Dionysis Savvopoulos ( el, Διονύσης Σαββόπουλος) (born 2 December 1944) is a prominent Greek singer-songwriter.

Career

Savvopoulos was born in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece (December 1944) in a middle-class family. He passed his university entrance exams and enrolled in the

Aristotle University Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

to study law, but after his first year of his studies, his passion for music and politics led to an argument with his father and he dropped out in 1963.Dionysis Savvopoulos biography
, MusicCorner website (in Greek) Savvopoulos then hitchhiked on a truck to

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 a ...

and took various odd jobs, including working as a nude model for students in the Athens School for Fine Arts and as a journalist in a newspaper. In Athens, he began singing and playing guitar in various night clubs and became closely associated with the so-called Greek New Wave. Although Savvopoulos was not famed for his voice, his talent in songwriting impressed Alekos Patsifas, the director of LYRA record company in Greece which was specializing in artists of the Greek New Wave, who signed him. Savvopoulos remained with this label until 1983. Savvopoulos debut album ''To Fortigho'' ("The truck" alluding to his hitchhiking experience) came out in 1966. Although critically well-received, it failed to chart, allegedly selling only 3,000 copies. Despite this, he was kept on the label's roster and continued with a string of highly successful albums, with self-penned songs combining arrangements reminiscent of early

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of ...

and politically incisive lyrics in the style of

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

, with folk tunes from Macedonia, Thrace, and Rebetiko music. Savvopoulos has been noted for being politically active throughout his career in music. In 1967, Savvopoulos was briefly imprisoned and beaten for his political convictions by the Greek military junta of 1967-1974, led by the dictator George Papadopoulos. Most of his songs are written by himself (both lyrics and music). He is still singing but no longer composing (since his last studio album as a songwriter, ''O chronopios''). Throughout his career, he has sung

Greek rock Rock and roll entered Greece in the middle of the 1960s. Greek rock performers in the field include Pavlos Sidiropoulos, Dimitris Poulikakos. Greek rock bands well known globally are Aphrodite's Child, Socrates Drank the Conium and The Last ...

, Laïko (Greek folk music) 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 ...

Personal life

He is married to Aspasia Arapidou. They have two sons, Kornilios and Romanos, and two grandsons, Dionisis and Andreas.

Discography

Studio albums

*1966 ''Fortigho'' (Φορτηγό; Truck) *1969 ''To perivoli tou trelou'' (Το περιβόλι του τρελού; The Fool's Garden) *1970 ''Ballos'' (Μπάλλος) *1972 ''Vromiko psomi'' (Βρώμικο ψωμί; Dirty Bread) *1975 ''Deka chronia kommatia'' (Δέκα χρόνια κομμάτια; Ten Years' Pieces) *1976 ''Happy day'', soundtrack for the eponymous

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

Pantelis Voulgaris Pantelis Voulgaris ( el, Παντελής Βούλγαρης; born 23 October 1940) is a Greek film director and screenwriter. His first feature film '' To proxenio tis Annas'' in 1972 won the first prize in Thessaloniki International Film Festi ...

*1977 ''Acharnis, O Aristofanis pou gyrise apo ta thymarakia'' (Αχαρνείς, Ο Αριστοφάνης που γύρισε από τα θυμαράκια; Acharneis,

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his ...

who came back from the dead) *1979 ''I Rezerva'' (Η Ρεζέρβα; The Spare) *1983 ''Trapezakia exo'' (Τραπεζάκια έξω; Tables Out) *1989 ''To kourema'' (Το κούρεμα; The haircut) *1994 ''Mi petaxis tipota'' (Μη πετάξεις τίποτα; Don't Throw Anything Away) *1996 ''Parartima A'' (Παράρτημα Α'; Appendix A) *1997 ''To xenodochio'' (Το ξενοδοχείο; The Hotel) *1999 ''O chronopios'' (Ο Xρονοποιός; The time-maker) *2008 ''O Samanos'' (Ο Σαμάνος; The Shaman), with Thanassis Papakonstantinou

Live recordings

*1983 ''Ikosi chronia dromos'' (Είκοσι χρόνια δρόμος: ζωντανές ηχογραφήσεις; 20 years' Road: Live Recordings) *1988 ''O kyrios Savvopoulos efcharisti ton kyrio Hadjidaki kai tha 'rthi opposdipote'' (Ο κύριος Σαββόπουλος ευχαριστεί τον κύριο Χατζιδάκι και θα 'ρθει όπωσδηποτε; Mr. Savvopoulos Thanks Mr.

Hadjidakis Manos Hatzidakis (also spelled Hadjidakis; el, Μάνος Χατζιδάκις; 23 October 1925 – 15 June 1994) was a Greek composer and theorist of Greek music, widely considered to be one of the greatest Greek composers and one of the most ...

And Will Definitely Attend) *1990 ''Anadromi 63–89'' (Αναδρομή 63–89; Retrospective 63–89) *2001 ''Savvorama'' (Σαββόραμα) *2007 ''O pyrinas'' (Ο πυρήνας; The Nucleus) *2016 Siko psichi moy dose revma (Σήκω ψυχή μου δώσε ρεύμα; Rise soul of mine the power turn on) with Eleni Vitali

References

External links

Official websiteMyspace profile
in Greek 1944 births Living people Greek singer-songwriters 20th-century Greek male singers Greek prisoners and detainees Singers from Thessaloniki Greek Macedonians {{Greece-singer-stub