Tzimis Panousis is a Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 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....

 and stand-up comedian

Comedian

A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...

 born in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 on February 12, 1954, where he has spent most of his life. His fans often refer to him as “Tzimakos” (little Jim). He is married to Lili Achladioti and has a son, Aris and a daughter Fotini.

Early biography

Panousis made his first appearance in the mid 1970s, performing in various pubs, with his band "Mousikes Taxiarhies" (Musical Brigades). Panousis was the vocalist and main composer of the group. Their first (unofficial) album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 was "Disco Tsoutsouni" (Disco Weenie) released in 1980. It was an illegally published tape

Compact Cassette

The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...

, many songs of which were later rerecorded for the band's official debut, their eponymous album in 1982. The band went under the alias "Alamana's Bridge" to make a guest appearance with two songs in the compilation album "Made in Greece". In 1986, Mousikes Taxiarhies was disbanded and Panousis went solo. His subsequent successful career showed that he could be a band on his own.

Artistic style

Since his debut, Panousis has introduced a controversial style of rock music with humorous and sarcastic lyrics. His songs include caustic remarks on the political and social reality of Greece. His varied musical style includes mostly rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

, but also reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

  and rembetiko. In his live performances, Panousis delivers sarcastic comments about current events and Greek musicians and personalities. He often interacts with his audience, in a unique type of stand-up comedy, and is also notorious for his on-stage phone pranks.

Discography

• 1980: "Disco Tsoutsouni"
• 1982: "Mousikes Taxiarhies"
• 1984: "An I Giagia Mou Ihe Rouleman"
• 1985: "Hard Core" (Live)
• 1986: "Kaggela Pantou" (First solo album after Mousikes Taxiarhies)
• 1987: "Himia Ke Terata"
• 1990: "Doulies Tou Kefaliou" (Live)
• 1992: "O Roben Ton Hazon" (Live)
• 1993: "Vivere Pericolosamente"
• 2000: "Me Lene Popi" (Live)
• 2002: "Digma Dorean"
• 2003: "Dourios Ihos"
• 2009: "Tis Patridas Mou I Simea" (Live)

Controversy

Panousis has had several run-ins with the Greek authorities. His second album, Musical Brigades (“Μουσικές Ταξιαρχίες” in Greek), was briefly withdrawn from circulation in 1982 because of the ostensibly blasphemous lyrics of a love ballad. In 1984, censors placed beeps over some of the lyrics in Mousikes Taxiarhies's third album, "An I Giagia Mou Ihe Rouleman" (If My Grandma Had Wheels).

In 1997, a court battle with well-known Greek singer George Dalaras

George Dalaras

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.-Early...

 began. Panousis had frequently been making fun of Dalaras in his live shows, showing money coming out of his mouth whenever he sang. The court ruled that Panousis would be charged with a one million Drachmas fine (approximately $3,000) every time he mentioned Dalaras by name on-stage. Panousis's response to that, was to call him "the unmentionable" in his shows from then on, and use his famous on-stage quip, “Ladies and gentlemen, I have 3 million drachmas to spare: Dalaras, Dalaras, Dalaras!”

All this has contributed to the depiction of Panousis as a highly controversial artist. Some regard him as a modern-day Aristophanes

Aristophanes

Aristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete...

 while many consider that his pranks and commentaries are of bad taste. Panousis often uses offensive language, while the advertising posters of his depict provocative images. In one instance, he replaced the cross of the Greek flag with a communist hammer and sickle

Hammer and sickle

The hammer and sickle is a part of communist symbolism and its usage indicates an association with Communism, a Communist party, or a Communist state. It features a hammer and a sickle overlapping each other. The two tools are symbols of the industrial proletariat and the peasantry; placing them...

, for which he was charged with a four-month probation. In another instance, he appeared dressed as a priest with a medallion hanging around his neck which depicted the head of a chicken instead of Mary

Mary (mother of Jesus)

Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...

. This elicited the angry reaction of Archbishop Christodoulos

Christodoulos

Christodoulos was Archbishop of Athens and All Greece and as such the primate of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece, from 1998 until his death, in 2008.- Early life and career :...

, the late head of the Church of Greece.

Other activities

Panousis has hosted various radio shows for more than 15 years. He is also the author of six books (a peculiar type of sarcastic essays). Moreover, he has appeared in four movies: the most notable is The Dracula of Exarcheia (1981, directed by Nicos Zervos), where Panousis is the protagonist. From September 2008 to June 2009, he has been hosting a 30-minute radio show, called "Dourios Ihos" (Trojan Sound) at the radio station "City 99,5". The show is currently hosted in "Radio Thema 98,9".

External links

• http://www.tzimakos.gr, official site. The most complete web site on Panousis.
• Tzimis Panousis on MySpace
  MySpace
  Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....