Artist Profiles: Haris Alexiou

Haris Alexiou appeared in the Greek musical scene in the early 1970s. Her charismatic voice, combined with a unique way of performing and a strong stage presence, very soon led her to the top. She has worked with the most important Greek songwriters, has performed at the greatest musical theaters in all five continents and has received several important awards.

Haris Alexiou has recorded over thirty albums recorded, has participated in albums of other artist, and is always open to new musical forms.

In September 2003, the “Too the End of your Heaven” album was released. It includes thirteen songs written by various composers and lyricists. Four of these songs are written by Haris Alexiou. The rest are written by well-known Greek songwriters as Antonis Vardis, George Theofanous, Manolis Famelos, “Ekinos + Ekinos” (Tassos Voyadjis and Solon Apostolakis), Makis Seviloglou, Panayotis Yatrakos and Sophia Argyropoulou. Two of the songs are performed by Haris Alexiou, one with Yannis Kotsiras and one with Filipos Pliatsikas of the PYX-LAX group. It is a musical work that compiles a variety of styles including the “laiko” (traditional popular music), ballads and modern songs, but all with a common concept regarding the sound. The whole album was characterized by a direct approach to the public as it includes thirteen short subjects in which every listener can discover something of themselves.

The first important step in her career was her participation with George Dalaras in the album “Mikra Asia” (Asia Minor”) written by Apostolos Caldaras and Pythagoras in 1972. A historic album, the biggest hit of the 1970s and rightfully included in “Minos-EMI’s 100 Greatest Hits of the Century”.

In 1973 Haris participated in the albums “Kalimera ilie” (“Good Morning, Sun”) by Manos Loizos and Lefteris Papadopoulos,”Byzantinos Esperinos” (“Byzantine Vesper”) by Apostolos Kaldaras and Lefteris Papadopoulos and Odos Aristotelous”(“Aristotelous Street”) by Yannis Spanos and Lefteris Papadopoulos. Meeting Manos Loizos was the beginning of a lifelong friendship and a prolific cooperation.

In 1975, her first solo album “12 ‘Laika’ Songs” was released. One of them, “Dimitroula” became an all time standard. The same year, she appeared in nightclubs in Plaka, imposing a new way of presenting songs, completely different from the conventional large nightclubs. It was the first year after the fall of the military junta, a time for the political songs and the revival of “rebetika” songs, and Haris Alexiou sang traditional songs, ballads, modern songs, folk songs and rebetika.

For long periods of time, she appeared with George Dalaras, Dimitra Galani, Basilis Papakonstantinou and Yannis Parios. Her concerts in stadiums and theaters, with songs written by Loizos, Papadopoulos, Nikolopoulos, Spanos, Theodorakis, Kuyumdjis and others, were extremely successful. Her popularity reached its peak. Since then, she was “Haroula of Greece”.

In 1979, the album “Ta tragoudia tis Haroulas”( “Haroula’s Songs”) was released. Manos Loizos wrote the music and the lyrics were written by Manolis Rassoulis and Pythagoras. From this album, “o Fantaros” ( “The Soldier”) immediately became a big hit, while ” Ola se thymizoun” (“All Things Remind Me of You”) was considered one the most beautiful Greek ballads of all time.

The 1980s started with two enormous hits: “Fevgo” ( “I’m Leaving”) and “Ximeroni” ( “The Day Breaks”).

“Songs of Yesterday”, her album together with Dimitra Galani included ballads that fascinated the public. At the same time she recorded traditional and folk songs, rebetika and laika, and gave concerts both in Greece and abroad.

1983 was the year of the album “Tsilika”, a collector’s item, with old rebetika songs written between 1900 and 1935.

In 1986 she started her cooperation with composer Thanos Mikroutsikos. The album was titled “I Agapi ine zali” (“Dizzy with Love”) with lyrics by Alkis Alkeos, Nikos Kavadias, Andreas Mikroutsikos and Babis Tsikliropoulos. The title song became an enormous hit. “Eleni” and “Erotikon” from the same album, were also extremely successful. The same year Haroula conquered the French public appearing at the “Theatre de la Ville”, getting rave reviews from the French press. After that she gave concerts in Cyprus, Tunisia, Germany and many towns throughout Greece.

In 1987, world famous Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis invited her to appear in his club “Sirius” with the “Unpredictable Songs”. He directed her and later he went into the recording studio with her. The summer of that year, she sang in Hadjidakis’ concerts in many Greek towns.

In 1988 she worked with “Fatme” a group of young and talented artists. She also worked with Paolo Conte, a well known Italian singer songwriter. They appeared together at the Palace Theatre of Athens. She recorded two of his songs with Greek lyrics by Lina Nikolakopoulou.

In 1989, “The Show in on”. It was the musical show which she presented for two years, together with Dimitra Galani and Yannis Parios, in Athens and Thessalonika. An album with the same title resulted from this work.

1990 began with her second cooperation with Thanos Mikroutsikos. The albumwasentitled “This Cologne Lingers on for Years” with lyrics by Lina Nikolakopoulou. In October of the same year, she participated in the most important concert of the decade in Peace and Friendship Stadium of Athens. In this festive concert, called “Our Own Night”, all the big names of the Greek show business werre present. Yannis Parios, Thanos Mikroutsikos, Dimitra Galani, Chris Nikolopoulos. Alkistis Protopsalti, George Sarris, George Zambetas, Lakis Lazopoulos and the legendary Melina Merkouri.

In 1991 she appeared at Attikon Theatre of Athens with a special show Called “In Three Acts”. In the first act she sang songs by Hadjidakis, Loizos, Mikroutsikos and Brecht-Weill. In the second act she hosted certain groups of modern Greek music and presented songs written by herself. The third act was a medley with her hits, old and new. She then presents this show in the State Theatre of Northern Greece, which for the first time accepted a Greek singer in its stage.

With her concerts, Alexiou set new standards for musical shows, using state of the art sound & light equipment and impressive decors. In autumn 1991, together with Costas Hadjis, she presented a show directed by Maouro Bolognini at Rex Theatre in Athens and Radio City in Thessaloniki. “Alexiou Sings Hadjis”was the album that followed.

In 1992 she started her cooperation with Polygram, successfully presenting a new style in her songs. The album “Di’ efchon”(“L’orale”) with music by Nikos Antypas and lyrics by Lina Nikolakopoulou comes as something quite fresh in the Greek discography, giving a new thrust to Haroula’s already long career.

In 1993 the above album was released in Japan, Belgium, France and Israel by Polygram International. The same year she travels around the world with concerts in Cyprus, USA, Canada, Israel, several European countries, finishing in Paris at the Mogador Theatre.

In 1994 her album “Hey!” was released with music by Nikos Antypas and lyrics by Lefteris Papadopoulos and Aris Davarakis. The summer of the same year, she appeared in Herod Atticus Odeon with a show directed by Mauro Bolognini. In October, it was her first and extremely successful appearance in Japan.

In 1995, the album “88 Nefelis Street” was released. The songs of this album were all written by herself. For this album, in April 1995, at the Palais de Congress in Paris, she received the “Prix Adami”, an award given every Year by Charles Cross Academy to distinguished artists. The same year, she opened Studio Nefeli where she presented her new songs, creating a new “Cafe Theatre” atmosphere. Dimitri Papajoannou was the director of the show.

In 1996, she wrote the lyrics for “Nefeli’s Tango” for Loreena McKennitt. This song along with other live recordings from her concerts around the world, was included in the album “Around the World ’92-’96”. “Nefeli’s Tango”, for several months was one of the ten top World Music songs in Europe.

In summer 1997, responding to the invitation of the Olympic Games Committee “Athens 2004”, she gave a concert at Pnyka Hill very close to Acropolis. Such was the success of this concert, that she had to repeat it twice at the same location.

1998 was the year of “The Game of Love”, her second album with songs written only by herself. The recording took place at the Studio Guillaume Tell in Paris with Greek and foreign musicians.

The same year, she toured North and South America with Nikos Papazoglou. In December she appeared in Athens at Diogenis Studio which was reconstructed in order to meet the demands of the show she presented with Chris Nikolopoulos. The show was directed by Dimitri Papajoannoy again.

In October 1999, she sang along with famous Turkish female singer Sezen Aksu, both in Athens and Istanbul, for the victims of the earthquakes which afflicted the two countries that year, under the auspice of the Ministry of Culture. This cooperation was repeated in summer 2000 in Istanbul and Izmir.

In September 2000, the album Whispers was released. It included her favorite songs performed by her and a piano only. In October, she presented these songs in Music Palace of Athens and in the ancient Epidaurus Odeon accompanied by a small musical ensemble.

The same year, she founded her own record company, “Estia”, in order to produce all her future recording ventures. In December, the first album was released titled “Strange Light”. In this album she met again songwriters with whom she had successfully worked in the past. “Strange Light” became “Lumiere Etrange” and was released all over Europe by Universal-France. At the same time, Haroula toured Europe giving concerts at the most prestigious theaters, conquering both audiences and critics. Her tour ends with a triumphal appearance at Theatre Olympia in Paris.

2002 was another creative year for Haroula. She appeared on the Keramikos Music Hall, this time singing more “laika” songs. In this show, Lavrentis Macheritsas and other younger artists participate. The result was the album “Keramikos Live”.

In 2003 the album To the end of your heaven went four times platinum and World Music Awards presented Haris Alexiou with the award for The Best Selling Greek Artist for the season 2003-2004.

In 2004, the Olympic Games were held in Athens. Haris Alexiou performed at the closing ceremony, along with D. Galani, Marinella, Y. Parios, G. Dalaras.
In October 2004, the retrospective compilation album titled Anthology was released. This double CD is comprised of 38 songs from her previous albums and of two new ones. Alexiou herself selected the included songs, not only choosing the most popular ones, but also bearing in mind the significance of each song for herself.

A year later, in April 2005, her 16 albums were released by Minos EMI, remastered and repackaged. The albums were reprinted, digitally remastered, and the new editions were meticulously designed (including the lyrics, many informative texts and original photos from the time of the first release).

In 2006 Haris Alexiou returned with Sour Cherry and Bitter Orange, an album depicting the traditional aspects of contemporary music. Thodoris Papadopoulos, Smaro Papadopoulou and Makis Seviloglou wrote the music and the lyrics, suggesting a return to our roots. An album that, despite its unusual content, managed to go platinum, just a few months after it was released, receiving people’s recognition and love. During the summer she made a series of special appearances.
Along with Dimitra Galani, she gave two concerts dedicated to Sofia Vembo at Herodion, an event organized by Athens Festival.

She gave four sold-out concerts along with Sokratis Malamas and Alkinoos Ioannidis, celebrating “Melodia” radio station’s 25 years of broadcasting, at Lycabettus theatre in Athens and at Sports Arena in Thessalonica. These concerts were recorded and a double CD and DVD edition was released in 2007.

At the end of 2006 Haris Alexiou undertook a major tour around Europe, giving a series of concerts and promoting the international release of her album, “Anthology”.

Haris Alexiou gave three concerts under the title “Everything reminds me of you”, dedicated to Manos Loizos, at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus on the 13th, 14th and 15th of June 2007, participating in the celebrations for the 70th anniversary from his birth. Nikos Portokaloglou and the group “Triphonon” appeared along with her on stage, in those unique concerts directed by Panos Papadopoulos. The songs were arranged by Kostas Papadoukas and the lighting was designed by Andreas Sinanos. Two more concerts were given at Thessalonica, followed by a summer tour around Greece and Cyprus along with the “Triphonon”, dedicated to the great composer.

On October 22, the album “Haris Alexiou – A tribute to Manos Loizos” was released, containing the live recording and video-taping of the concerts given at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus the previous June during the Athens Festival. Nikos Portokaloglou and the group “Triphonon” also appear on the album. The album was released in both a double CD and a double CD/DVD packaging by Estia recordings.

From Greece to Australia, from Russia to Africa, from America to Japan, Haris Alexiou travels around and shows the world the feeling of the Greek song. She firmly believes that the Greek song, through its poets and composers, made her to love and better understand the history and the culture of her country.

Discography:

Emfilios Erotas (Minos, 1984)
I Megaliteres Epitihies Tis Haris Alexiou (Minos, 1989)
H Diki Mas Nychta: Live (Minos, 1990)
Tragoudai Kosta Hadji (Minos, 1991)
Hey (Mercury, 1995)
Di Efchon (ARK 21, 1998)
Live ’92-’97 (Mercury, 1998)
Paraxeno Fos (Estia, 2000)
Whispers (Mercury, 2000)
Ta Laika Tis Haroulas (EMI, 2001)
Ta Doueta Tis Haroulas (EMI, 2001)
Cine Keramikos: Live (Estia, 2002)
Os Tin Akri Tou Ouranou Sou (EMI, 2003)
I Zoi Mou Kiklous Kani (Minos, 2005)
Ei (Universal, 2006)
Vissino Ke Nerantzi – Sour Cherry and Bitter Orange (EMI, 2006)
Psithyroi (Universal, 2007)
To Paihnidi Tis Agapis (Universal, 2007)
Ena Fili Tou Kosmou (Cobalt Music, 2007)
24 + 1 Tragoudia (Minos, 2008) MINOS
I Tripla (Estia, 2013)
Ta Oneira Ginontai Pali (Heaven, 2014)