Apostolos Nikolaidis ( el, Απόστολος Νικολαΐδης) (30 June 1938 – 22 April 1999) was a Greek singer whose career spanned four decades. He was born in
Drama, Greece
Drama ( el, Δράμα ) is a city and municipality in Macedonia, northeastern Greece. Drama is the capital of the regional unit of Drama which is part of the East Macedonia and Thrace region. The city (pop. 55.593 2021 censuis the economic ce ...
and grew up in
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
. He is best known for being the first Greek artist to record or re-record the authentic, "prohibited"
rebetika
Rebetiko ( el, ρεμπέτικο, ), plural rebetika ( ), occasionally transliterated as rembetiko or rebetico, is a term used today to designate originally disparate kinds of urban Greek music which have come to be grouped together since the s ...
songs in the early 1970s with their original lyrics at a time when this type of music was censored in Greece due to the
military junta of 1967–1974 in power.
Biography
Nikolaidis was of
Pontic Greek
Pontic Greek ( pnt, Ποντιακόν λαλίαν, or ; el, Ποντιακή διάλεκτος, ; tr, Rumca) is a variety of Modern Greek indigenous to the Pontus region on the southern shores of the Black Sea, northeastern Anatolia, ...
origin. He first appeared on the Greek music scene in 1962, recording songs written by composers such as
Manolis Chiotis
Manolis Chiotis (Greek: Μανώλης Χιώτης; March 21, 1921 – March 20, 1970) was a Greek rebetiko and laiko composer, singer, and bouzouki player.English translation He is considered one of the greatest bouzouki soloists of all tim ...
, Apostolos Kaldaras, and
Vassilis Tsitsanis
Vassilis Tsitsanis ( el, Βασίλης Τσιτσάνης 18 January 1915 – 18 January 1984) was a Greek songwriter and bouzouki player. He became one of the leading Greek composers of his time and is widely regarded as one of the founders of ...
at the famed Greek record label Columbia. Throughout the 1960s, he performed at well-known venues in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
with many of the pre-eminent music figures of the time including
Stelios Kazantzidis
Stelios Kazantzidis (Greek: Στέλιος Καζαντζίδης; 29 August 1931 – 14 September 2001) was one of the most prominent Greek singers. A leading singer of Greek popular music, or Laïkó, he collaborated with many of Greece's fore ...
,
Marinella
Marinella ( el, Μαρινέλλα) (born 20 May 1938, Thessaloniki) is one of the most popular Greek singers whose career has spanned several decades. She has sung professionally since 1957. Since the beginning of her career, she has release ...
, Poly Panou, Kaiti Grey, Manolis Chiotis, Apostolos Kaldaras,
Giorgos Lafkas, Giannis Karabesinis, and others.
In 1968, Nikolaidis departed for Canada and the United States for a series of performances, ultimately living and working in the U.S. for more than 25 years. The prohibited
rebetika
Rebetiko ( el, ρεμπέτικο, ), plural rebetika ( ), occasionally transliterated as rembetiko or rebetico, is a term used today to designate originally disparate kinds of urban Greek music which have come to be grouped together since the s ...
(Greek "urban blues") songs he recorded and released in his adopted country in the early 1970s became his life's work, making him popular in
Greek diaspora
The Greek diaspora, also known as Omogenia ( el, Ομογένεια, Omogéneia), are the communities of Greeks living outside of Greece and Cyprus (excluding Northern Cyprus). Such places historically include Albania, North Macedonia, parts of ...
communities around the world. The long-play album "Otan Kapnizi O Loulas" (1973) became an artistic and commercial achievement for Nikolaidis, as well as an impetus for other artists and groups to follow with similar recordings of their own. About the album's impact, Cypriot journalist Nearchos Georgiades wrote: “It is to his credit that he brought these songs back first, and to a large extent to the
reek musiccatalogue, with an inimitable ‘tough’ style and color in his voice, while simultaneously giving them a contemporary sound."
During the 1970s and 1980s, Nikolaidis recorded and released a series of classic
laïká and
rebetika
Rebetiko ( el, ρεμπέτικο, ), plural rebetika ( ), occasionally transliterated as rembetiko or rebetico, is a term used today to designate originally disparate kinds of urban Greek music which have come to be grouped together since the s ...
albums and embarked on tours throughout the United States, Canada, and Germany. He returned to his native
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
during the 1990s and performed on stages in Athens, Thessaloniki and
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
through the end of the decade. In 1996 and 1997, Nikolaidis released two albums with music by
laïká composer Giorgos Manisalis.
Apostolos Nikolaidis died on 22 April 1999, in Athens from complications from cancer. In accordance with his wishes, his remains were flown back to the United States and buried there.
In March 2022, a new book in Greek and English titled "Apostolos Nikolaidis: The Authentic Laïká Singer Who Was Never Censored" was announced by Marilou Press. On 6 June 2022, the book received a highly positive review from popular Greek news and culture website LiFO.gr.
Reviews
In 2007, Chris Williams of ''
fRoots
''fRoots'' (pronounced "eff-Roots", originally ''Folk Roots'') was a specialist music magazine published in the UK between 1979 and 2019. It specialised in folk and world music, and featured regular compilation downloadable albums, with occa ...
'' ''magazine'' wrote: "Nikolaidis's musical development and style – the tough urban manner, always serious and dignified, never descending into ''
skyladika'' – was hugely influenced by his social background: he began his working life as a construction worker in an age when such labourers were the vanguard of the politicised working class, rather as the miners once were in the UK. In this and much else he had a lot in common with
Stelios Kazantzidis
Stelios Kazantzidis (Greek: Στέλιος Καζαντζίδης; 29 August 1931 – 14 September 2001) was one of the most prominent Greek singers. A leading singer of Greek popular music, or Laïkó, he collaborated with many of Greece's fore ...
, whom he greatly admired and whose singing clearly influenced him."
About Nikolaidis's singing quality and style, Georgiades wrote the same year: "His voice is clear and manly, with its own particular flavour and superbly articulated, extending over two whole octaves without fading in the lower notes or straining at the higher ones…he is assisted by the correct breathing and the capacity of his lungs, which help him to extend his hold on the note in the final phrases. His pronunciation of consonants and especially of the vowels, tinged with his particular brand of “toughness” and sarcasm, serve to establish the distinctive ‘Nikolaidis style’."
Journalist Panos Geramanis, a leading authority on the ''
laïká'' musical style's golden era, wrote in 1999: "Apostolos Nikolaidis was the man, the artist who gave new life to the rebetiko at a time when it was considered to be in decline and its creators and interpreters were officially hunted down by the state as hashish smokers and people of the underworld. Nikolaidis presented and interpreted these rebetika, pushed-aside songs with such "coolness" they made a huge impression. Soon afterward, the first "Rebetic
usicCompany" started to slowly incorporate them into their repertoire, followed by many other singers popular today."
Discography
1961–1967 (45RPM Singles)
1969–1983 (33RPM Albums)
*''O Gialinos Kosmos'' (1969)
*''Otan Kapnizi O Loulas'' (1973)
*''O Arhagelos'' (1975)
*''Ithela Namouna Pasas'' (1976)
*''Ston Adi Antamosane'' (1977)
*''Ta 12 Evagelia T'Apostoli'' (1979)
*''Den Hriazonte Logia'' (1982)
*''Rembetikes Stigmes-Magkika Tragoudia'' (1983)
1991–1999 (CD Albums)
*''Mia Vradia Me Ton Apostoli Live'' (1991)
*''Ti Mou Thimises Tora'' (1996)
*''Na Haro Magkia'' (1997)
*''Magkia Mou Poume PAOKtzis (Single)'' (1998)
*''Allagi Frouras'' (1999)
Posthumous CD Releases
*''Ta Rembetika T' Apostoli – 3CD Collectors' Set'' (2002)
*''Gi Afto Ke Zo – 11 Unreleased Tracks'' (2005)
*''O Gialinos Kosmos – Remastered Collector's Edition'' (2007)
Film and television
*
*
References
External links
Official websiteRebetika Revival – The Essential 10 Albums, Maria Lord, Songlines #137, 11 October 2018This Past Week in History – June 30th to July 6th, The National Herald, 8 July 2019Τα έξι άγνωστα «ευαγγέλια» του Απόστολου Νικολαΐδη (Apostolos Nikolaidis’ six unknown ‘gospels’), Ogdoo.gr, 20 August 2019Apostolos Nikolaidis on Spotify
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikolaidis, Apostolos
1938 births
1999 deaths
20th-century Greek male singers
Greek laïko singers
Greek rebetiko singers
Musicians from Thessaloniki
Singers from Thessaloniki