Manos Loïzos (; 1937–1982) was one of the most important Cypriot

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

s of the 20th century.

Biography

He was born on 22 October 1937 to Greek Cypriot immigrants in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

, Egypt. His parents came from the small village of Agioi Vavatsinias, in the district of Larnaca,

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. Loizos moved to

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

at the age of 17 intending to study

pharmacology Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications, including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur betwee ...

but soon gave up his studies in order to concentrate on his musical career. He was a

self-taught Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning, self-study and self-teaching) is the practice of education without the guidance of schoolmasters (i.e., teachers, professors, institutions). Overview Autodi ...

musician, with no formal musical arts training. His first recordings were made in 1963 but he started gaining a larger audience after 1967. By 1975 Loizos had become one of the most popular artists in Greek music. He died on 17 September 1982 in a hospital in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

after suffering several

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

s. He was well known for his leftist political

ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or values attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely about belief in certain knowledge, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones". Form ...

and was an outspoken critic of the

Greek military junta The Greek junta or Regime of the Colonels was a right-wing military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974. On 21 April 1967, a group of colonels with CIA backing overthrew the caretaker government a month before scheduled elections wh ...

. He was also an active member of the

Communist Party of Greece The Communist Party of Greece (, ΚΚΕ; ''Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas'', KKE) is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Greece. It was founded in 1918 as the Socialist Workers' Party of Greece (SEKE) and adopted its current name in Novem ...

. The year 2007 was declared "Manos Loizos Year" in Greece.

Discography

He composed many well-known Greek

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

s and has co-operated with various important composers, singers and

lyricist A lyricist is a writer who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income derives ...

s like

Mikis Theodorakis Michail "Mikis" Theodorakis ( ; 29 July 1925 – 2 September 2021) was a Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works. He scored for the films '' Zorba the Greek'' (1964), '' Z'' (1969), and '' Serpico'' (1973). He was a three-ti ...

Haris Alexiou Haris Alexiou (, ; born 27 December 1950 in Thebes, Greece as Hariklia Roupaka, , ) is a Greek singer whose career has spanned over 5 decades. She is one of the most popular singers in Greece. She has worked with important Greek songwriters and c ...

George Dalaras George Dalaras (, born 29 September 1949) is a Greek singer and musician. He is one of the most prominent figures of Greek music. In October 2006, he was selected as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. He was born in Piraeus. His ...

, Vasilis Papakonstantinou, Christos Leontis, Fondas Ladis, Yannis Negrepontis,

Manolis Rasoulis Manolis Rasoulis (; 28 September 19455 March 2011), best known as the lyricist of famous songs, was a Greek music composer, singer, writer, and journalist. He is often regarded as one of the Greek lyricists of exceptional talent. Rasoulis was b ...

Giannis Kalatzis Giannis Kalatzis (, 29 April 1938 – 13 July 2017) was a Greek singer who was especially popular in Greece in the late 1960s and the first half of the 1970s. Giannis Kalatzis was born in Thessaloniki in 1943. His career as a singer began in the ...

Nâzım Hikmet Mehmed Nâzım Ran (17 January 1902 – 3 June 1963), Note: 403 Forbidden error received 10 October 2022. commonly known as Nâzım Hikmet (), was a Turkish people, Turkish poet, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director, and memoirist. ...

and many others. His best known co-operation was with his very personal friend, lyricist

Lefteris Papadopoulos Lefteris (Eleftherios) Papadopoulos (; born 14 November 1935) is a Greek lyricist, writer and journalist. Lefteris Papadopoulos was born in Athens, Greece on 14 November 1935. He was the son of Greek Pontian refugees, with a father from a vill ...

who wrote the lyrics of many of Loizos' most successful hits. Some of Loizos' most famous songs are : *"Ola se thymizoun (Everything Reminds Me of You)" Lyrics: Manolis Rassoulis *"

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

" Lyrics: Lefteris Papadopoulos *"S' Akoloutho (I follow you)" Lyrics: himself *"To Akordeon (The Accordion)" Lyrics: Yannis Negrepontis *"O Dromos (The Street)" Lyrics: Kostoula Mitropoulos *"Che" (dedicated to Che Guevara) Lyrics: himself *"Ah Helidoni mu (Ah, my swallow)" Lyrics: Lefteris Papadopoulos *"De Tha Ksanagapiso (I Shall not Love Again)" Lyrics: Lefteris Papadopoulos *"Paporaki tou Burnova (Paporaki of Burnova)" Lyrics: Lefteris Papadopoulos *"O Koutalianos" Lyrics: Lefteris Papadopoulos *"Evdokia" (Instrumental

Zeibekiko Zeibekiko (, ) is a Greek dances, Greek folk dance, similar to Turkish Zeybek (dance), Zeybek dance. Origin and history It takes its name from the Zeybeks, an irregular militia living in the Aegean Region of the Ottoman Empire from late 17th ...

) *"Kalimera Ilie (Goodmorning Sun)" Lyrics: Manos Loizos. During the 1981-1989 period the song was used as trademark by the political movement PASOK In 1985, a big concert dedicated to his memory took place in the

Athens Olympic Stadium The Olympic Stadium of Athens "Spyridon Louis, Spyros Louis" (, ''Olympiakó Stádio Athinón "Spýros Loúis"'') is a sports stadium in Marousi, in the north section of Athens, Greece. With a total capacity of 75,000, it is the largest sports v ...

, attended by more than 50,000 people with singers

Dimitra Galani Dimitra Galani () is a Greek singer and songwriter. Galani was born 1952 in Athens and began her musical career at the age of 16 providing vocals on several tracks of Dimos Moutsis and Nikos Gatsos on the album "A Smile": (). She subsequently ...

and Vasilis Papakonstantinou performing. Manos Loizos' songs and music remain popular until today among all ages of the Greek society.

Studio albums

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loizos, Manos 1937 births 1982 deaths Greek male songwriters Greek people of Cypriot descent Musicians from Alexandria Greek communists Egyptian people of Greek descent Egyptian emigrants to Greece