George Papastefanou is one of the most recognizable voices in Greece. From his shows, "Good evening, Mr. Edison", "Music writes history", "Musical evening", "Diadromes", "Old friends", literally the biggest names of Greek music paraded.
He took care of this musical treasure, this cultural heritage of ours, to upload it as a legacy on his personal Youtube account. For the old to remember, and for the young to learn. The videos on his account are a real journey through time and culture, while they also include rare moments with first appearances of great performers as well as tributes to the country's greatest creators.
The archive of Giorgos Papastephanos is also available in its entirety on the "Once I Remember" website. There we found the excellent tribute to Eftychia Papagiannopoulou, from "Musical Evening". The screening of the film "Happiness" by Angelos Franzis on ANT1, revived moments that you will see in the show that was shown on ERT, five years after Papagiannopoulou's death.
In the footage, Eftychia Papagiannopoulou recites in a nightclub of the time, her lyrics from her song "Some train will pass" composed by Manolis Chiotis (15th minute). It was her last appearance in front of cameras. This audio has been released on the album "Viki Moscholiou &Stavros Xarchakos - Songs of Eftychia Papagiannopoulou" (LYRA, 1982).
Also included is the great performance of "I'm an eagle without wings" by Sotiria Bellou, as well as her poems that were never made into songs. After all, her favorite poets were Kavadias and Krystallis.
Why, you poor man,
you never philosophized
in your short life,
instead of crying and languishing
and you spoil your fun.
Where so many others have gone,
both young and old,
someday, someday you too will go.
Why, man, why,
blurring life
with your bitter cry?
Some train will pass
from our lives hastily.
Our suitcase in hand
and only God knows
where we will station.
The show is described by George Papastephanou himself in the caption accompanying the video.
Among other things, it refers to the conflict between the actress and lyricist and Vassilis Tsitsanis. After all, the lyricist did not accept taking percentages but preferred to sell her songs, so that she could receive in cash a sum of money which she usually spent on gambling. Thus, many of her songs were left "orphaned", without bearing her official signature. In the case of Tsitsanis, in some songs both had put their "hand" in the lyrics, resulting in a relative conflict. The one who introduced Papagiannopoulou to Tsitsanis was Marika Ninou, who knew her from the theater, and he taught her how to write a song, two verses and a chorus.
Kaldaras was one of the first to put her name regularly in the credits. Lefteris Papadopoulos described her as intellectual, a poet with "aggressive direct" meanings. "When he saw someone with a certain talent, he was quick to hug him. When I had gone to collect my rights from the company, this old woman, at the time, stood up from the other side of the room and came to congratulate me," he recalled. . "She was old, but always young."
The description of George Papastephanos:
"First broadcast for 1977, a tribute to Eftychia Papagiannopoulou. It would be the first time that television honored her and since she was no longer alive, I turned to her daughter Kaiti Polyzogopoulou to get information and material. She showed me interviews of Eftychia in several magazines and a list of songs she considered her own, a list that had never been disproved while she was alive.
I chose the songs I wanted - among them four by Tsitsanis - and invited Sotiria Bellou, Mary Linda and Kate Gray to sing them and talk about their acquaintance and collaboration with Eftychia. Two songs by Kazantzidis, I intended them for Marinella, but since she did not answer the phone, I addressed Hari Alexiou. "George, it's something we all owe to Eftychia" Haroula told me, without any hesitation. "Only that I would like to say 'Life has two doors' and 'Mom, I'm leaving.' "I had thought of these songs for you too" I answered her. And indeed, Haroula sang these two songs beautifully. Apostolos Kaldaras - one of the first to put Papagiannopoulou's name on records - also participated in the show, as well as the "Blue Windows" company, which I named "Rebetiki company".
When I called Sotiria Bellou and asked her to say "I am an eagle without wings", her answer was "Whatever you want, my George!". But when he came to the studio, he didn't want to say it in any way. The production manager, Katerina Katotaki, used to come to my office every now and then in despair and tell me "She doesn't accept anything". "Katerina, he will say it!" I would answer her and send her back to the studio. By the way, Salvation said it. And even shocking, as I had imagined.
On the day the show was to be aired, I appeared on Eleni Mavili's "Kathe mesimeri", presented by Michalis Roussos, to promote it. Leaving the studio, I was told that Tsitsanis had just asked me. I got him on the phone and heard him angrily, accusing Eftychia of lying and not knowing how to write lyrics, which is why the show should not be played. "The show is ready and will be played," I told him, "but, if you want, come tomorrow to 'Kathe Mesimeri' and say what you stand for." He did not come. But after a few days, an interview with Giorgos Lianis was published in "Nea", where, after completely disrespecting the lyricist, he accused Ilias Petropoulos, TV critic Maria Papadopoulou - who was the niece of Nikos Routsos - and me, as "dark forces". who were fighting him. I said not to get involved and the grandson of Eftychia Papagiannopoulou, lawyer Alexis Polyzogopoulos, replied to the newspaper".
It is worth noting that the movie "Happiness" , aired during the Big Brother and Bachelor finals, making people adore her on social media, trending on Twitter and sweeping the ratings (Happiness 29.6%, The Bachelor 24.2%, Big Brother 20 .4%).
Listen here to the interview given by Eftychia Papagiannopoulou to Elisavet and Yiannis Kounadis and published on a CD insert in the book by Yiannis Bach Spyropoulos, "A blues for... Eftychia Papagiannopoulou", in the Lives of Saints / Underground Paths series.
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