Posts

Yiannis Ritsos: The Life and Work of The Great Greek Poet

Yiannis Ritsos is one of the most famous and internationally acknowledged Greek poets, with many of his works having been translated and published in many languages.
He worked tirelessly and his output was enormous; he has published more than one hundred poems and poetry collections as well as some novels, plays, articles, and translations.
Today, Ritsos is considered one of the great Greek poets of the twentieth century, alongside Constantine P. Cavafy, Kostas Kariotakis, Angelos Sikelianos, Giorgos Seferis, and Odysseas Elytis. Let’s have a closer look into his life and work.

Read more

/by
,

Lavrentis Machairitsas: The Songwriter Who Reinvented Greek Rock

Did you have the chance to ever see a life concert with Machairitsas, before 2019? If so, you are lucky!

Unfortunately, in 2019 the Greek music scene mourned the loss of one of the greatest performers and songwriters, Lavrentis Machairitsas.
Now it is time to explore his life, his legacy and listen again to some of his most celebrated songs.

Click here to read the article in Greek

Read more

/by
,

Manos Eleftheriou: Greek Author and Songwriter

Manos Eleftheriou , is a famous Greek author and songwriter. He  wrote poems as well as short stories.
Since he was born and raised on the island of Syros (1938-2018), the Omilo students often hear his name while attending a course on the island.
Manos Eleftheriou loved Syros and edited books about his island, specifically about Markos Vamvakaris and Syros society, about theater in Ermoupolis in the 20th century, and about Ermoupolis in Greek literature.

Read this article in Greek


 Read more

/by
,

Alkinoos Ioannidis: A Popular Greek Cypriot Composer and Singer

Alkinoos Ioannidis is a popular Greek Cypriot composer, singer and songwriter. He grew up in Cyprus but lives for many years in Greece.
Several Omilo students have been lucky to have seen him performing and singing in Athens, during their intensive Greek courses in Athens.

Read more

/by
,

Greek Christmas and New Year Carols

Did you ever celebrate Greek Christmas and New Year in Greece?  Apart from other Christmas traditions, you will hear typical Greek carols all over the country: the “kalanta”. Greece is rich in music and depending on the geographical regions, there are different Christmas and New Year songs, using different instruments and rhythms.
Read more

/by

Antonis Remos – Listen To A Popular Greek Song

Antonis Remos is a popular Greek singer who has many fans in Greece, as well as fans among the Omilo students 🙂
For many years, Remos was also one of the Greek coaches of the popular TV show “The Voice”.

Read more

/by
,

Mikis Theodorakis, The Legendary Greek Composer

Already several years have passed, without Mikis Theodorakis…

Mikis Theodorakis, the beloved and internationally known Greek composer,
whose music and political life are also well-known abroad, died on September 2nd, 2021. He was 96.

Theodorakis’ career, which started in his early years, produced a hugely varied body of work.
He has not only composed symphonic music, music for operas, ballet, chamber music, but of course a great number of Greek songs.

Apart from his musical career, he is also remembered by Greeks for his stubborn opposition to postwar regimes and dictatorships.

He will be never forgotten.

Read more

/by

Greek singer Kostis Maraveyas welcomes you to Greece

Do you also love Greek music? Then let us introduce you to one more Greek singer,  Kostis Maraveyas. 

Click here to read this article in Greek

Maraveyas – also known by his stage name Maraveyas illegal – is a Greek singer-songwriter, composer, performer, director and writer.
A true one-man band, he plays the accordion, piano and guitar. His songs are written mainly in Greek with the occasional lyric in English, Spanish or Italian thrown in (as we will see below). Despite the upbeat melodies, his songs often hide dark humour and social critique or tell the story of a troubled relationship.

Read more

/by
, ,

Corona Updates from Greece & A Greek Song About Staying At Home!

What a period it was! Here can read some of our Corona Updates from Greece, written between 202o and 2022 and listen to a Greek Song About… Staying At Home!

In the meantime, 2022 started with some sunny days here in Greece, as well as some snow as well…
Our daily walks in the Athens streets and parks continued, just like in 2020 and 2021. However, since now there is no corona curfew anymore and we are allowed to go further than our municipality, we can also go for daily trips towards the snowy mountains again…something which was not possible last winter.

In the meantime, the world news seems once again taken over by ‘corona’,  or “omikron”. The positive news; we are honored Greek letters are used for a pandemic :-), and the entire world gets the chance to learn the Greek alphabet. We realized many non-Greeks have no clue that the viruses are named after letters of the Greek alphabet, but fortunately, our dear students are very well aware 🙂 .
Read more

/by
,

Vamvakaris and Greek Rebetika Music

Greek Rembetika music is closely connected to the name of Markos Vamvakaris, whose great significance for this genre is also reflected in his nickname: “the patriarch of the rebetiko.”

Read this article in Greek
Read more

/by