Full Description
When Dionysis Savvopoulos burst onto the Greek music scene in the early sixties, his highly original songs defied classification. There were no precedents in the music genres then common in Greece. He was initially seen as part of the 'new wave' group of composers and singers who emerged at that time and who were influenced by their French counterparts. But Savvopoulos created a genre all his own with his mix of modern and traditional rhythms and with his lyrics at times tender, at times playful and at times filled with biting social criticism. His influence on later singer-songwriters was enormous.
He has enjoyed an almost mythical status with the Greek listening public during the last sixty years and it would be no exaggeration to say that he has been the voice of several generations, given that his lyrics reflect the struggles, frustrations, hopes and sentiments of a broad stratum of Greek society. Indeed, many of his verses have become proverbial in everyday language.
His language is often zany, surrealistic and highly inventive and its inherent poetical quality has not been lost on the critics, who have included his lyrics in anthologies of contemporary Greek poetry.
This is the first representative anthology of his lyrics to be published in English translation.
Contents
National Troubadour, Guru and Soulmate by Dimitris Papanikolaou ; Dionysis Savvopoulos: Poet by Dimitris Karambelas; SELECTED LYRICS: From TRUCK: Don't talk anymore of love; Our old friends; From THE LOONY'S GARDEN The garden; I once saw Anna; The children who vanished; From BALLOS: Ballos a. Desolate and downcast on the mountain track; b. I know this here dance; c. Oh! I'm jumping, leaping up and down; d. Here in the Balkans; Rain's on its way a storm's coming; From STALE CRUSTS: Elsa I fear you; Zeïbekiko; Demosthenes' Word; Black Sea a. Of a comic barefoot troupe; b. The kids with long hair; From PIECES FROM 10 YEARS: A sea so small; The deathly solitude of Alexis Aslanis; From THE SPARE: Morning; I was born in Salonica; For the kids who belong to the party; What I played In Lavrion; Aspa; From TABLES OUTSIDE: Secret place; Mayday; Flames; Let the dances go on; Canto; From THE HAIRCUT: Summer; From DON'T THROW ANYTHING AWAY: I saw Soula and Despotidis; Don't throw anything away; How love was my downfall; Better days will come; From TIMESMITH: Nightingale in the cherry-tree; The light at 10 a.m.; Translator's Note; Notes to the Lyrics; Index of Greek Titles; Music Scores; Discography.
