Michalis Kyriakou ( el, Μιχάλης Κυριάκου), known by his stage-name Michalis Violaris () (born 9 January 1944

Agia Varvara, Nicosia Agia Varvara ( gr, Αγία Βαρβάρα) is a village located in the Nicosia District of Cyprus. ''Agia'' is the Greek word for "Saint" .The village is named after Saint Varvara or Saint Barbara. The village is located 22 km south from Nic ...

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 ...

), is a popular singer and composer of modern

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Cypriot music The music of Cyprus includes a variety of traditional, Western classical and Western popular genres. Cypriot traditional music is similar to the traditional music of Greece with Turkish and Arab influences, and includes dances like sousta, syrt ...

. He is also a pioneer responsible for popularising in Greece Cypriot songs sung in the Cypriot dialect. His song "Ta Ryalia" (also "Ta Rialia") sung in

Cypriot Greek Cypriot Greek ( el, κυπριακή ελληνική or ) is the Varieties of Modern Greek, variety of Modern Greek that is spoken by the majority of the Cyprus, Cypriot populace and Greek Cypriot diaspora. It is considered a divergent dialect ...

became a hit in the top-10 of Greece in 1973.

Life and career

He grew up in

Larnaca Larnaca ( el, Λάρνακα ; tr, Larnaka) is a city on the south east coast of Cyprus and the capital of the district of the same name. It is the third-largest city in the country, after Nicosia and Limassol, with a metro population of 144 ...

where he studied at the National Conservatory of Music in Larnaca, a branch of the National Conservatory of Music of Athens. In 1962 he moved to Greece where he enrolled at the school of Philosophy of

Athens University The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

and eventually obtained his degree. He became part of the New Wave musical movement in Greece and his first musical cooperation was with Greek composer

Yannis Spanos Ioannes "Giannis" Spanos ( el, Ιωάννης "Γιάννης" Σπανός, ; 26 July 1934 – 30 October 2019), also transliterated as Yannis Spanos, was a Greek music composer and lyricist. In his early days as a musician he was also a piano ac ...

. His songs made Cypriot music widely popular in Greece in the 1960s and 1970s. He won third prize at the

Thessaloniki Song Festival The Thessaloniki Song Festival ( el, Φεστιβάλ Τραγουδιού Θεσσαλονίκης, ), officially the Greek Song Festival ( el, Φεστιβάλ Ελληνικού Τραγουδιού, ) was a Greek song festival hosted between 1 ...

in 1972 and in 1974 he came in second at the same festival. Aside from his cooperation with Yannis Spanos his songs included works by Greek composers such as Giorgos Kontogiorgos,

Mimis Plessas Mimis Plessas ( el, Μίμης Πλέσσας; born 12 October 1924) is a Greek composer born in Athens. He began his career in 1952 and has written music for over 100 films, television and radio programs, and theatrical events. He has worked wit ...

Yorgos Katsaros Giorgos Katsaros ( el, Γιώργος Κατσαρός) (born on 7 March 1934 in Corfu) is a famous Greek musician and songwriter. He plays the alto saxophone. He has made a variety of recordings, collaborating amongst others with Greek musical ...

, Apostolos Kaldaras, Yorgos Mitsakis and others. In 1971 he signed with Zodiac Records, while in 1977 his records were sold under the Lyra record label. His songs include works by Greek poets

Georgios Vizyinos Georgios Vizyinos (Greek: Γεώργιος Βιζυηνός, March 8, 1849 - April 15, 1896) was a Greek short story writer and poet. He is considered highly influential in Greek literature Greek literature () dates back from the ancient Greek l ...

Odysseas Elytis Odysseas Elytis ( el, Οδυσσέας Ελύτης , pen name of Odysseas Alepoudellis, el, Οδυσσέας Αλεπουδέλλης; 2 November 1911 – 18 March 1996) was a Greek poet, man of letters, essayist and translator, regarded as th ...

, Myrtiotissa and others. His hits include "To Delfinokoritso", "Halalin tou", "Ta Karavakia", "Ta matia sou Katerinio", "Mia xanthia ap' ti Mytilini", "Irthes epses", "Aspra Karavia", "Ti Lozani ti Kozani", "An voulitho na s' arnitho", "Mavromalloussa Kopellia", and others. He is considered one of the most popular people born in Cyprus.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Violaris, Mihalis 1944 births Living people 20th-century Cypriot male singers Modern Greek-language singers Cypriot actors Cypriot singer-songwriters People from Nicosia People from Larnaca Thessaloniki Song Festival winners