Home

Zambetas Giorgos 1925 - 1992 (67)


QUOTES





Giorgos Zampetas (1925 - 1992) was a Greek composer, one of the most important of folk songs, also a singer and master of the bouzouki. He was born on January 25, 1925 in the Platonos Academy, where his parents had moved from Kythnos. His father was a barber and Giorgos was employed as an assistant in the barbershop from a young age; he took his first lessons in bouzouki from his barber father. At the age of only 7, he won first prize, playing a song in a school competition. In 1942 and under conditions of deprivation due to the German Occupation, Zambetas created his first band. In 1952 he got married and had 3 children.

During the 1950s Zambetas wrote his first original rebetikas. In the following decade, his songs are hugely successful, as he performs in the most important folk entertainment centers, while traveling abroad (Europe and America). He has more than 250 songs to his credit, most of which became hits, such as: Ta delinina, Ta kzimeromata, He has no way to live, Father sit wisely, Romios agabise Romia, Stalia-stalia, What did you do to me? you gave up, How sweet to be loved, The fifty-year-old, Yes, sir, The best student, etc. The performers of his songs were among the greatest singers of the time: Tolis Voskopoulos, Marinella, Dimitris Mitropanos, Vicky Moscholiou, Stamatis Kokotas, Doukissa. He took part in several theater performances and in more than 100 films.

In the 1980s, the genre that Zambetas served began to decline and he began to face problems in his collaborations. In the 90's the value of his music would be re-evaluated, however he, who in early 1992 was diagnosed with cancer in an advanced stage, died on March 10, 1992.