Yannis Markopoulos

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Category: Music

Published on Wednesday, 25 September 2019 16:57

Today I want to show you the famous Greek composer Yannis Markopoulos (Γιάννης Μαρκόπουλος). He was born at the 18^th of March in 1939 in Heraklion in Crete. His father was an attorney and later the Prefect of the Eastern part of Crete.

At the age of eight Yannis learned to play the clarinet and the violin. He played Cretan folk music in local bands. He also came in contact with other different kinds of music during that time, like the classical music, music of the Eastern Mediterranean area and of the nearby Egypt.

After finishing school Yannis Markopoulos moved to Athens in 1956. There he studied music under the composer Yiorgos Sklavos and the violin teacher Joseph Bustidui. While studying he started composing music for musicals. He was not only influenced by the Greek and especially Cretan music but combined local sounds with Byzantine church music to his own style of music.

The Greek musician had his biggest successes in the 1960s and 1970s. He was one of the leading composers in Greece at that time. Yannis even won a price at the “Thessaloniki International Film Festival” in 1963.

When the military dictatorship was established in Greece in 1967 Yannis Markopoulos had to leave his home country. He worked in London during this time and wrote songs together with other composers. Two years later he returned to Athens to support the restoration of the Democracy. He created several songs protesting against the Greek military dictatorship.

After the Democracy had been reestablished in Greece Yannis wrote his first international hit, the title song for the British TV series “Who Pays the Ferryman?”. Because he became known in other countries he had many invitations for concerts abroad, e.g. in France, Germany, Canada, Russia, Australia and the United States.

In 1980 Yannis Markopoulos married the singer Vassiliki Lavina and one year later his daughter was born. In the next few years he lived a more private life with his family. But he still composed several songs.

I invite you to listen to the title song of “Who Pays the Ferryman?” by Yannis Markopoulos now.