with their creations; from Mikis Theodorakis to Elias Andriopoulos and from Manos Hadjidakis to Dionysis...

Stelios used to say: “My homeland has been tyrannizing me, torturing me since I was a three-month-old baby. It is one of the reasons why I sing with pain, because I sing for myself first and then for the world”. Sotiria had her own fair share of persecution and hardship, starting with the abuse tha...

From the meatballs of Sakis Boulas to the little red mullet of Vangelis Germanos and from the avgolemono of Margarita Zorbala to the …fried dreams of Arleta, the Greek cuisine has been a source of funny or satirical songs. Also, several children’s songs have been inspired by food and cooks, including two...

Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diets. And it has also been an important part of Greek song, as bread appears regularly as a symbol of welfare and justice, signalling...

Why did they set rice on fire in Vietnam, as Savvopoulos sings? Mikroutsikos asks: Do merchants even know what rice is, or do they only care about its price? Tzimis Panousis is trying to figure out whether tzatziki and souvlaki is Greece’s actual contribution to Europe. And Ypogeia Revmata band warn: T...

Fish and fishermen – these are the themes of the songs that we are listening to today here at GME. Giorgos Mouflouzelis goes fishing, Vaggelis Korakakis tells the story of some prodigal fishermen, and Opisthodromiki Kompania sings an anthem for a fishing boat named Saint Nicholas. As for Babis Goles a...

Throughout the week that starts today, here at GME, we shall be celebrating the Greek cuisine and, of course, the songs that contain references to it, to food and to its social significance. Today, Sakis Rouvas is cooking spaghetti, Arleta is dancing a “tsifteteli” with vinegar, Thanasis Gaifyllias rem...

The Dormition of the Virgin Mary, on August 15, is a major religious holiday. It is also a name day for several names including Maria, Mary, Panagiota and Despina. Here, at GME, we shall be celebrating together with all these people, listening to songs that refer to their names. Maria who was laughing,...

The Earthbound is a Greek band formed in Athens in 1998 by six members and former members of The Last Drive, Honeydive, Rockin' Bones and Engine-V. The band is led by prominent rock figures Alexis Kalofolias and Thanos Amorginos. After playing locally for about a year, the Earthbound recorded its debut...

The third part of our week-long tribute to Greek garage and psychedelic rock in the past and present turns to the 1980s, a decade of explosive creativity and originality. Our track list includes six bands that marked the alternative rock discography of that decade: Morel, En Plo, Without a Necklace,...

This week, here at GME, we have been returning to the rock soul of Greek music – fascinating bands and artists that demonstrate just how rich garage and psychedelic rock discography has been in this country. Today’s destination? Psychedelic Greece, then and now: Purple Overdose and No Man’s Land. A syn...

The Screaming Fly is an outstanding representative of Greece’s contemporary psychedelic rock scene. Their music, embedded into the best traditions of domestic and international rock, creates an environment of transcendence - timeless, powerful, ecstatic. Their 2019 album “Trip to Venus” was welcomed by cr...

Mikis was more than a musician; he was an intellectual, a political leader, an artist of protest and resistance, a figure that was larger than life and that identified himself with the inner soul of the country and its people. With this episode, we conclude our week-long tribute by turning to some relatively...

On this episode of Greek Music Express we celebrate the fascinating ways in which Mikis’ songs travelled around the world, in an international trajectory facilitated by top artists such as Jullie Dennis, Dalida, Edith Piaf, The Beatles, Shirley Bassey, Georges Moustaki, and of course, his Finnish m...

Milva, Liesbeth List, Gisela May, Edmonda Aldini, Christina Cunne, Maria del Mar Bonet – this episode's track list includes a prestigious list of popular female singers who recorded Mikis’ creations in Italian, German, Dutch… These collaborations demonstrate the global impact of an artist who was a...

On this episode, we celebrate the 100th birthday of not only the greatest Greek composer, but also the world’s greatest composer of songs of the 20th century. Our track list contains plenty of fascinating contemporary electronic remixes, reminding us of just how inherently modern and timeless Mikis T...