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Stratos Pagioumtzis

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Stratos Pagioumtzis was a Greek rebetiko singer, also known as Stratos the Lazy or simply Stratos. He was born in 1904 in Ayvalik in Asia Minor and left for Greece for the Greco-Turkish War of 1919 to 1922. He settled in the port city of Piraeus and made a living as a fisherman and later as a ship's provisioner. Still, he dreamed of earning his money from music. At the end of the 1920s he began singing professionally and in 1933 his first recordings appeared.

Music and breakthrough

In 1934 he formed the quartet I Tetras i Xakousti tou Peiraios, the famous four of Piraeus, with the rebetiko singers Yiorgos Batis, Anestis Delias and Markos Vamvakaris. In 1937, under the dictatorial regime of Metaxas, he was convicted of drug use and exiled to the Cycladic island of Sifnos. He recorded more than four hundred songs and worked with composers such as Vassilis Tsitsanis, Giannis Papaioannou, Bayianteras and Panagiotis Toundas.

Influence

The beauty of his voice made him famous. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers of the classic rebetiko era. Tsitsanis said that Pagioumtzis had nightingales in his throat. Rebetiko is the urban music of the Greek port districts and of refugees from Asia Minor, often with the bouzouki. Pagioumtzis died in 1971 in New York of a stroke, after a concert in a Greek nightclub.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a recording by Stratos Pagioumtzis from the 1930s or 1940s, for example Τα τσαγκαράκια. Notice the warm, clear voice and the sharp sound of the bouzouki beneath it.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists