Dimitris Mitropanos

Dimitris Mitropanos Δημήτρης Μητροπάνος
File:Dimitris.jpg
Background information
Born	(1948-04-02)2 April 1948 Trikala, Greece
Died	17 April 2012(2012-04-17) (aged 64) Athens, Greece
Genres	Laiko
Occupation	Singer
Years active	1964-2012

Dimitris Mitropanos (Template:Lang-el) (2 April 1948 – 17 April 2012) was a Greek singer. He was renowned for his mastery of Laïkó, a Greek music style.

Biography

Mitropanos lived in his native city of Trikala in northwest Thessaly until the age of 16, beginning his musical career in 1964.

He worked with some of the best known Greek composers, such as Mikis Theodorakis, Stavros Xarhakos, Manos Hadjidakis, Marios Tokas and Thanos Mikroutsikos, and was one of the top performers of Greek popular music for over four decades.

Early years

From an early age Mitropanos worked summers to help his family financially. First as a waiter in his uncle's restaurant and later at ribbon cutting wood. After the third grade of junior high, in 1964, he went to Athens to live with his uncle in the Acharnon street. Before finishing high school he began working as a singer.

Career

At the same age, after the encouragement of Grigoris Bithikotsis, whom he met at a gathering at his uncle's company at which he sang, Mitropanos visited Columbia. There, Takis Lampropoulos introduced him το Giorgos Zampetas, with whom he worked alongside at "Ksimeromata." Mitropanos considered Giorgos Zampetas to be a great teacher and a second father to himself. As he stated, ' Zambetas is the only man in the song which helped me not to expect anything. With all my other colleagues got something and gave something» {{citation}}: Empty citation (help). In 1966 Mitropanos met Mikis Theodorakis and sang the party songs "Romiosini "and" Axion Esti "in a series of concerts in Greece and Cyprus.

In 1967, Mitropanos recorded his first album with the song "Thessaloniki." This followed the recording of "Chameni Paschalia", a song that was censored by the Greek military junta and thus never released.

In the course mapped out on the street of folk art song, 1972 is a milestone. The composer Dimos Moutsis and the lyricist and poet Manos Eleftheriou released "Agios Fevrouarios" with Mitropanos and Petris Salpeas as the song's performers, marking a milestone in Greek music. In July 1999, Mitropanos and Moutsis met again on stage at the "Odeon" with Dimitra Galani and the soprano Julia Souglakou for two nights at the Athens Festival. The concerts were recorded live and released in a double CD two months later. George Katsaros's "The Road to Cythera" and Giorgos Hatzinasios's "Ta Sinaxaria" follow suit, projects of high quality with a high profile in Greek society. Ta Ladadika, Parea Me ena Ilio Marios Tokas.

In a long career in the Greek song industry, Dimitris Mitropanos collaborated with leading artists of the Laïko and Éntekhno music. Giorgos Zampetas, Mikis Theodorakis, Dimos Moutsis, Apostolos Kaldaras, Takis Mousafiris, Christos Nikolopoulos ("Pare Apofaseis" with lyrics by Lefteris Papadopoulos), Yannis Spanos were composers with whom Mitropanos collaborated, building a career intertwined with the Laïko tradition, until the late 1980s.

Recent performances

In 2010, Mitropanos performed a North American Tour for the first time in over 10 years since his last visit to the United States. During his tour, he performed a concert on July 1, 2010 at Radio City Music Hall in front of a near capacity crowd. He performed many of his famous songs that had been written in the earlier stages of his career as well as more recent songs which continue to be popular among Greeks, such as "Ρόζα," "Πάντα γελαστοί,"Tα Λαδαδικα," and many more. It was at this concert that he was accompanied by the Greek folk singer Margarita Zorbala, whose music is well known in their mutual homeland. Mitropanos concluded his concert with a passionate performance of his famous song "Αλίμονο," with all in attendance giving him a standing ovation as he walked off the stage. As is commonplace among Greeks to show appreciation for a singer's performance at the conclusion of a concert, chants of "kialo" followed, meaning "more."

Following his performance at Radio City, Mitropanos cancelled the remainder of his North American tour. Greek news outlets such as ERT reported that Mitropanos was apparently ill and could not finish his tour.

Death

On the morning of the 17th of April 2012, Mitropanos was rushed to the Igia Athens hospital after he suffered a heart attack. He had insomnia and showed signs of a pulmonary edema from which he passed away. Mitropanos is survived by his two daughters and his wife, Venia.

Notable songs

• Πες μου πού πουλάν καρδιές
• Κυρά ζωή
• Άλλος για Χίο τράβηξε κι άλλος για Μυτιλήνη
• Σ'αναζητώ στη Σαλονίκη (S'anazito sti Saloniki [Searching for you in salonika])
• Η Ρόζα (I Roza [Rose])
• Tα Λαδάδικα (Ta Ladadika [The greasy sites])
• Έρχονται βράδια (Erhonte vradia [Some nights come])
• Πάντα γελαστοί (Panta gelastoi [Always smiling])
• Σβήσε το φεγγάρι (svise to feggari [Switch off the moon])
• Αλίμονο ("Alimono" ["Alas"])
• Για να σ' εκδικηθώ
• Δώσε μου φωτιά ("Dose mou fotia" ["Give me fire"])
• Τι το θες το κουταλακι ("Tee to thes to koutalaki" ["What'd you need the spoon for?"])