Prodromos Moutafoglou ( el, Πρόδρομος Μουτάφογλου; 1919 – October 23, 1979), better known by his stage name Prodromos Tsaousakis (Πρόδρομος Τσαουσάκης), was a popular

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 ...

rebetiko 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 ...

singer, songwriter and composer.

Biography

Tsaousakis was born in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, Greek religious base. At the age of three, he moved with his family to

Thessaloníki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region o ...

. He became a professional wrestler at a young age and volunteered to the Greek army in 1940. During the

Greco-Italian War The Greco-Italian War (Greek language, Greek: Ελληνοϊταλικός Πόλεμος, ''Ellinoïtalikós Pólemos''), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian Campaign in Greece, and the War of '40 in Greece, took place between the kingdom ...

he was promoted to

sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

for his bravery and gained the nickname ''Tsaousakis'' (from Tchaoush, tr, çavuş, i.e. sergeant). He was arrested and tortured during the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

. In 1942, Tsaousakis met Anna Kadoglou and married her a year later. At that time, Tsaousakis sung with various bands in Thessaloniki and met

Vassilis Tsitsanis Vassilis Tsitsanis ( el, Βασίλης Τσιτσάνης 18 January 1915 – 18 January 1984) was a Greece, Greek songwriter and bouzouki player. He became one of the leading Greek composers of his time and is widely regarded as one of the foun ...

. Tsaousakis' recording career started in 1946 and he quickly rose to fame. He worked until 1951 with Tsitsanis, who wrote several of his great songs inspired by Tsaousakis' voice. In later years, Tsaousakis cooperated with other composers such as

Giannis Papaioannou Giannis Papaioannou ( el, Γιάννης Παπαϊωάννου; January 18, 1913 – August 3, 1972) was a famous Greek musician and composer born in Kios, Ottoman Empire (now Gemlik, Turkey). In English his name is sometimes romanticized as ''Ya ...

Giorgos Mitsakis Giorgos Mitsakis ( el, Γιώργος Μητσάκης; Constantinople, 1921 - Athens, 17 November 1993) was a Greek composer and lyricist of numerous ''rebetika'' and folk songs, as well as a skillful bouzouki player. He was also known by the ni ...

, and

Apostolos Kaldaras Apostolos may refer to: * The Apostolos (Eastern Orthodox liturgy), a book containing texts traditionally believed to be authored by one of the twelve apostles (disciples) – various epistles and the ''Acts of the Apostles'' – from which one is ...

. From 1955 onward, his career started to decline, partially due to the appearance of

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 ...

. Tsaousakis died of a heart attack on October 23, 1979, in

Kallithea Kallithea (Greek: Καλλιθέα, meaning "beautiful view") is a district of Athens and a municipality in south Athens regional unit. It is the eighth largest municipality in Greece (96,118 inhabitants, 2021 census) and the fourth biggest i ...

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 ...

External links

Πρόδρομος Τσαουσάκης - Μεγάλο Αφιέρωμα
Constantinopolitan Greeks 20th-century Greek male singers Greek laïko singers 1919 births Rebetiko 1979 deaths Singers from Thessaloniki Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to Greece Singers from Istanbul People from Fatih {{Greece-singer-stub