Anna

Dalaras' news in English

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Thank you, too.

Μία απορία μόνο έχω (εκτός topic): τόσες εβδομάδες που βλέπω το site της συναυλίας για την αγορά εισιτηρίων όλο τις ίδιες θέσεις δίνει. Δεν έχει αγοράσει κανείς εισιτήριο;

I didn't like the tickets the on-line engine was offering, so I went to the agency in person....from what I saw three weeks ago, when I got my tickets...there have been lots of sales....will I see you in Sydney?

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http://www.grreporte...cal_music/7740/ (This concert may be within the "Bridges" series that was deferred from May this year/aa)

For the fans of classical music

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Picture: www.clickatlife.gr

Several days ago, artistic director of the Concert Hall in Athens, Nikos Tsouchlos, presented the Hall's program for the new season.

This year, Christos Lambrakis Hall will host some of the biggest names of symphonic music, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (22, 23, 24 November), the famous Philharmonia Orchestra (15 December), Orchestre Nationale de France (25, 26 February 2013) and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (2 April 2013). Marvellous Brazilian soloist Nelson Freire and Eliza Virsalante, artist and teacher of George-Emmanuel Lazaridis will perform together with Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

Baroque will be presented by Venexiana band, with a program of works by Vivaldi and a recitation of the Hall's new organist Ourania Gasiou, who will play Bach, and an official guest will be her teacher and predecessor Nicholas Kinaston. The "Great Performers" cycle will offer two exceptional recitals - by pianist Arcadi Volodos and by renowned violinist Kim Kashkashian.

Mikis Theodorakis's symphonic music will be presented this year in two concerts. The first will be with ERT National Symphony Orchestra and soloist Maria Farantouri, and the second - together with Athens State Orchestra conducted by Myron Michailidis.

The Greek Song cycle includes the concerts in the garden by Eleonora Zouganeli and Vassilikos, George Dalaras, as well as a dedication to Michalis Souyoul.

The series "Bridges" will be conducted by Dimitris Marangopoulos. Musical Memories of the crash in Smyrna, musical compositions from the collection Gourdjieff, musical traditions with Panagiotis Milonas, recitation without borders of Stefanos Korkolis, electronic music and installations with Hertz Festival, and the show featuring Aurélia Thierrée Chaplin "Murmurs des Murs" will be presented as well. This year's "Bridges" offers acquaintance with classical music with the help of Kostas Kotsiolis's Naxos trio, Vassilis Tsabropoulos and Janis Vakarelis with Tetraktys.

Christmas holidays will be celebrated with ERT National Symphony Orchestra and musicians Nikos Tsouchlos and Ioakim Baltsaviya with Christmas carols and tunes together with Rosarte Choir.

The concerts cycle with the Chamber presents this year a concert of works by Lully, Koumendakis, Rammo, Papadimitriou, Gluck and Koukos, the magic of the famous mezzo-soprano voice Vivika Zeno, and three original concerts, combining the menus created by renowned chefs with musical delight. The cooperation between the Chamber and Evanthia Remboutsika is also expected with interest in a concert with familiar melodies which she has created for cinema and television. The cycle will be completed by concerts of works by Bach titled "In phase with J.S. Bach".

Contemporary musical art is represented by the Greek group for contemporary music Theodoros Andonios, with Ergon Ensemble, and the music of Olivier Messiaen and his students, as well as the series "Music and the silent movie" (in collaboration with the Goethe Institut and the French Institute in Athens). The dedications to Jani Christou and Yiannis Andreu Papaioannou also belong to the same cycle, and the quartet's concert titled Boulez project.

Within the "Greek National School" cycle three concerts are included, a dedication to the great composer and friend of Greece Maurice Emmanuel, a recital by pianist Athina Fitika and a dedication to Manolis Kalomiris to mark the 50th anniversary of his death.

A whole cycle is devoted to Beethoven sonatas, and the "Musical evenings in Dimitris Mitropoulos Hall" will host the recital of Julia Troussa, Aris Garoufalis and 17-year-old Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki.

The famous "Rising Stars" always have a place in the program of the Hall and the series "Sunday mornings." The garden is planned to host two concerts with Dimitris Kalandzis and his quintet with jazz works of Manos Hadjidakis, as well as the Nocturnal confessions with Christos Zervinos, accordion, and Miltos Logiadis.

Yiannis Markopoulos will present his works in two concerts. And next summer the Chamber will present the nine piano concertos by Beethoven. The cycle ends in June in the garden with a musical celebration on 21 June.

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http://www.ekathimer.../12/2012_474640

George Dalaras makes a strong comeback

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By Iota Sykka

When George Dalaras made his comeback on December 2 with a new album of songs penned by Nikos Antypas, his fans were there to welcome his return and express their support.

The concert-goers rose from their seats when the versatile singer walked onto the stage at Gazarte in central Athens, waving their illuminated cell phones and shouting out words of encouragement. It was a far cry from the hostile reception in the Athenian suburb of Ilion last spring, when the veteran Greek singer was booed off the stage, called a traitor and had bottles of water, cups of coffee and containers of yogurt thrown at him during a free concert organized to express solidarity with crisis-slammed Greeks by a group of protesters who accused him of pandering to the system.

The new album is titled “Ti tha pi etsi einai” and the audience at Gazarte was treated to a selection of songs from it, as well as older favorites. The songs on the new album are about everyday stories and strong emotions with a pervading sense of melancholy.

Dalaras, 63, has released 70 personal albums that have sold over 14 million copies worldwide, ranging from classic rebetiko to opera and pop. He spoke to Kathimerini following his Gazarte appearance.

Your new album exudes a sense that you are trying to make a new start. Was there ever a time when you doubted yourself or your career choices?

Life always has continuity. I am often in doubt, not about my ideas, but about their application. This is not a philosophical quandary, but a practical one. When I want to do something I do it, but then I often wonder whether I got it right.

You are a grandfather now. What kind of stories would you like to tell your grandson?

My feelings are so intense. [singer-songwriter] Haris Katsimichas describes it well in the verse “You’d be scared if you knew how much I love you.” I would love to teach him all about colors. To swim with him in the waves. To listen to magical music, like that of [the late clarinet player] Tasos Halkias or a suite by Vivaldi. Those are stories as well, aren’t they? I wouldn’t like to tell him about queens and wolves.

In your spring concert series you returned to your old haunts in Brahami, Keratsini and Ilion, until the attack. What were you thinking at the time?

The first thing I told myself was to be patient. Next I felt concern for the people who were beside me on the stage and the hundreds of people in the audience who had nothing to do with the incident. Then there was anger – the kind of anger people feel when they are wronged. I can understand their delusions, but not their actions. And I wonder: If their objections were spontaneous, why didn’t anyone come to talk to me and demand an answer? I was right there.

After the attack, were you tempted to throw in the towel, to retire?

The opposite, I’d say. Singing is a state of being for me and no one gives up the right to live and work. I am not a car that can be taken out of circulation. I will go when I choose.

Many say that you were attacked because of your wife’s political decisions [Anna Dalara is a deputy with socialist PASOK].

I know. Other than a new brand of fascism, we also appear to have a new brand of phallocracy. Anna made her choices. Right or wrong, they are her business. If I disagreed, should I have locked her up in the house so that she wouldn’t impact on my career? Seriously?

Have you ever felt that you’ve provoked some of the criticism that has been leveled against you over the years regarding your politics and activism?

I have paid a heavy price for my obsessions and beliefs. I’ll leave it up to you to figure out why. For some reason, there are people who believe that a leftist can sing for Chile but not for Cyprus.

The left-wing establishment to which you belong ideologically hasn’t given you much support when you have found yourself the subject of public criticism. Does that disappoint you?

The left has thousands of problems to deal with; it can’t solve my problems as well. The left was and is an unrealized fantasy, the ideology on which so many of us found a solid basis that allowed us to evolve, even if it often appears much more superior than the people who ostensibly advocate it.

If there is one thing I would like the readers of this interview to go away with, it is this enormous fear I have over the rifts in society and the absence of solidarity. And this solidarity is something that the left can achieve.

How would you compare the present state of the country to how things were in the 1950s and 60s?

The violence and aggression is the same and just as dangerous. I may have seen it through the eyes of a child in the aftermath of the civil war, but the crash landing we are experiencing today after a period of false prosperity is really very dramatic. It is most dramatic for people who were never tempted to lie, cheat or steal, who always had a clean view of the world, who were honest and who are now living in poverty. What they are experiencing is humiliation. Then there is the rising popularity of [ultranationalist] Golden Dawn, which is very serious. We need to keep our eyes and ears wide open.

ekathimerini.com , Thursday December 27, 2012 (15:51)

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Dalaras is singing most of the songs composed by Nikos Platiraxos for the album Τα Αστεγα (Ta Astega - the homeless), an unexpected cross-over of ragtime and rembetico.

The songs are featured on the youtube channel of the record company: https://www.youtube.com/user/FeelgoodRecordsGR/videos

and here is (my translation of) the blurb that goes with them:

 

« Níkos Platýrachos, the internationally renowned composer, returns with a new musical invitation, working with Giórgos Daláras as the main performer of his new song cycle «Ta Astega» [litt. "the ones with roof/shelter", that is: The Homeless], an experimental and successful alliance of the rhythms and harmonies of American ragtime music with Greek rembetico. The album Ta Astega, with 13 songs and 2 instrumental pieces, and with contributions from Stamátis Kraounákis, Eléni Tsaligopoúlou and Aspasía Stratigoú, will be released by Feelgood Records.

 

Ragtime music, one of the sources of jazz, is based on the piano or the pianola. It originates in the 19th century in the poor Afro-American quarters of Saint Louis as an expression of the pain and hardship, but also of the optimism and joy of the people who lived there. Way across the map at about the same time, Greece saw the rise of rembetico music, which flourished in the seaports and working-class neighbourhoods, and generally in the poorest parts of the cities.


Though far apart geographically, ragtime and rembetico show such similarities, both musically and thematically,that one might suspect some form of underground contact. Níkos Platýrachos, in his new musical offering, uncovers their shared umbilical cord and creates an osmotic mixture of the two, with its own original sound, harmony and orchestration.

The title, Ta Ástega, as Níkos Platýrachos explains, is "an atmosphere conveyed by the word itself, not in the sense of misery, poverty or bad times, as one might think, but with optimism, looking up – something our present time stands in need of."

 

The composer worked with lyrics written by himself, by Giánnis Doúkas, Dimítris Léntzos, Kóstas Papageorgíou,
Dimítris Roúlias, Panagiótis Makrís and Tína Giotopoúlou. Even while the musical material was still in the making, he had Giórgos Daláras in mind as the ideal performer, not least given the great singer's relationship and past
relationship with the rembetico genre. Then, when Daláras heard some of the material, his enthusiastic reaction led to the writing of several more songs especially for him. Beside Daláras, Stamátis Kraounákis, Eléni Tsaligopoúlou
and Aspasía Stratigoú perform one song each, as does the composer himself. »

 

 

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Thank you, Geske! It's nice to ''see'' you again here. :)

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