Lavrentis Machairitsas

Gate 9, the organized supporters of Omonia Nicosa FC, organizes a concert with the renowned Greek singer and composer Lavrentis Machairitsas.

Lavrentis Machairitsas was born in Volos, and at the 6 he began taking piano lessons. These lessons lasted a year. At the age of 9 he bought his first record, which was Help! by the Beatles. After three years he discovered the record Revolver by the Beatles.

His first job was at a record store (Minos Matsas), but due to his lack of punctuality he was fired (chance has it that his current label is MINOS-EMI). He dropped out of school at a very young age, because he didn’t like school and because he had also started a fight with one of his teachers, which led to an expulsion from all high schools. He went through countless jobs, and he served in the army for 14 months (and an additional 5 to 6 months in military prisons).

When he left the army, he started singing with Panos Tzabelas in Sydrofia. At the age of 20 he (as Larry) formed a band called P.L.J. With him, Pavlos Kirkilis (Paul), Takis Bassalakis (Jimmy), and Antonis Mitzelou completed the band.

They all moved to Paris with the hope of a musical career outside of Greece. In 1982, their first album titled “Armageddon” was released by Polygram. Their producer was Giannis Doulamis. Even though at the time the genre of rock played in “Armageddon” was not very popular, it is now considered to be one of the best Greek rock albums. In their second album they changed their name to Termites, and started singing in Greek. In 1984, their third record gained positive feedback and they began gaining popularity. George Dalaras is also featured in this album. In 1986 they released their fourth disk by Virgin. The last studio record from Termites was “Perimenontas Tin Vroxi” (Waiting For Rain) which came out in 1988.

In 1989 he began his solo career as a writer and a performer. His first album was “O Magapas Kai I Sagapo”, by Minos-Emi. In 1991 he released the disk “Didymoteixo Blues”, which was certified Gold.

In 1993 “Rixe Kokkino Stin Nixta” was released. Many other artists are featured. Since 1993, he has been working closely with Dionisis Tsaknis, another very well known and respected Greek musician. In almost all their live appearances they are together. Their live performances have also been recorded and turned into records.

In 1995 he released “Parathira Pou Kourase I Thea”. This is considered to be his best album yet. In 1996 he released “Pafsilipon”. This CD had a great success, and it featured many other artists. After 3 years, he released his next album “Etsi Drapetevo Ap’tis Parees”. Again, he worked with a lot of very well known musicians, especially in the song “Kai Ti Zitao”. He then composed the music for the movie Enas kai Enas, and then released his next personal work, “To Dialeima Krataei Dio Zoes”. He also wrote the music for Giannis Kotsiras’ album “Xilino Alogaki”.

His latest release is a two disk album “Tosa Xronia Mia Anasa”. It includes one new song with the same name as the album itself, and 34 of his best songs. It’s his first his first “Best of” album.

Besides the many albums, Lavrentis Machairitsas pairs up with Dionisis Tsaknis every summer and has held countless concerts all around Greece. He has also held concerts with Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Haris Alexiou, Vasilis Papakonstantinou, Xristos Thivaios, and many more.

Lavrentis Machairitsas has stayed loyal to his field of Greek music (rock), and to composing. That is why he is considered to be one of the most important Greek musician and composers.