On the evening of Wednesday, July 31, Patras honored Grigoris Bithikotsis, the performer of the great moments of the course of Greek song in the 20th century, the creator of great folk songs, the favorite singer of great composers, with a special concert tribute which took place in Pamploponnisio Stadium.
The International Festival paid a special musical tribute to the genuine and unpretentious popular voice that left an indelible mark on musical history and became an occasion for the most important works of the Greek intellectual to reach the Greek people and become their heritage.
During the concert, songs from his collaboration with great composers such as Mikis Theodorakis, Manos Hatzidakis, Stavros Xarchakos, Apostolos Kaldaras, Markos Vamvakaris, Vasilis Tsitsanis, George Mitsakis, Dimos Moutsis and Akis Panou were heard. which were interpreted by Grigoris Bithikotsis, Vassilis Lekkas, Babis Tsertos, Gerasimos Andreatos, Costas Triantafyllidis and Stavroula Esambalidis. Nikos Stratigos was the artistic curator and the orchestrations.
The concert was attended by the Mayor of Patras, Kostas Peletidis, who in his brief greeting, referring to the great performer and his artistic journey, emphasized that “The Municipality of Patreon, with tonight’s special concert for Grigoris Bithikotsis, wants to honor the composer, the singer, who wrote his own important history in Greek song.
Grigoris Bithikotsis remains alive through his music and songs. It is among the top for two main reasons. One, because he was a popular creator of thousand-sung, beloved songs, a great performer of Mikis Theodorakis, Manos Hatzidakis, Stavros Xarchakos and many other composers. The other, because this great artist did not forget from what bowels he came, did not ride a cane to travel to the arms of wealth.
The great Bithikotsis not only had a voice that made you forget your daily sufferings, a balm for the pains of everyday life. He had a soul, a mind, a heart that beat where it should, next to the struggling people, the daily wage, the advance, the right.
Dear friends,
We can go through life with instincts as the dominant element, the value system of decadence, which for the interests of the wealth class floods the planet with the blood of children and innocent people. We can choose to go through it, however, as haughty, knee-jerk Fighters, with a heart that is only comfortable with what is right.
From every aspect of life, the necessity of a social structure that will not be dominated by wealth, but by the workers of the hand and the spirit, our people, who give their blood and their sweat, emerges. This land is theirs and ours, no one can take it from us.
This is what Grigoris Bithikotsis said, an artist full – not shallow.
“I found my true self, it was what filled me up. It was the greatest moment of my career and my life, the nine songs of “Romiosynis”.
At another moment he said the following: “They say that Culture, the country to progress, needs money. But money is not what makes countries. It is the workers who give their blood and sweat…”.
The event was also attended by the deputy mayor for Culture Apostolis Aggelis, the deputy mayor for Sports, Environment, Energy and Greenery Panagiotis (Takis) Petropoulos, municipal – district councilors and members of the Board of Directors. in Organizations of the Municipality of Patreon.
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