|
The third album by Nikos Economopoulos: “Katathesi Psychis” Sony Music (Greece) 2010 This is a listener’s review, which can’t be full and detailed, but still it gives me an opportunity to provide the public with some sort of observations. Hopefully my writing will be useful and leading my readers towards the listening of the music I just discovered for myself. Nikos Economopoulos (Nikos Oikonomopoulos) is a rising star on the Greek music horizon. From his winning debut on the TV reality show through the success of his previous two albums, young Patras native is surely coming to a bigger fame, being now supported by world recognized coryphaeus Giannis Parios and other famous musicians. “Katathesi Psichis” (can be translated as “An Offering from the Soul”) is a 12 tracks album, which was released by Sony Music through weekly newspaper "Sunday Espresso" at 3rd of January 2010. It includes songs of various genres and different composers. 6 songs are written by Alexandros Chrisovergis together with a poet Spiros Giatras, 2 compositions belong to Christos Papadopoulos with a poetry by Eleni Giannatsoulia (don't be confused, please! We have 2 authors with the same name on this CD! Another Christos Papadopoulos was taking part in the writing of the song together with Dimitris Anastasopulos on the words by Vangelis Karatzanos) . The same poet inspired two other composers – Marios Psimopouls and Giannis Perdikoris to write their songs for the CD. One composition is written by Maritta Rossi (music) and Panos Falaros (words). The songs compilation represent various styles, some can be classified as traditional laiko(sort of oriental colored pop), others are more close to European lyrical ballades and some are inclined to the oriental techno. This album should be found interesting by various categories of listeners: from lovers of Greek laika till very demanding musical experts. For the last of the above mentioned groups I would recommend to listen to the quality of the arrangements in this CD in general; then I would suggest to turn their attention to the two songs, written by Christos Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos is a very prominent figure in Greek music scene,a fantastic oriental plucked instruments player and the leader of the group “Ta pedia apo tin Patra” ( “The Guys from Patras” ). The fact that this big musician and, by the way, a countryman of Nikos, took part in the creation of the album as a composer and an instrumentalist is already a strong attraction for the musical experts. His song “ Enas Theos kseri” (Only God Knows, words by Eleni Giannatsoulia) displays in full Christos deepest knowledge of the Middle East music, his virtuosity and ability to create a perfect contemporary sound with his instrumentation. “Mou’ pe mia psihi” is a beautiful oriental ballade with psychological drama hidden inside, which musical style is very close to song for the TV serial"Dangerose Zone" Christos wrote and Nikos sang. Alexandros Chrisovergis and Spiros Giatros tandem was already lucky for Nikos with the success of his previous CD “Akousa”. As for the new album, I can see there a few obvious hits written by them. Firstly I would mention a great love song “Apolyto” (Absolute), which follows the best traditions of the genre and lets us enjoy a unique Niko’s voice in full on the magnificent waves of the tune. Then, of course, a powerful zeibekiko influenced title song of the album “Katathesi Psychis” and an oriental style folk dancing piece “Htypa”. I will not describe other three songs by this authors, but just will promise you – each one of them deserves to be listened to. “Thelo na’mai” (I Would Like to Be) is a rival of "Apolito" meaning the lyricism, it is a very simple but deeply charming pop song (this composition is written by young authors, pianist Dimitris Anastasopulos and a drummer Christos Papadopoulos on the words by Vangelis Karatzanos)."The only composition by Marios Psimopoulos in the album “Ti tha kanw me sena” ("What Can I do With You?", words by Eleny Giannatsoulia) is a lucky one, being chosen for the promo video and placed as the first track on the CD. It is a waltz type love song with a catchy tune, providing a singer with a great voice exposition opportunities. And Nikos uses this opportunities in full, displaying amazingly soaring vocal sound. Tandem of Maritta Rossi and Panos Falaros contributes to the CD a pop style dramatic ballade “Ksekatharisma” (Scrub), which is promising to become very popular soon. The only song here by Giannis Perdikoris and Eleny Giannatsoulia “I alythia na legete” (To Say the Truth) finishes the album with the gentle elegiac melody. My first observations on the CD lead me to a conclusion, that this variety of song genres is united by Nikos outstanding singing qualities and a high professionalism of the team, which created the album.I believe that Nikos Economopoulos has got the one of the best voices of our time in popular music and is going to be a new pride of Greece! With the best wishes to Nikos Economopoulos! Lucy Vaganova
Related Articles -
Christos Papadopoulos, Eleni Giannatsoulia, Greek music, laika, Nikos Economopoulos, Nikos Oikonomopoulos, Vangelis Karatzanos, Alexandros Chrisovergi,
| 
