Antometrios

Dalaras a "good" singer?

10 posts in this topic

A dear friend of mine who loves singing as I do has recently been criticizing me on everything under the sun concerning <i>how</i> I sing. I of course, having no musical education, just imitate other people; she says this is a bad idea because most people do not sing properly. She said, for example, that one should not raise his head to reach higher notes. This in turn raises a question in my mind, as I have seen Dalaras do this in concerts (though perhaps not enough to do any damage to his throat, as she warns me is possible). Could anyone here, who is familiar with the "proper technique" (and maybe it is different for Eastern music--I would not know) tell me whether Mr. George Dalaras is a "technically" "good" singer? If being bad means a destroyed voice as I am told, I don't see how he couldn't be since his career and voice continues in my mind to improve.... Yet I present the question humbly for wiser men and women than I.

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I know even less than you do about singing, so I can't help on the technical side.

I have always thought it would be a most interesting question to ask Dalaras himself: whether his technique has changed much over the years, for example; wether he has had to "unlearn bad habits" as one hears about young singers sometimes; what is like for him to sing with such different voices as in, say Nychtose choris feggari compared to To tragoudi tis vrochis - how he does it, I mean on a level of muscles and lungs (not on the level of getting the emotion across, that's a question that wouldn't make sense to me).

I wish some sensible interviewer would ask him that one of these days.

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Same as above, I know little about techinque and all about emotion, so I sentence Giorgos' singing as JUST PERFECT!!!. It has always been such and always will. The depth of his voice changes, it is not so boysh as it used to be once upon a time when I loved it so dearly, but i love equally dearly his todays voice.

One thing I know, however, he does not want to sing today his old 'very boysh way sung' songs the way he used to sing them when he was very young, even if he could and I think he COULD, but sings them now differently, not only regarding the depth of his voice, but the manliness that he puts in them nowdays...this is because his manliness overpasses the capacity of his body by far...so he is giving some of it to us too...

For, except Anna, there is NIKH and NIKI,and some BEE, and other lovely women in this world.

I love both ways. Could not choose between them. :(

As for rising his head, it is SO THAT WE SEE HIM BETTER WHEN HE SINGS, SINCE HE IS ALSO THE MOST HANDSOME MAN IN THE WHOLE WORLD :mad:

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Mostly what Hristaki said. It really does not help moving your head, except that it could perhaps help a bit raising your head when trying for really low notes(!) due to the elongation of the reasonant cavity (neck). But on the whole you should (classically) always think in opposite movements, i.e. think of going low when reaching for high notes and vice versa.

Concerning Dalaras, I don't think that he does the raising of the head for reaching high notes, both because he is a good singer and because it seldom is very high notes, but for psychological effects. The words/music are often written to get the most prominent words in high notes to emphasise them, and of course you can also emphasise them even more with your body language. But of course, this is just guesses.

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From the technical aspect my teacher used to say that by moving your head it makes it more difficult to have a stable note and the voice is more trembling.

Nikh,

I find that very interesting, actually, because while Western music may prefer strong, steady notes, I think many examples of Eastern music ask for just the opposite. Consider yours and my favorite, Mana Mou Ellas, sung in an almost Byzantine/Arabic voice. This music is of mourning, not proud strength and duration. (Actually, that's an assumption on my part since I don't know what the words mean except for the "I don't have a house" part :rolleyes: ) This applies to other songs like O Tragoudhistis as well, which I can tell you is closer-sounding to Dalaras when sung with head movement. If anyone has ever watched a psalti chant in church, his head is rarely still, too. The little trembles and swooping motions are what make the voice follow suit. Perhaps this was a little off topic, but I find it interesting. Thank you, everyone, for your great input :D

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Andometrie, you are mixing up Nikh and NIKH.

Nikh wrote to you about technique and I, which is NIKH, wrote about MANA MU ELLAS.

We are two very different people, females, and know each other.

She is very nice, beautiful and young. I am nice and beautiful, too. :(

.........

And you never answered my question about why you put me on your nice list, so I decided that after you have read about Athinaia you changed your mind about me and took me off your nice list. :rolleyes:

????????????

I don't know how you can find the lyrics of MANA MU ELLAS, so I suggest you ask in open and someone will tell you and even translate it for you, actually, if it has not been translted yet, I will do it for you and me!!!

So it is ME now who is asking everybody to tell me where I can find the lyrics of MANA MU ELLAS, Francois, you should know, SO PLESE GIVE ME THE LINK, THANK YOU, and then I will translate it very nice.... :music:

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Ooooh boy, I feel stupid....

Sorry, Nikh and NIKH.... Oooh, translation. Neato.

Oh, I did explain why you were on the "list"! Maybe you missed it somehow. Or maybe it disappeared. I know I wrote it, though :(

And anyway, everyone's admirable in his or her own way. :music:

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Michael, thank you very much, and maybe you know who translated it and maybe you tell it to me...maybe...

Because it would have been my honour that I translated it and I tell to myself a nice lie, or maybe it isn't a lie, that I would do it better.

Because I would do it for love.

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Michael, thank you very much, and maybe you know who translated it and maybe you tell it to me...maybe...

Of course I would tell it to you, NIKH, but I do not know it. Sorry.

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