It wasn’t long before the post-colonial era that a band playing pre-war rebetika joined us. Manolis Dimitrianakis, then a law student, and Georges Kontoyannis, a journalist, played the bouzouki and guitar, followed by Dimitris Kontoyannis, a singer, and Andreas Tsekouras, then a fine arts student.

All young in a politically explosive era. Theodorakis, although banned, can be heard in the boutiques of Plakias, and the glamorous beach tracks are dominated by an unrich version of folk music. But Tasos Falireas distinguishes the amateur Rebetiko team. So the album “Blue Windows” was born. Thanks to the Rebetiko company, interest in rebetiko has been awakened among the student world in the post-colonial period. The group treated rebetiko with ideological rigor. He played mostly obscure works in the old style, but in the midst of saturating the public with political singing, he gained a devoted audience. They were followed by the Athenian, the Backward Company, the Children of Patras, etc.

Author and lyricist Kostas Balahoutis gave us the opportunity to remember them with the biography “Dimitris Kontoyannis: 50 years of folk song (folk, rebetiko, contemporary)” (published by Hamam). On 225 pages, the journey of the popular artist from Rebetiki is described, as well as collaborations with Tsitsanis, Savvopoulos, Mamagakis, Nikolopoulos, Loizos, Rasoulis, Khidakis, Soukas and others. in subsequent years.

Stavros Xarchakos writes in the preface about the original populism of his voice and presence, as well as his spirit, emphasizing that D. Kontoyannis is “a true artist who has entertained generations of Greeks with passion and joy with folk songs and rebetika songs”. Christos Nikolopoulos singles him out, noting that he is “a capable performer, one of our best and a good musician”.

grandpa bandit

Born in Davlia, Boeotia, with a grandfather, bandit Giorgos Kontoyannis, the singer grew up with a passion for folk songs. In the workshop of his father, he became interested in carpentry and later began to make musical instruments. At holidays he watched the musicians for hours, and in the village everyone says that he has a good voice. One of his uncles, when he was 10 years old, took him to Economides’ New Talents.

At 16, he went to the Livadia Philharmonic to study music, and later, in Athens, he entered the Athens Conservatory. He plays the guitar in Yiannis Argyris’ Esperides in Plaka, they open Xasteria with Vassilis Papakonstantinou, he is associated with the Rebetiki company. He works with Tsitsanis, takes the lead on “Revenge of the Gyftia” and follows D. Savvopoulos on “Reserva”. He participates in the “Songs of Harula” by Loizos, collaborates with Mamagakis, Nikolopoulos in the verses of Rasoulis and others.

In Athens he played his guitar in the company of his brother. “Then we used to go and play in taverns. We paid for the game … That is, our drink, our food. And let’s bring our friends with us, thirty or so people, so that they can listen to us.

Dimitris Kontoyannis talks about the first steps of the company and cooperation with Tsitsanis, Savvopoulos, Mamagakis, Nikolopoulos, Loizos, Rasoulis, Khidakis, Soukas and others.

The personal stories of D. Kontoyannis during these 50 years in the folk song are enriched by the remarks of the author K. Balahoutis about what was happening at the same time in the area of ​​the Greek pentagram.

“Simple, open, noble. He did not speak lightly of others. Only for his own,” says D. Kontoyannis about Stelios Kazantzidis. He was surprised when he saw Tsitsanis rehearsal in Haram. “The musicians sat at the table together, carefully listened to the old recording from the tape recorder, and then said: “Let’s play!” We at Compania trained a lot to pass the new Marcos or Papaioanna.”

Focusing on the old sound, he was also surprised that in “Temelio” in Plaka, Tsitsanis would now use harmonium, electric bass, drums. “However, the magic remains the same. After the first two songs, the atmosphere of mysticism was created.” The shaman describes it. “Almost motionless and silent, without prose. He knew at a glance what people wanted to hear.”

Meetings and contingencies

D. Kontoyannis hung out with Manolis Rasouli and Nikos Xidakis, and with his brother “we persuaded them to write a folk song.” Xydakis, an Egyptian, worked as an icon keeper and played the piano. Rasulis was a new spirit. “We knew that his poems bring new words and meanings to the popular. He renewed it, enriched it.”

“Revenge of the Mold”, he claims, “we created it for ourselves to reflect our own perception of the new song.” Rasoulis passed the material on to Savvopoulos, who also acted as producer. He is aware of the subversion of the work, “so he takes us and says he will sing the song on the album himself.” He does not interfere with the melody, but makes suggestions about rhythms, chords, etc. And in the verses, he had subtle contributions. They tweaked Crazy and Lost. He offers to record them at Papazoglou’s studio in Thessaloniki. “Until then, none of them knew him.”

He lived on an estate in Thermi, outside the city, with racehorses driven by Papazoglu. “This is the first time I’ve met him. His Agrotikon workshop was in Thessaloniki, in the basement. As a singer he was expressive. He was also a very good performer in live performances. As a result, Papazoglu – unexpectedly for me – sang most of the songs, and I only two, one with him, but somewhere I was teased,” says D. Kontoyannis.

After “Revenge” follows “Dithen” in 1979 and at the same time the second album of the “Rebetiki” company “How the evening will go.” Now they play in Germany, England, USA, Canada, Holland, etc. The company does not flirt with electric sound, does not play with the format in stores, only at concerts. But there are also unforeseen circumstances. Club representatives in Malezin ask them to appear at their event. The band explains that they only play rebetika and folk until the 50’s and that their shows are two and a half hours long. When they announced they were leaving three hours later, one of the spectators “pulls out a dagger and presses it to the neck of M. Dimitrianakis. “Play,” he tells us… We always played until dawn. Manolis played and sang for at least an hour, firmly putting a knife to his throat … “.

Bones of Bellu and Binis with races of… ants

Dimitris Kontoyannis has only good things to say about Haroul Alexiou. “A divine singer. A great man, from the bottom of his heart. He had a unique ability to sing in all genres.” M. Rasulis believed that “Alexios should excel in singing folk songs.”

Nikos Mamagakis is described as a “deeply trained melodist”. In Christos Nikolopoulos he admired his industriousness as well as his “great ease of writing”. “A special case, very intense,” characterizes Akis Panos. “I was also at his home in Paticia, where he had a tool-making workshop in the basement, and I watched his craftsmanship.” “Extrovert, humorist, open heart” characterizes Manolis Angelopoulos. On the contrary, Kazantzidis spoke very little. “When he came to Plaka to see Harry Klinn, he entered the store through the other door and watched the whole show from under the soundman’s canopy. He left shortly before the end of the program so that he would not be seen.”

There are also many stories with Sotiria Bellow. “The rescue in the dressing rooms ‘decorated’ us all quite normally.” Takis Binis was “a good guy! He even explained to me what the word means. For this dude, that was the equivalent of three sigma. Serious, reasonable, consistent.

D. Kontoyannis knew how to deal with Bellow’s whims. After the program, he took her to a bar. “She actually made me roll the dice for her, for the charm.” Once he asked her why she did not stop, although she won: “The answer she gave me shocked me. “Hey,” he says, “don’t you understand that if I don’t lose everything, I won’t be able to sleep?” He meant it!

Binis had his own quirk: “When I entered the store and said to him:” Good evening, Mr. Takis, “he answered:” No, Mr. Takis, Mr. M … do not tell me! and explained that he had two restaurants and a lot of money in America that he spent on gambling, so now, at 75, he was forced to stay up late. In fact, he told me, mocking himself, who plays all sorts of games of chance, and when they were late and didn’t have time to go to the casino, they even played races against the speed of… ants.”

Dimitris Kontoyannis, fed up with the experience, believes that the future belongs to children with traditional instruments and those who attend music schools and conservatories. And the new popular voices? “There are a lot of good young artists who respect their status but don’t get noticed, but there are too many who are invisible and don’t deserve it.”

On 26/5 and 1/6, the Rebetiki Company (Manolis Dimitrianakis, Giorgos Kontoyannis, Dimitris Kontoyannis, Andreas Cekoras, Yannis Karvelis), celebrating 50 years since its founding, will perform at Hamam.