Thanos Mikroutsikos
| Thanos Mikroutsikos | |
|---|---|
Mikroutsikos in 2007
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Athanasios Mikroutsikos |
| Born |
13 April 1947 Patras, Greece |
| Genres | Éntekhno |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, Musician, Politician |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Years active | 1975 - present |
| Labels | Lyra Records, Minos EMI, CBS Records International, Polydor Records |
| Website | http://www.mikroutsikos.gr |
Athanasios (Thanos) Mikroutsikos (Greek: Θάνος Μικρούτσικος) (born 13 April 1947) is a Greek composer and former politician. Although he is never billed as a singer, he has sung many songs (mostly his own). He is considered one of the most important composers of the recent Greek musical scene.
He was born on the 13 April 1947 in Patra. He is the older brother of Andreas Mikroutsikos, who is also a musician/composer and a television show host. His wife is children's author Maria Papagianni, whom he married in 1996.
He studied piano in the Philharmonic Society of Patras and in the Hellenic Conservatory. In addition, he studied Mathematics in the University of Athens. He began composing at the end of the 1960s but only officially debuted in 1975, with the release of his album Politika Tragoudia ('Political Songs'). He continued on this compositional path, setting to music the poems of Ritsos, Mayakovsky, Manos Eleftheriou and Brecht, amongst others.
His albums Kantata gia ti Makroniso ('Cantata for Makronisos'), Fouente Ovehouna ('Fuenteovejuna'), Troparia gia Foniades ('Hymns for Murderers') and Mousiki Praxi Ston Brecht ('Musical Practice on Brecht') are characteristic of the climate of Metapolitefsi or Regime Change that was taking place in the period 1975-78. In particular, the 'Cantata for Makronisos', a pioneering piece in which Mikroutsikos experimented with atonality was extremely well received in international music festivals and an interpretation of particular note was recorded by Maria Dimitriadi.
His next album, Stavros Tou Notou ('Southern Cross'), set to the poetry of Nikos Kavvadias, opened up further musical avenues for him, combining theatre, electronic music and atonality. With the same devotion to poetry, he continued to set the works of Ritsos, Alkis Alkaios, François Villon and Cavafy, amongst others. In addition, he has written an opera, Eleni ('Helen') and set to music several children's fairytales.
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