Pio Konta
Encyclopedia
Pio Konta is the second album released by Greek singer Kostas Martakis
, released in Greece and Cyprus on 12 November 2009 by Universal Music Greece
. The album has eleven songs in total, including two English language
songs. Furthermore, five songs were recorded and produced at Lionheart Studios in Stockholm
, Sweden
. The album went gold within four days of its release, and was later certified platinum.
, Sweden
. Besides the title track and single "Pio Konta", Holter/Erixson also wrote an English language version of that song titled "Dance on Me (Dam-Dam)" included as a bonus track, as well as composing three other dance songs on the album. "Diskola Na S'agapo" is produced by Holter/Erixson and Bobby Ljunggren
, with music composition by Vasilis Vlahakis.
Kostas Martakis also collaborated with duo Symphonic on the English language duet with Bulgarian singer Desi Slava
titled "Agapi Mou (Loving U)". Additional songwriters include Hristodoulos Siganos and Valentino with "Glyko Koritsi" and Giorgos Papadopoulos with "Giati", while singer–songwriter
s have also contributed, including Greek rock musician
Kostas Tournas with "Proti Mou Fora" and Grigoris Petrakos with "Kathe Proi".
Beginning in 2009, Universal Music Greece's promotional campaign introduced new album packaging under a fixed price
sold through unconventional distribution channels. As a result the album was released in digipak
packaging priced at 9.90 euro, notable for being about half of the average price of a CD album in the Greek market. The physical release was available for purchase at newsstand kiosks, as well as at traditional points of sale. Additionally for its first week of release, it was included as a bonus CD when purchasing the magazine Tiletheatis. The album was once again circulated via print media the following year in May 2010, this time being bundled with newspaper Espresso News.
music website music.net.cy proclaimed that Kostas Martakis is raising the bar for Greek pop music, as all eleven tracks have a unique sound under current Greek music standards lending to the fact that some of the tracks were produced in Sweden. They concluded that Martakis is ready to conquer the Greek pop music scene, while calling the album one the best Greek pop albums of recent years.
) and "Kafes me tin Eleni" (with Eleni Menegaki
) on Alpha Channel, as well as a sit down interview with Tatiana Stefanidou
on "Axizi Na To Deis" on ANT1
, where he also performed some songs off the album. Martakis also appeared on Dromos FM on 12 November 2009 where the station played his new songs over the course of the interview.
For the winter 2009–2010 season, Martakis appeared weekly at club Theatro alongside Nikos Kourkoulis and Aggeliki Iliadi in support of Pio Konta.
"Gliko Koritsi"
"Pote"
"Agapi Mou (Loving You)"
"Kano Oti Thes"
Kostas Martakis
Konstantinos "Kostas" Martakis is a Greek singer, who rose to fame after appearing on Greek talent show Dream Show aired by Alpha TV in 2006. Following his participation, he went on to release three studio albums and also participated in the Greek national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008...
, released in Greece and Cyprus on 12 November 2009 by Universal Music Greece
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
. The album has eleven songs in total, including two English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
songs. Furthermore, five songs were recorded and produced at Lionheart Studios in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. The album went gold within four days of its release, and was later certified platinum.
Production
Kostas Martakis collaborated with Swedish duo Holter/Erixson on five songs for the album, which were recorded and produced at Lionheart studios in StockholmStockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Besides the title track and single "Pio Konta", Holter/Erixson also wrote an English language version of that song titled "Dance on Me (Dam-Dam)" included as a bonus track, as well as composing three other dance songs on the album. "Diskola Na S'agapo" is produced by Holter/Erixson and Bobby Ljunggren
Bobby Ljunggren
Bobby Ljunggren is a Swedish songwriter. He has entered the Eurovision Song Contest as a composer six times, five times for his native Sweden , and once for Lithuania, in 2005. He is a veteran of the Melodifestivalen competition, with 39 entries...
, with music composition by Vasilis Vlahakis.
Kostas Martakis also collaborated with duo Symphonic on the English language duet with Bulgarian singer Desi Slava
Desi Slava
Desislava Ivanova Doneva , better known as Desi Slava is a Bulgarian singer of pop-folk and pop music. Desi Slava is considered to be one of the greatest voices of contemporary Bulgarian music, being able to perform in different styles, from jazz to rock and pop-folk.Slava had a son in 2000, who...
titled "Agapi Mou (Loving U)". Additional songwriters include Hristodoulos Siganos and Valentino with "Glyko Koritsi" and Giorgos Papadopoulos with "Giati", while singer–songwriter
Singer–songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
s have also contributed, including Greek rock musician
Greek rock
Rock and roll, spread around the world in the 1950s and 60s, entering Greece in the middle of the 60s. Greek rock performers in the field include Jimi Quidd , and Pavlos Sidiropoulos, the most important representative of Greek folk-rock and rock.-1960s:Greek rock , originated in the early 1960s with...
Kostas Tournas with "Proti Mou Fora" and Grigoris Petrakos with "Kathe Proi".
Release
The release of Pio Konta marks Kostas Martakis' second studio album. Released on 12 November 2009 in Greece and Cyprus, it is Martakis' first album under his signing with Universal Music Greece.Beginning in 2009, Universal Music Greece's promotional campaign introduced new album packaging under a fixed price
Resale price maintenance
Resale price maintenance is the practice whereby a manufacturer and its distributors agree that the latter will sell the former's product at certain prices , at or above a price floor or at or below a price ceiling...
sold through unconventional distribution channels. As a result the album was released in digipak
Digipak
Digipak is a patented style of CD, DVD or BD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI World Ltd., an Atlas Holdings company.-Features:...
packaging priced at 9.90 euro, notable for being about half of the average price of a CD album in the Greek market. The physical release was available for purchase at newsstand kiosks, as well as at traditional points of sale. Additionally for its first week of release, it was included as a bonus CD when purchasing the magazine Tiletheatis. The album was once again circulated via print media the following year in May 2010, this time being bundled with newspaper Espresso News.
Critical reception
Popular CypriotGreek Cypriots
Greek Cypriots are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community at 77% of the population. Greek Cypriots are mostly members of the Church of Cyprus, an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church within the wider communion of Orthodox Christianity...
music website music.net.cy proclaimed that Kostas Martakis is raising the bar for Greek pop music, as all eleven tracks have a unique sound under current Greek music standards lending to the fact that some of the tracks were produced in Sweden. They concluded that Martakis is ready to conquer the Greek pop music scene, while calling the album one the best Greek pop albums of recent years.
Promotion
Leading up to the album's release, Martakis appeared on a number of television shows including "Mes Tin Kali Hara" (with Natalia GermanouNatalia Germanou
Natalia Germanou is a Greek lyricist, television hostess, radio producer, DJ and journalist.Germanou has written lyrics for many popular Greek singers such as Anna Vissi, Christos Dantis, Elena Paparizou, Sakis Rouvas, Despina Vandi, Mihalis Hatzigiannis, Notis Sfakianakis, Natasa Theodoridou,...
) and "Kafes me tin Eleni" (with Eleni Menegaki
Eleni Menegaki
Eleni Menegaki is a Greek film, television and stage actress and talk show presenter. In 2010, Forbes ranked Menegaki as the second most powerful and influential celebrity in Greece and top-ranked female.- 1...
) on Alpha Channel, as well as a sit down interview with Tatiana Stefanidou
Tatiana Stefanidou
Tatiana Stefanidou is a Greek television host and former journalist on Greek television.-Personal life:In 1995, Stefanidou got married to businessman Panayiotis Stavropoulos, but the marriage ended in a divorce seven years later, in 2002. While married to Stavropoulos, she met a rising TV...
on "Axizi Na To Deis" on ANT1
ANT1
Antenna, better known as ANT1, is a television network airing in Greece and Cyprus. The alternate spelling is play on words in Greek; ena is the Greek number 1, thus ANT1 is pronounced the same as Antenna . It launched on 31 December 1989, the same year as rival Mega Channel, and is owned by...
, where he also performed some songs off the album. Martakis also appeared on Dromos FM on 12 November 2009 where the station played his new songs over the course of the interview.
For the winter 2009–2010 season, Martakis appeared weekly at club Theatro alongside Nikos Kourkoulis and Aggeliki Iliadi in support of Pio Konta.
Track listing
Singles
"Pio Konta"- The lead single is the title-track "Pio Konta" and it was released as a digital download on 30 July 2009. The electronic danceElectronic dance musicElectronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
single became a radio hit, topping several radio station charts. The single also marks Martakis' first collaboration with Swedish producer duo Holter/Erixson. A music video was released shortly after on 5 August 2009, premiering on Universal Music Greece's official Youtube channel. Directed by Dimitris Silvestrou, the video showcases Martakis in front of a giant video wall along with various dancers, singing to a woman standing across him. An English language version of the song titled "Dance On Me (Dam-Dam)" is also included on the album.
"Gliko Koritsi"
- The second single, "Gliko Koritsi", was released as a digital download on 5 November 2009. Martakis had also performed this single at his appearance on "Mes Tin Kali Hara" in October. The single did not gain substantial airplay and was generally not presented during Martakis' promotions for the album. The song's folkFolk musicFolk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
style is also substantially different from the other songs on the album.
"Pote"
- The third single and second music video, "Pote".
"Agapi Mou (Loving You)"
- The fourth single, "Agapi Mou, features a music video shot alongside Desi SlavaDesi SlavaDesislava Ivanova Doneva , better known as Desi Slava is a Bulgarian singer of pop-folk and pop music. Desi Slava is considered to be one of the greatest voices of contemporary Bulgarian music, being able to perform in different styles, from jazz to rock and pop-folk.Slava had a son in 2000, who...
in BulgariaBulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
. The song was also released by Desi Slava in her native country of Bulgaria where it gained popularity.
"Kano Oti Thes"
- The fifth and final single, "Kano Oti Thes", features a music video directed by Konstantinos Rigos released on 3 June 2010.
Personnel
- Artemis Papagerakis – photographer
- Dimitris Giannetos – groomingBarberA barber is someone whose occupation is to cut any type of hair, and to shave or trim the beards of men. The place of work of a barber is generally called a barbershop....
- Fox design – artworkCover artCover art is the illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book , magazine, comic book, video game , DVD, CD, videotape, or music album. The art has a primarily commercial function, i.e...
- Mihalis Papathanasiou – executive producerExecutive producerAn executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
, A&R - Nikos Eftaxias – wardrobe stylingWardrobe stylistA wardrobe stylist is the job title of someone who selects the clothing for published editorial features, print or television advertising campaigns, music videos, concert performances, and any public appearances made by celebrities, models or other public figures...