George Dalaras

In George Dalaras one finds that rare breed of performer who can strike a balance between commitment to his artistry and the demands of worldwide acclaim. Born in Kokinia, a laborious district of Piraeus, Athens' main port, George shares the tradition of having roots in the folk and blues music of the masses. His father was a traditional musician and a "bouzouki" instrumentalist. George Dalaras' first musical memories are closely linked to the main forms of Greek music: the "laiko" (popular), the "rembetiko" (a kind of blues) and the "paradosiako" (traditional).   In 1966, at the age of 16, his first public appearances were those of a guitarist and a singer. Two years later, he recorded his first album. At once, the authentic urban sound of Greek music (essentially based on the bouzouki) enriched - through the young artist's vision - with innovative contemporary sounds, instantly won him critical acclaim by vast audiences, who rewarded him with his first best selling album, reaching sales of several hundred thousand.

Since then, George Dalaras has sold more than 7 million albums of his own works and his collaborations. He has worked and recorded with the most important and prominent Greek composers, poets and lyricists, and introduced to his faithful audience many young Greek musicians or singers. In having released thus about 48 personal albums and having collaborated on nearly 40 others as an interpreter, a musician or a producer, he has expressed his multi-faceted creativity, while continuing to expand his musical horizons.

Thanks to his exceptional voice and instrumental skill, George Dalaras is always at the forefront of the innovative processes in Greek music. In more than two decades, he created the essential reference criteria of what this music is or should be about, renewing the genre by leading his mainly young public to forgotten Greek musical paths, like the "smirneiko" or the "rembetiko". An example is the "Rembetiko" double album released in 1975, a form of blues so passionate and so "revolutionary" that it was politically censored in the troubled Greece of the 30's and the 50's. This double album was the first "official" platinum record (100.000 copies) granted by the Greek Record Industry.
It has, since then, sold another 450.000 copies. Other legendary albums include "Mikra Asia" (Asia Minor), "Vyzantinos Esperinos" (Byzantine Vespers), "Mikres Polities" (Small Cities), "Psila Parathiria" (Tall Windows), "Sergiani ston Kosmo" (Walk through the World), "Ta Tragoudia mou" (My songs),  "Zontanes Ihographisis" (Live Recordings), "To Eliniko Prosopo tou Giorgou Dalara" (The Greek side of George Dalaras) and others.

Just a glance through song titles of his subsequent hits like "Asia Minor", "Small Neighbourhoods", "Rembetika From The Occupation" "Songs From Our Bitter Country" reveal an integrity in his lyrics that has remained ever since.  Dalaras' special awareness consists of a profound social consciousness, which nevertheless does not overpower the beauty of his songs that are considered to be a blend of timeless Greek music and an innovative authentic style.  It is music with profound social messages for Greek people and has inspirational power unsurpassed by any other performer.
George Dalaras has interpreted works of the most important Greek composers, such as Stavros Kouyoumtzis, Manos Loizos, Apostolos Kaldaras, Christos Nikolopoulos, Yannis Markopoulos, Stavros Xarhakos, Thanos Mikroutsikos, Eleni Karaindrou and lyricists such as Nikos Gatsos, Lefteris Papadopoulos, Manos Eleftheriou, Kostas Tripolitis and others.
In his early twenties, George Dalaras had already reached stardom. He recorded "18 Songs of a Bitter Homeland" by the greatest contemporary Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis and lyrics by Yannis Ritsos. Since 1974 he toured Greece and Europe with Mikis Theodorakis several times, interpreting some of the most significant ballads of the great composer. In 1988 he peformed at the Herodion Atticus Theatre, the masterpiece of Mikis Theodorakis "AXION ESTI" based on the poem of the Nobel prize awarded poet Odysseas Elytis. The two concerts were conducted by the composer and were released on a double live album.

But George Dalaras has also helped his audience to discover music from other cultures. His collaborative efforts with other international superstars reveal Dalaras' ability to cross over into other styles of music. He has recorded and appeared on stage with Paco de Lucia, Al di Meola, Ian Anderson and others, with albums such as "Latin" or "Misa Criolla" of Ariel Ramirez. His immediate project is the recording of an album with the famous Yugoslavian composer Goran Bregovic.

George Dalaras took Greek music out of the conventional entertainment clubs and was the first to perfrom concerts in large venues. In 1983 George became the first Greek artist to sell out twice Greece's equivalent of Wembley stadium. That gig, which sold over 80.000 tickets per night, was even picked up by America's Billboard magazine which commented "the Greek music business has now entered the era of stadium packing concerts",  conferred George Dalaras the "superstar status".

Over the years, George has captivated the hearts of hundred thousands taking his career to other levels. He has committed himself to worthy causes which he has embrased wholeheartedly showing social sensitivity, awareness and concern. His perserverance for justice and solidarity towards politically or socialy oppressed people or minorities has made him a model for human activists. George is working tirelessly to support causes associated with labour movements, with discrimination among women and children and with people even emotionaly or physically abused. As the globe is undergoing changes, he is keeping up with the world beat as he performs with other artists for the hunger victims in Africa and for the war victims in Yugoslavia.

Since 1981, he has performed in over 250 concerts outside Greece, aiming at promoting Greek heritage and culture. He has played in numerous cultural festivals, such as Cuba (1981), the Europalia Festival in Brussels (1982), the Peace Festival in Vienna (1983), the Youth Festival in Moscow (1985), the Olympia in Paris (1987), the Amnesty International Concert in Athens (1988) - with Peter Gabriel, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Trace Chapman and Yousou'n'Dour - the Aid for Africa Concert in the Stadium of Peace and Friendship in Athens (1986).

For some years now, Dalaras has been at the forefront of the Cyprus problem. Outside Greece, George Dalaras has played at the Palais des Congres in Paris, London's Wembley Arena (backed by Melina Mercouri and Vanessa Redgrave), Toronto, Montreal and the Meadowlands in New Jersey in April 1994 (in front of 22.000 people). For this effort and humanitarian contribution through his art, he received the Kennedy Award, in 1994.

In June 1994, he played 5 shows at the newly built Athens Concert Hall, retracing the history of Greek music from Ancient Times to the "European" Greece of today. The shows featured 225 people on stage and were directed by Costas Gavras.

Later he recorded with the Metropole Orchestra a "tribute concert to composer Mikis Theodorakis and his msuic for the movies" at the Herodion Atticus Theatre (the ancient theatre of the Acropolis). The album has been released in many countries worldwide under the "EMI Classics" label, in June 1996.

In a country alive with so many musical traditions, George Dalaras has become a musical phenomenon. A soft spoken and modest man, he slums the "star system" and the banalities of commerical Greek pop bouzouki music.
If somebody wants to find out the reason why George managed to overpass the Greek borders, one should  stop for a while and examine the songs themselves - besides of course the unique voice that George is gifted with. Dalaras is best loved for the ballads he has sung - a combination of contemporary guitar and the traditional instruments of Greece. These compositions - poignant expressions of protest, hope and social indignation - set him apart from ordinary popular musicians and singers and it is not surprising that not only Greece but many other places all over the world have opened theirs arms to the special magic of his songs. From Latin America to USSR and from Canada, USA, London, Paris, Stockholm, Germany, Belgium, Vienna to Australia, he attracts large audiences who are equally moved by his sensitive, yet spirited performances combining the artistic excellence and the maintenance of the highest cultural standards. Dalaras' main concern for his performances is that they should not only be a big event but a cultural experience and musical search for the audience as well.

George Dalaras will be accompagnied on his European Concert Tour 1998 by Eleni Tsaligopoulou and the tenor Mario Frangoulis, as well as by nine excellent musicians.