Dionysis Savvopoulos

Dionysis Savvopoulos meets with two leading figures of musical improvisation: the pianist and composer Stavros Lantsias and the internationally acclaimed virtuoso of electric bass Yiotis Kiourtsoglou.

Dionysis Savvopoulos was born in Thessaloniki and moved to Athens in the sixties to become one of the most important musician-composers in Greece. Especially active during the dictatorship his albums from this period, Fortigo, To Perivoli Tou Trelou, Mpallos, and Vromiko Psomi are considered his best work. The album Vromiko Psomi in particular is a fusion of tradtional Greek with Zappa-Jethro Tull electric rock, with stirring lyrics that criticised the Dictatorship in words so soulful that they could not be deciphered by anyone without a heart. Savvopoulos continued to record and perform live and was the musical director of the closing ceremony of the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Like Theodorakis and Tsitsanis, Savopoulos is an icon and a symbol of hope and resistance during a difficult period in Greek history.