Re: Translation needed( English to Greek)


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Posted by Telly on March 23, 2001 at 18:19:55:

In Reply to: Re: Translation needed( English to Greek) posted by Sahar on November 03, 2000 at 19:35:27:

Apostolos Nikolaidis was born on the day of the Twelve Apostoles, June 30, 1938. He was born in Drama, a city in the province of Macedonia in northern Greece. While still a toddler, his parents Giorgos and Maria moved to nearby Thessaloniki, and little Apostolos grew up in the Kato Touba (Sikies) section of the city in relative poverty

Music was always in Apostolos' blood. As a young child, he would sing the popular elafra tragoudia he heard on the radio and whatever songs his mother, a seamstress, taught him. Although his great affinity for singing was obvious from a very young age, upon completing grade school in 1951, he went to work with his father in construction. While doing his part by picking up nails or carrying cement on construction sites, he would sing songs to himself and for anyone who would listen.
Apostolos Nikolaidis was born on the day of the Twelve Apostoles, June 30, 1938. He was born in Drama, a city in the province of Macedonia in northern Greece. While still a toddler, his parents Giorgos and Maria moved to nearby Thessaloniki, and little Apostolos grew up in the Kato Touba (Sikies) section of the city in relative poverty.

Music was always in Apostolos' blood. As a young child, he would sing the popular elafra tragoudia he heard on the radio and whatever songs his mother, a seamstress, taught him. Although his great affinity for singing was obvious from a very young age, upon completing grade school in 1951, he went to work with his father in construction. While doing his part by picking up nails or carrying cement on construction sites, he would sing songs to himself and for anyone who would listen.

It was when Apostolos heard songs on the radio sung by Stelios Kazantzidis, a performer he admired greatly, that he realized his calling. Much to his parent's chagrin, he bought a guitar, formed a trio and started to sing around the neighborhood. The youngsters sang the well-known songs of the time, mostly hits performed by popular artists like Kazantzidis and Bithikotsis
After finishing his compulsory military service in 1962, Apostolos took his musical ambitions and set off for Athens and Columbia Records. Columbia was the pre-eminent Greek record company at the time, and most of the country's big performing artists were signed with the label. After introducing himself to the label management, he was able to get an appointment for an audition later in the week at the historic studios in Rizoupoli. Upon his arrival, Apostolos discovered that Kazantzidis himself was in for a recording session. He nervously waited for his idol to finish recording; then, he sang one of Kazantzidis' hits, "Duo portes ehi i zoi," with Kazantzidis still in the studio. Both Kazantzidis and Columbia were impressed and Apostolos was invited to sign a three-year contract with the label.

While on the Columbia Records artist roster, Apostolos recorded songs by many of the music industry's top composers at the time, including Manolis Hiotis (a close friend who guided and taught him), Giorgos Lafkas and Apostolos Kaldaras. The first song he recorded, 1962's "Esi me pligoses varia," was written by Lafkas. Other songs Apostolos recorded at the time included Karabesinis' "Maures ipopsies," "Den se thelo gia gineka" by Kaldaras, "Esena eho ki'afto me ftani" by Hiotis, Klouvatos' "Krata to heri mou sfihta" in 1964 and the self-penned "To ematha-to ematha." Concurrently, he performed at now-historic venues such as Anemona alongside Lafkas and Kaldaras, Kouinta, To Hriso Vareli, and at Koulourioti's alongside Kazantzidis and Marinella, where he first became


Above: promo leaflet, Vendetta Records, 1968. Right: advertisement for the well-known Chicago supper club "Grecian Gardens," 1969; cover of the album "O Gialinos Kosmos," 1971.
Although Apostolos was given songs to record that were written by many of the top composers of the time, they were generally not hit material and this distressed him. Because of the lack of hit-worthy songs available to him as well as a number of creative differences between him and Columbia's management, Apostolos left the record company when his contract expired in 1965. In 1967 he signed on with Vendetta, a small record company formed by singing greats Panos Gavalas and Poli Panou (both also formerly signed on the Columbia label). His big hit on Vendetta was 1968's "Asimorfoti."

Eventually disillusioned with the Greek recording industry and in search of greener pastures, Apostolos set out for North America in 1968. He worked with esteemed bouzouki player Haris Lemonopoulos in Canada for a couple of years; working his way down to the U.S., Apostolos performed in clubs in Chicago and New York. Apostolos recorded his first long-play album, "O Gialinos Kosmos," with Lemonopoulos on bouzouki in 1971 and continued to perform in supper clubs while contemplating a new album. The custom at the time was for Greek overseas acts to record albums containing covers of current Greek hits -- but Apostolos had other plans.

Through his engagements and performances in Greece in the 1960s, Apostolos had come in contact and worked with many of the great composers of rebetika music such as Markos Vamvakaris, Vasilis Tsitsanis, Giorgos Lafkas and Giannis Papaioannou. These composers had risen to fame in the 40s and early 50s but had become sorely neglected and even prosecuted in the much-changed musical landscape of the 1960s. It was from them that Apostolos learned the authentic, traditional rebetika songs, songs borne of poverty, strife and suffering by the refugees of Asia Minor in large Greek urban centers in the 1920s. Apostolos' idea was to record an album full of these classic, traditional rebetika songs with their original lyrics as intended by their authors. These songs had never been recorded with their original lyrics and were actually outlawed in Greece when a military coup took control of the government in 1967.

Apostolos shared his idea with a small record label called NINA Records. The company was enthused with the idea and agreed to do the project. The songs were chosen, the musicians were assembled, the arrangements were made, the music was recorded ... and Apostolos sang lead and backing vocals in a tiny New York studio in the winter of 1972.




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