Antonis Vardis and Friends

The first part of the story of Antonis Vardis is at:

https://greeksongstories.wordpress.com/2016/10/22/antonis-vardis-the-beginning-and-haroula/

We Are All Roommates in the House of Madness (Συγκάτοικοιείμαστε όλοιστηντρέλα) 1986 album

Ten years had passed after the failure of Antonis Vardis’ 1976 first album. He was writing songs for others, but he was not assured in his voice to record a personal album. It was the singer Litsa Diamanti who encouraged him to do it.

In this album Vardis brilliantly mixed the modern and rock with the Popular Song (Laika). We will have here two songs on social subjects. The first is another favorite of our friend Katerina Siapanta, “All Your Life You’ve Been a Fugitive from the Dream” (Πάντα δραπέτης απ’ τοόνειρο), a great song about drug addiction and the distress and personal misery involved. The version here is acoustic and the second voice is by Christina Maragozi (Χριστίνα Μαραγκόζη) who participated in the album.

(Lyrics: Sakis Boulas, Press CC English caps in all videos)

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Figure of Speech (Σχήμα λόγου) (We Are All Roommates in the House of Madness)– The title song “refers to things and follies that are done for all the wrong reasons and prove to be  harmful to people. It also refers to the despair of the contemporary human, who faces lies and deception every day.”

The original version was performed by the Katsimihas brothers, Lavrentis Mahairitsas and Antonis Vardis. Here are the Katsimihas brothers (lyrics: Kostas Tripolitis)

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A song for Kazantzidis: In Greece of the Year 2000 (Στην Ελλάς του 2000)-1995

“I always loved Kazantzidis and from the age of 10 I was singing his songs. I saw him twice. Once for a very short time in Piraeus with Nikolopoulos and one time in a studio of Columbia as I played guitar at the age of 21 in one of his recordings. And I admired him… just imagine, I was going to the bar where he drank coffee as if to drink water, just to see him a little. I was gazing at him like a girl of 13-14 years looks at Madonna… And I was thinking ‘This man is the one I love?’ I never spoke to him… he was God!”

Also as a composer Kazantzidis was in his mind; while he was writing a song he was always wondering whether he would ever work with Kazantzidis… In the beginning of the 1990s Kazantzidis appeared in the media, attacking various figures in the music world and by doing so he was weakening his arguments and himself in the public eye. Vardis was worried about his idol and felt that he had to do something about it. “I got Sarantis Alivizatos and asked him to write a song to forget all that, to talk about the greatness of Stelios’ voice and the grandeur of his personality… Stelios that we loved, who forgave them for all.”

Stelios agreed to take his part; Vardis and the Katsimhases also had their parts. Beside Stelios’ warm welcome to all people, the song contains harsh criticism on contemporary music, the deterioration of education and on language in modern times, a criticism that appears also in the illiterate tone of its title. Vardis considers this song as a peak of his career.

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Love ballads

Antonis Vardis composed beautiful, tender and melodious love songs that won appeal in Greece and worldwide.

His collaboration with “The Big Lover” in Greek music, Giannis Parios, started at 1979 when Vardis contributed 3 songs to Parios’ successful album “You Will Remember Me”(Θα με θυμηθείς). Vardis continued making contributions to Parios’ albums until 1983, as each artist found a separate path in his career.

Here is a small taste of one minute of “Like the Sea’s Wind” (Σαν της θάλασσας τ’ αγέρι) from the 1981 album “A Letter” (Ένα γράμμα). The lyrics are by Haroula Alexiou. (no translation)

They only produced their first complete album in 2001. “One More Time” (Άλλημια φορά);  a song which is considered a classic is “You Have Made My Life Hell” (Μου `χεις κάνει τη ζωή μου κόλαση). Lyrics: Vasilis Giannopoulos (caps).

And for the younger generation, Vardis’ cooperation with Antonis Remos produced many popular songs – great songs!

“So Suddenly” (Έτσι ξαφνικά) of 1998, lyrics by Gioula Georgiou (caps)

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“Two Lies” Δυο ψέματα of 2008 Lyrics by Vasilis Giannopoulos (caps)

Links:

http://www.star.gr/Pages/Lifestyle.aspx?art=241985&artTitle=ta_dyskola_paidia_chronia_tou_antoni_vardi_kai_to_mikrovio_tou_tragoudisti

http://www.imerisia.gr/article.asp?catid=26513&subid=2&pubid=113338564

http://www.ogdoo.gr/prosopa/synenteykseis/antonis-bardis-apokleistiki-synenteyksi

http://www.musiccorner.gr/afieromeno-exeretika-antonis-vardis-giannis-parios-parallili-dromi-108108/

https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%91%CE%BD%CF%84%CF%8E%CE%BD%CE%B7%CF%82_%CE%92%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%B4%CE%AE%CF%82

http://diskoryxeion.blogspot.co.il/2014/09/blog-post.html

Many thanks to my dear friend Katerina Siapanta for translations and explanations!