George Sapounidis
Encyclopedia
Yiorgos Sapounides better known as George Sapounides is a Greek Canadian
musician
/ troubadour
, statistician
and a Sinophile
living in Ottawa
, Ontario
, Canada
. He was also subject of 2005 Canadian
documentary film
entitled Chairman George
. The documentary, directed by Daniel Cross
and Mila Aung-Thwin
and produced by EyeSteelFilm
in association with CTV
, BBC
's "Storyville" series and TV2 (Denmark), tells the story of Sapounides as a musician popular in China
campaigning for approval to perform at the closing ceremonies of 2004 Athens Olympics
when the flag was to be given to Beijing
for organizing the 2008 Beijing Olympics
. In addition to Greek
and Mandarin Chinese, he sings in more than five other languages.
Yet, by day, this Montreal born folksinger is a graduate from University of Toronto
where he holds a Ph.D.
in Mathematical Statistics
bearing statistician. He works for Statistics Canada
in Ottawa (where he goes by the surname Sampson) employing statistical software and mathematical formulae to design business surveys.
and Led Zeppelin
into Greek for audiences at folk and multicultural music festivals as well as CBC Television
and CBC Radio
producing two albums, including a successful CD of international folk songs.
Although he has been performing regularly at all manner of folk festivals, awards ceremonies, multicultural events, variety shows and special events as well as on Canadian radio and television for over 20 years, it's George Sapounidis' concert tours of China that have catapulted him to stardom in China.
Ever since the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Canada invited George Sapounidis to perform at an international folk festival in Shanghai
in the fall of 2000, Chinese people have not been able to get enough of the Greek-Canadian George. They have invited him back time and time again since then - the Nanning International Arts Festival of Folksongs the same year, a Beijing tour in May 2002 and again, four months later in September 2002. Another music tour followed in the fall of 2003, a concert in December and the ten-day Shanghai Baoshan International Folk Arts Festival again in the fall of 2004.
Sapounidis attributes special affinity for Chinese culture. While performing in several languages one night, he was asked to sing in Mandarin Chinese. Intrigued, and with help from his Chinese girlfriend, herself an acclaimed poet, he learned a traditional Mandarin folk song over the next few weeks. He was hooked. His repertoire of Chinese folk songs began to grow - as did his Mandarin language skills. Soon he was performing for the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa officials which in turn invited him to perform in China. Audiences loved him, disarmed and enchanted that a westerner would come into their midst and perform their songs with such depth and emotion.
Upon returning to Ottawa, George formed a new band, the "George Sapounidis Trio", with percussionist Ken Easton and Jeremy Moyer, another Sinophile
like him who plays a variety of Chinese stringed instruments. They perform songs, new and old, from around the world. The songs he composes in Chinese, by contrast, are sweet and simple reflecting yearning, friendship, loneliness and love. In 2002 he produced a CD called Songs about China and Greece to be followed in summer of 2005 with George from Athens to Beijing, comprising a variety of traditional Greek and Chinese folks songs along with some personal compositions reflecting the latest twists in his personal and musical quest. Some of the songs were recorded in China with Chinese backup musicians and singers - one was even recorded live on the Great Wall - and others recorded in Canada with Canadian and Greek guest artists using a wide variety of international instruments. His folk songs express the universality of human emotion - the Greek in a passionate extroverted style, the Chinese in a poetic ethereal and far more introverted manner. Yet they complement one another "on stage and within myself" George explains. It's these contradictions he says that feed his soul.
and his crew follows him across three continents as he tracks down and lobbies Canadian, Greek and Chinese officials, dogging them even onto the Great Wall.
In the end it was not meant to be. But new unexpected paths appeared. George was an Olympic relay torch-bearer when the torch arrived in Montreal. And he spent the Athens Olympics in the Olympic Village in Athens as a National Olympic Committee Assistant capitalizing on his Greek and Chinese language skills to assist the Chinese team. It didn't take long before his impromptu performances again attracted both Greek and Chinese radio and television attention. This was followed by an invitation from the Humanistic Olympics Studies Centre at Renmin University to teach a series of classes on Olympic volunteering in Beijing.
The CD George: From Athens to Beijing was nominated for Best World Music CD at the 2005 Canadian Folk Music Awards.
Greek Canadians
Greek Canadians are Canadian citizens of Greek origin, also known as Hellenic origin. According to the 2006 Canadian census, there were 242,685 Canadians who claimed Greek ethnicity.- Authors :...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
/ troubadour
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....
, statistician
Statistician
A statistician is someone who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. The core of that work is to measure, interpret, and describe the world and human activity patterns within it...
and a Sinophile
Sinophile
A Sinophile is a person who demonstrates a strong interest in aspects of Chinese culture or its people...
living in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He was also subject of 2005 Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
entitled Chairman George
Chairman George
Chairman George is a 73-minute 2005 Canadian documentary film about the Greek Canadian musician / troubadour and statistician George Sapounidis. The documentary is directed by Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin and produced by EyeSteelFilm in association with CTV, BBC's "Storyville" series and TV2...
. The documentary, directed by Daniel Cross
Daniel Cross (filmmaker)
Daniel Cross a Canadian documentary filmmaker, producer and activist whose films deal with social justice.He is co-founder of EyeSteelFilm with fellow director/producer Mila Aung-Thwin. He is the president of the company...
and Mila Aung-Thwin
Mila Aung-Thwin
Mila Aung-Thwin is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, producer and activist whose films deal with social justice.He had a multi-disciplinary education in arts, journalism, and photography. In 1998, he met his fellow director/producer Daniel Cross and co-founded with him EyeSteelFilm specilaizing in...
and produced by EyeSteelFilm
EyeSteelFilm
EyeSteelFilm is a Montreal-based Canadian cinema production company founded and co-owned by Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin, dedicated to socially engaged cinema, bringing social and political change through cinematic expression...
in association with CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
, BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's "Storyville" series and TV2 (Denmark), tells the story of Sapounides as a musician popular in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
campaigning for approval to perform at the closing ceremonies of 2004 Athens Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
when the flag was to be given to Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
for organizing the 2008 Beijing Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
. In addition to Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and Mandarin Chinese, he sings in more than five other languages.
Yet, by day, this Montreal born folksinger is a graduate from University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
where he holds a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Mathematical Statistics
Mathematical statistics
Mathematical statistics is the study of statistics from a mathematical standpoint, using probability theory as well as other branches of mathematics such as linear algebra and analysis...
bearing statistician. He works for Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada is the Canadian federal government agency commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. Its headquarters is in Ottawa....
in Ottawa (where he goes by the surname Sampson) employing statistical software and mathematical formulae to design business surveys.
Early Musical Career
Sapounides founded his multicultural band "Ouzo Power" in 1988, giving a new spin to Greek music on the Canadian scene, bringing in jazz elements and translating the songs of the likes of Bob DylanBob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
into Greek for audiences at folk and multicultural music festivals as well as CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
and CBC Radio
CBC Radio
CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
producing two albums, including a successful CD of international folk songs.
Although he has been performing regularly at all manner of folk festivals, awards ceremonies, multicultural events, variety shows and special events as well as on Canadian radio and television for over 20 years, it's George Sapounidis' concert tours of China that have catapulted him to stardom in China.
Popularity in China
Oddly enough, the Greek Canadian Sapounidis became a Chinese folk-singing sensation who has appeared at international festivals across China; on stage at Beijing's Forbidden City Concert Hall, and for China Central Television.Ever since the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Canada invited George Sapounidis to perform at an international folk festival in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
in the fall of 2000, Chinese people have not been able to get enough of the Greek-Canadian George. They have invited him back time and time again since then - the Nanning International Arts Festival of Folksongs the same year, a Beijing tour in May 2002 and again, four months later in September 2002. Another music tour followed in the fall of 2003, a concert in December and the ten-day Shanghai Baoshan International Folk Arts Festival again in the fall of 2004.
Sapounidis attributes special affinity for Chinese culture. While performing in several languages one night, he was asked to sing in Mandarin Chinese. Intrigued, and with help from his Chinese girlfriend, herself an acclaimed poet, he learned a traditional Mandarin folk song over the next few weeks. He was hooked. His repertoire of Chinese folk songs began to grow - as did his Mandarin language skills. Soon he was performing for the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa officials which in turn invited him to perform in China. Audiences loved him, disarmed and enchanted that a westerner would come into their midst and perform their songs with such depth and emotion.
Upon returning to Ottawa, George formed a new band, the "George Sapounidis Trio", with percussionist Ken Easton and Jeremy Moyer, another Sinophile
Sinophile
A Sinophile is a person who demonstrates a strong interest in aspects of Chinese culture or its people...
like him who plays a variety of Chinese stringed instruments. They perform songs, new and old, from around the world. The songs he composes in Chinese, by contrast, are sweet and simple reflecting yearning, friendship, loneliness and love. In 2002 he produced a CD called Songs about China and Greece to be followed in summer of 2005 with George from Athens to Beijing, comprising a variety of traditional Greek and Chinese folks songs along with some personal compositions reflecting the latest twists in his personal and musical quest. Some of the songs were recorded in China with Chinese backup musicians and singers - one was even recorded live on the Great Wall - and others recorded in Canada with Canadian and Greek guest artists using a wide variety of international instruments. His folk songs express the universality of human emotion - the Greek in a passionate extroverted style, the Chinese in a poetic ethereal and far more introverted manner. Yet they complement one another "on stage and within myself" George explains. It's these contradictions he says that feed his soul.
Campaign for the Olympics
In 2001, when Beijing won the Olympic bid, George felt that this was the opportune time to "build bridges between cultures" when the Olympic flag would be passed from Athens to Beijing. And so began a journey - and a documentary, EyeSteelFilm's "Chairman George", chronicling George's unrelenting pursuit of his dream to perform at the closing ceremonies with director Daniel CrossDaniel Cross (filmmaker)
Daniel Cross a Canadian documentary filmmaker, producer and activist whose films deal with social justice.He is co-founder of EyeSteelFilm with fellow director/producer Mila Aung-Thwin. He is the president of the company...
and his crew follows him across three continents as he tracks down and lobbies Canadian, Greek and Chinese officials, dogging them even onto the Great Wall.
In the end it was not meant to be. But new unexpected paths appeared. George was an Olympic relay torch-bearer when the torch arrived in Montreal. And he spent the Athens Olympics in the Olympic Village in Athens as a National Olympic Committee Assistant capitalizing on his Greek and Chinese language skills to assist the Chinese team. It didn't take long before his impromptu performances again attracted both Greek and Chinese radio and television attention. This was followed by an invitation from the Humanistic Olympics Studies Centre at Renmin University to teach a series of classes on Olympic volunteering in Beijing.
Synopsis of Chairman George
The documentary Chairman George follows George's efforts efforts to get to the Olympics. The film synopsis states that:Music for the Documentary
Accompanying the documentary in 2005, George Sapounidis had released his CD George: From Athens to Beijing. Chairman George won awards at the AFI/Silverdocs and at Guangzhou Documentary Festival.The CD George: From Athens to Beijing was nominated for Best World Music CD at the 2005 Canadian Folk Music Awards.