Stelios Kazantzidis life - Part I

Stelios Kazantzidis articulated the pain of Greeks after the Second World War. After the Nazi occupation of Greece, he created a new kind of music based on the characteristics of old traditional Greek music. He was born in 29th August 1931. His parents, Haralambos and Gesthimani, were poor refugees in Athens. His father, who was a builder, was murdered in 1946, on the Greek civil war for his communistic ideas. As a result, Stelios was now obligated to feed his mother and his little brother, Stathis. He worked as a builder, a water seller, a willower, a laborer although he was only 15 years old. The first man, who found out Kazantzidis talent, was his boss at “Lanatex” factory. After having listened him singing several times during his work, he called Stelios in his office and offered him a guitar.

A few years later, a semi professional musician, who was thrilled with young Stelios voice, invited him to join his music group. That was the start of Kazantzidis career. From the beginning, his mother was opposite to this prospect, as she was of the opinion that people in that job were immoral and corrupted. Despite his mother’s argument, he continued singing in taverns and festivals all over Athens. The first song that he recorded as a professional singer was “Gia banio pao” (I am going swimming), 1952, a song written by Apostolos Kaldaras, a famous Greek composer. However his fist hit was his second record with the title “Valitses” (The suitcases). The successful composer Ioannis Papaioannou gave Kazantzidis the chance to prove his talent.
During his military service, he had a serious accident. After that he was unable to have children for the rest of his life. A disagreement with his commander and his father’s communistic ideas was the reasons why he was forced to watch over the mules in the camp. One rogue mule hit him on the genitals but his bossy commander forbided him to visit the doctor.

To be continued…