George Dalaras
Encyclopedia
George Dalaras also possibly spelled as Yorgos or Giorgos Dalaras, is a Greek
singer. He is of international fame and has recently been selected as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. He was born in Nea Kokinia, Piraeus
. His father was Loukas Daralas
, a singer of rebetiko
.
Dalaras' first song, "Προσμονή" ("Expectation"), was recorded in 1967. The single never reached any popular status, in fact it was barely released. Dalaras even had to struggle to get into the studio, as ironically the day he began his studio career was the day that the Greek military junta took over the streets of Athens, and the roads were littered with tanks. After several appearances on various recordings as a guest singer, his debut album was released in early 1969, a self-titled album released on the Minos label. The recording included many compositions by Stavros Kouyioumtzis, who in the early years proved a fountain of help towards Dalaras achieving musical success. As Dalaras has said in various interviews, he owes the fact that he became a singer to Kouyioumtzis, who composed Dalaras' first songs. His relation with Kouyioumtzis remained friendly until the sudden death of the composer due to a heart attack in March 2005.
The biggest hit of the record, "Pou 'nai ta chronia", is still sung today, and is regarded as a mainstay in Dalaras' large repertoire. In 1970, he released the album Natane to 21 ("If only it were 21", that is, 1821, a reference to the Greek War of Independence
). The album was immediately more successful than his debut LP and included hits such as "Natane to 21", "Kapou nichtoni", and an instrumental version of "Pou 'nai ta chronia". The album was made up entirely of a compositions by Stavros Kouyioumtzis. The songs were mainly reinterpretations, as was common in the late 60s for new Greek singers; however, not all the songs on their first release (most of them on the smaller yet more distinctive LYRA label) had proved successful, and in many instances, even now, many people in Greece believe that the Dalaras songs are originals and not cover versions.
, received his big break in the Greek music industry when their LP
Mikra Asia (Asia Minor
) went gold, his first album to do so. The songs were written by Apostolos Kaldaras, a heavyweight in the laïkó
scene of the 50s and 60s, who at this time decided to enter the political fray of Greek music. Dalaras and Alexiou were immediately thrown into the limelight. The LP was also recently re-released in both CD and limited edition LP format by Minos-EMI. The Mikra Asia LP was followed up by Vizantinos Esperinos (Byzantine Vespers) in 1973. The album consisted again of Dalaras and Haris Alexiou, and was composed by Apostolos Kaldaras, however the lyrics were by the emerging Lefteris Papadopoulos, who had written Dalaras' first official recording. This was the last time that Dalaras officially worked with Apostolos Kaldaras in the studio, however, they worked together in live performances. Unlike Mikra Asia, Vizantinos Esperinos did not meet with exceptional sales, and is somewhat 'forgotten' in the repertoire of Dalaras's songs.
, Mikis Theodorakis
and others, Dalaras decided to release his own renditions of rebetiko
songs on the double LP 50 Chronia Rebetiko Tragoudi released 1975. The recording proved an immediate success, despite the toning down of the lyrics. However, as a result, a new movement was set to take place in Greek music, and the once forgotten rebetes were finding themselves performing, in some cases for the first time in 30 to 40 years. He followed up this work with an LP in 1980, Rebetika tis Katochis, which was a more gritty and meaty release, more faithful to the tone of the original rebetika as heard in the 1930s. However again references to drugs were cut out, and only mentioned in passing. Unlike the previous double LP, this one contained some of the original musicians, Bayianteras and Genitsaris in particular making an appearance on the album.
, pop
), Israeli and Arabic music
, and religious music. He has collaborated with many contemporary Greek composers, including Mikis Theodorakis
, Stavros Kouyioumtzis, Manos Loizos
, Apostolos Kaldaras, Stavros Xarhakos
and Manos Hadjidakis
to Christos Nikolopoulos. He also discovered and supported little Areti Ketime
, whose first CD album he produced. Apart from his prominent singing career, Dalaras is considered to be one a talented musician as he plays most of the stringed instruments of a Greek folk band with great success, including the guitar
, bouzouki
, baglama
, tzoura and outi
. He has accompanied Al Di Meola
and Paco de Lucía
, among others. Dalaras' most important projects include collaborations with several international singers, including British
singer Sting, even releasing a duet with Sting ("Mad About You"). He has also collaborated with Pyx Lax, Bruce Springsteen
, Jethro Tull
, Emma Shapplin
, Goran Bregovic
, Apostolis Anthimos
, Dulce Pontes
, Andriana Babali
and many others. Dalaras moved from his homestay label of Minos EMI
in favour of Universal Music Greece in 2006, thus ending an almost 40 year collaboration.
At 2000 George Dalaras discovered a new local orchestra that specialized at traditional "Smirneiko" and "Rebetiko" songs. The orchestra's name was "Estoudiantina Neas Ionias" and it came from Nea Ionia, a city near Volos. Dalaras pulled Estoudiantina in the light of publicity and make it known to the Greek public. Since then Estoudiantina has become one of the most important and famous orchestras in Greece. Estoudiantina's repertoire now also includes Modern Greek, Greek Laiko, and Mediterranean.
magazine commented that Dalaras was responsible for the birth of the Stadium era in Greece.
Dalaras personal albums total beyond 70. He has sold more than 12,000,000 records in his career and is regarded as one of the biggest names in contemporary Greek music. He has toured extensively throughout the world and was even invited to sing for Nelson Mandela
on his birthday.
Currently his album sales are about 12,000,000. His live albums, including tributes to Vassilis Tsitsanis
and Markos Vamvakaris
, all reached multi platinum sales, and resulted in being among the top 10 releases of 2005. December 2005, he released a live recording called "Mediterranean 30th 40th parallel - Μεσόγειος 30ος 40ος Παράλληλος" with various renditions of Greek, Italian, Israeli and Arabic songs, and famous musicians from Hebrew and Arabic backgrounds, which gained multi platinum status, however, sales of his last three studio LPs have been not so successful.
from 11 to 15 July 2007. The event, organised by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
, had drawn the ire of the Turkish
press and Turkish nationalist politicians who filed complaints to the Governorship of Istanbul to revoke the licence for the concert it had issued, and the concert was abruptly cancelled by the Turkish authorities of the Governorship of Istanbul on the grounds that the country's Archaeological Service did not permit the use of the planned venue, the 15th century Rumeli Hisar castle. The site had previously been used for international theatre festivals and for an international dance festival, until its use was prohibited by the Archaeological Service. The last-minute cancellation of the concert attracted strong media coverage and criticism in neighbouring Greece.
. He subsequently anagram
matized his name to Dalaras. Dalaras is married to Anna Ragousi, also his manager, and they have one daughter, Georgianna. Dalaras is a collector of musical instruments and in his spare time he goes fishing and traveling on his motorcycle.
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
singer. He is of international fame and has recently been selected as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. He was born in Nea Kokinia, Piraeus
Piraeus
Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....
. His father was Loukas Daralas
Loukas Daralas
Loukas Daralas was born in Athens and is perhaps best known as the father of contemporary singer George Dalaras. He was a performer of Rebetiko music in Greece during the 1950s and early 1960s and is famous for the song "To Vouno" , a well-known rebetiko song...
, a singer of rebetiko
Rebetiko
Rebetiko, plural rebetika, , occasionally transliterated as Rembetiko, is a term used today to designate originally disparate kinds of urban Greek folk music which have come to be grouped together since the so-called rebetika revival, which started in the 1960s and developed further from the early...
.
Early career
The biggest hit of the record, "Pou 'nai ta chronia", is still sung today, and is regarded as a mainstay in Dalaras' large repertoire. In 1970, he released the album Natane to 21 ("If only it were 21", that is, 1821, a reference to the Greek War of Independence
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...
). The album was immediately more successful than his debut LP and included hits such as "Natane to 21", "Kapou nichtoni", and an instrumental version of "Pou 'nai ta chronia". The album was made up entirely of a compositions by Stavros Kouyioumtzis. The songs were mainly reinterpretations, as was common in the late 60s for new Greek singers; however, not all the songs on their first release (most of them on the smaller yet more distinctive LYRA label) had proved successful, and in many instances, even now, many people in Greece believe that the Dalaras songs are originals and not cover versions.
First gold album
In 1972, Dalaras, along with singer Haris AlexiouHaris Alexiou
Haris Alexiou is a Greek singer. She is considered one of the most popular singers in Greece and has been commercially successful since the 1970s. She has worked with important Greek songwriters and composers, has performed at top musical theatres all over the world and has received several awards...
, received his big break in the Greek music industry when their LP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
Mikra Asia (Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
) went gold, his first album to do so. The songs were written by Apostolos Kaldaras, a heavyweight in the laïkó
Laïkó
Laïkó ), is a Greek music genre. Also called folk song or urban folk music , in its plural form is a Greek music genre which has taken many forms over the years...
scene of the 50s and 60s, who at this time decided to enter the political fray of Greek music. Dalaras and Alexiou were immediately thrown into the limelight. The LP was also recently re-released in both CD and limited edition LP format by Minos-EMI. The Mikra Asia LP was followed up by Vizantinos Esperinos (Byzantine Vespers) in 1973. The album consisted again of Dalaras and Haris Alexiou, and was composed by Apostolos Kaldaras, however the lyrics were by the emerging Lefteris Papadopoulos, who had written Dalaras' first official recording. This was the last time that Dalaras officially worked with Apostolos Kaldaras in the studio, however, they worked together in live performances. Unlike Mikra Asia, Vizantinos Esperinos did not meet with exceptional sales, and is somewhat 'forgotten' in the repertoire of Dalaras's songs.
Rebetiko revival
After several LPs and further collaborations with Kouyioumtzis, Kaldaras, Manos LoïzosManos Loïzos
Manos Loïzos was considered to be one of the most important Greek music composers of the 20th century.-Biography:...
, Mikis Theodorakis
Mikis Theodorakis
Mikis Theodorakis is one of the most renowned Greek songwriters and composers. Internationally, he is probably best known for his songs and for his scores for the films Zorba the Greek , Z , and Serpico .Politically, he identified with the left until the late 1980s; in 1989, he ran as an...
and others, Dalaras decided to release his own renditions of rebetiko
Rebetiko
Rebetiko, plural rebetika, , occasionally transliterated as Rembetiko, is a term used today to designate originally disparate kinds of urban Greek folk music which have come to be grouped together since the so-called rebetika revival, which started in the 1960s and developed further from the early...
songs on the double LP 50 Chronia Rebetiko Tragoudi released 1975. The recording proved an immediate success, despite the toning down of the lyrics. However, as a result, a new movement was set to take place in Greek music, and the once forgotten rebetes were finding themselves performing, in some cases for the first time in 30 to 40 years. He followed up this work with an LP in 1980, Rebetika tis Katochis, which was a more gritty and meaty release, more faithful to the tone of the original rebetika as heard in the 1930s. However again references to drugs were cut out, and only mentioned in passing. Unlike the previous double LP, this one contained some of the original musicians, Bayianteras and Genitsaris in particular making an appearance on the album.
Collaborations and styles
Since the 1960s, George Dalaras has recorded more than 120 records. He has sung numerous different Greek music styles (e.g. rebetiko, laïkó, LatinLatin American music
Latin American music, found within Central and South America, is a series of musical styles and genres that mixes influences from Spanish, African and indigenous sources, that has recently become very famous in the US.-Argentina:...
, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
), Israeli and Arabic music
Arab music
Arabic music or Arab music is the music of the Arab World, including several genres and styles of music ranging from Arabic classical to Arabic pop music and from secular to sacred music....
, and religious music. He has collaborated with many contemporary Greek composers, including Mikis Theodorakis
Mikis Theodorakis
Mikis Theodorakis is one of the most renowned Greek songwriters and composers. Internationally, he is probably best known for his songs and for his scores for the films Zorba the Greek , Z , and Serpico .Politically, he identified with the left until the late 1980s; in 1989, he ran as an...
, Stavros Kouyioumtzis, Manos Loizos
Manos Loïzos
Manos Loïzos was considered to be one of the most important Greek music composers of the 20th century.-Biography:...
, Apostolos Kaldaras, Stavros Xarhakos
Stavros Xarhakos
Stavros Litras is a Greek composer and conductor.Stavros Xarchakos was born in Athens, where he studied at the Athens Conservatoire. He emerged in the Greek music scene around 1963, composing music for the theatre and cinema...
and Manos Hadjidakis
Manos Hadjidakis
Manos Hatzidakis was a Greek composer and theorist of the Greek music. He was also one of the main prime movers of the "Éntekhno" song ....
to Christos Nikolopoulos. He also discovered and supported little Areti Ketime
Areti Ketime
Areti Ketime , born July 26, 1989, is a singer and a santouri player from Greece who performs a broad spectrum of Greek traditional music....
, whose first CD album he produced. Apart from his prominent singing career, Dalaras is considered to be one a talented musician as he plays most of the stringed instruments of a Greek folk band with great success, including the guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, bouzouki
Bouzouki
The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
, baglama
Baglama
thumb|180px|Cura and bağlamaThe bağlama is a stringed musical instrument shared by various cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East, and Central Asia....
, tzoura and outi
Oud
The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
. He has accompanied Al Di Meola
Al Di Meola
Al Di Meola is an acclaimed American jazz fusion and Latin guitarist, composer, and record producer of Italian origin. With a musical career that has spanned more than three decades, he has become respected as one of the most influential guitarists in jazz to date...
and Paco de Lucía
Paco de Lucía
Paco de Lucía, born Francisco Sánchez Gómez , is a Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist and composer. He is considered by many to be one of the finest guitarists in the world and the greatest guitarist of the flamenco genre...
, among others. Dalaras' most important projects include collaborations with several international singers, including British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
singer Sting, even releasing a duet with Sting ("Mad About You"). He has also collaborated with Pyx Lax, Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
, Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull (band)
Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...
, Emma Shapplin
Emma Shapplin
Emma Shapplin is a French operatic coloratura soprano.-Biography:...
, Goran Bregovic
Goran Bregovic
Goran Bregović is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Balkans. He currently splits his time between Paris and Belgrade, where he settled down during the Yugoslav Wars.Bregović has composed for such varied artists as Iggy Pop and Cesária Évora...
, Apostolis Anthimos
Apostolis Anthimos
Apostolis Anthimos is a jazz / rock oriented guitarist, drummer and keyboard player of Greek origin.He is a member of the Polish progressive rock band SBB....
, Dulce Pontes
Dulce Pontes
Dulce José Silva Pontes is a Portuguese songwriter and singer who performs in many musical styles, including pop, folk and classical music. She is usually defined as a world music artist...
, Andriana Babali
Andriana Babali
Andriana Babali is a Greek singer and songwriter.-Biography:Born and raised in Athens, Babali studied economy and music, just to decide she wanted to follow the art way. She began singing as a vocalist with Nikos Portokaloglou Band at 1998...
and many others. Dalaras moved from his homestay label of Minos EMI
Minos EMI
Minos EMI is the domestic trade name of EMI Music Greece, a record company in Greece. It is the Greek record label division of the British-based, multinational EMI Group....
in favour of Universal Music Greece in 2006, thus ending an almost 40 year collaboration.
At 2000 George Dalaras discovered a new local orchestra that specialized at traditional "Smirneiko" and "Rebetiko" songs. The orchestra's name was "Estoudiantina Neas Ionias" and it came from Nea Ionia, a city near Volos. Dalaras pulled Estoudiantina in the light of publicity and make it known to the Greek public. Since then Estoudiantina has become one of the most important and famous orchestras in Greece. Estoudiantina's repertoire now also includes Modern Greek, Greek Laiko, and Mediterranean.
Concerts and sales
In his almost 40 year singing career, Dalaras has performed in thousands of concerts, and in 1980, entered the era of the live Greek club. Two historical concerts occurred in the Athens Olympic Stadium, attended by more than 160,000 people. This was the largest attendance at a Greek concert, to the point where Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine commented that Dalaras was responsible for the birth of the Stadium era in Greece.
Dalaras personal albums total beyond 70. He has sold more than 12,000,000 records in his career and is regarded as one of the biggest names in contemporary Greek music. He has toured extensively throughout the world and was even invited to sing for Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
on his birthday.
Currently his album sales are about 12,000,000. His live albums, including tributes to Vassilis Tsitsanis
Vassilis Tsitsanis
Vassilis Tsitsanis was a Greek songwriter and bouzouki player. He became one of the leading Greek composers of his time and is widely regarded as one of the founders of modern Rebetika. Tsitsanis wrote more than 500 songs and is still remembered as an extraordinary bouzouki...
and Markos Vamvakaris
Markos Vamvakaris
Markos Vamvakaris , was a rebetiko musician. He is universally referred to by rebetiko writers and fans simply by his first name, Markos...
, all reached multi platinum sales, and resulted in being among the top 10 releases of 2005. December 2005, he released a live recording called "Mediterranean 30th 40th parallel - Μεσόγειος 30ος 40ος Παράλληλος" with various renditions of Greek, Italian, Israeli and Arabic songs, and famous musicians from Hebrew and Arabic backgrounds, which gained multi platinum status, however, sales of his last three studio LPs have been not so successful.
International Orthodox Youth Conference controversy
Dalaras had been scheduled to perform a concert on the closing night of the second International Orthodox Youth Conference held in IstanbulIstanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
from 11 to 15 July 2007. The event, organised by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople , part of the wider Orthodox Church, is one of the fourteen autocephalous churches within the communion of Orthodox Christianity...
, had drawn the ire of the Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
press and Turkish nationalist politicians who filed complaints to the Governorship of Istanbul to revoke the licence for the concert it had issued, and the concert was abruptly cancelled by the Turkish authorities of the Governorship of Istanbul on the grounds that the country's Archaeological Service did not permit the use of the planned venue, the 15th century Rumeli Hisar castle. The site had previously been used for international theatre festivals and for an international dance festival, until its use was prohibited by the Archaeological Service. The last-minute cancellation of the concert attracted strong media coverage and criticism in neighbouring Greece.
Personal life
Dalaras was born George Daralas, son of the rembetiko singer Loukas DaralasLoukas Daralas
Loukas Daralas was born in Athens and is perhaps best known as the father of contemporary singer George Dalaras. He was a performer of Rebetiko music in Greece during the 1950s and early 1960s and is famous for the song "To Vouno" , a well-known rebetiko song...
. He subsequently anagram
Anagram
An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
matized his name to Dalaras. Dalaras is married to Anna Ragousi, also his manager, and they have one daughter, Georgianna. Dalaras is a collector of musical instruments and in his spare time he goes fishing and traveling on his motorcycle.