Βασίλης Τσιτσάνης

Vasilis Tsitsanis (1915-1984) - an outstanding Greek singer, composer (rebetiko, laiko styles) and master bouzouki player.

Vassilis Tsitsanis was born in Trikala on January 18, 1915. His nickname Vlachos (βλάχος, vlach) originated in Athens due to his origin from the mainland, not the islands. The Tsitsanis family had three boys and one girl. His father was a shoemaker but also played mandolin and sang klephtic songs, Vasilis's brother Christos played bouzouki. Vassilis adored music but didn't touch the mandolin, his father locked it in a wardrobe. However, when his father died in 1926 (when Tsitsanis was just 11), Vasilis took the mandolin to a local luthier and he transformed it into a bouzouki. At that time he wasn't familiar with bouzouki, as this instrument was banned then, and playing it was considered improper, delinquent and unthinkable for a respectable young man. Tsitsanis' mother wanted him to play violin. Thus Tsitsanis began studying music basics while working at local taverns to support his now fatherless family. Tsitsanis wrote his first songs at age 15.

In autumn 1936 Tsitsanis went to Athens. His main goal was to study Law at Athens University, but he became more interested in music after meeting Piraeus' rebetes. Before the war, Tsitsanis had already written many songs and sang backvocals for many singers of that time, he had recorded the famous song "Αρχόντισσα" ("The Noblewoman"). He wrote it in 1938 in Thessaloniki while serving in the army signal corps. However, Tsitsanis' songs weren't approved by K. Metaxas' dictatorship (like many rebetiko songs then). Tsitsanis would take leave or simply climb over barbed wire to work evenings in tavernas, which greatly annoyed his military superiors. Influenced by Vangelis Papazoglou and Markos Vamvakaris, Tsitsanis began developing his own musical style.

In 1939 Tsitsanis met Zoe Samara (Ζωή Σαμαρά), whom he later married. They had two children, and despite his evening performances, family was very important to Tsitsanis. Yet he sang about women with beautiful romanticism. In his songs they appear as: enchantresses, madwomen, ungrateful ones, liars, cruel-hearted, obsessed, villains, black souls, reckless, cunning, sly, worthless, but also as noble ladies, refined, intoxicating, bohemian, coquettes, sorceresses, delicious ones, lively, dolls, sweet, desirable.

During German occupation Tsitsanis remained in Thessaloniki where he ran his famous "Ouzeri Tsitsanis" for a long time. There he composed several of his best songs, which were recorded only after the war. The subsequent civil war inspired many of Tsitsanis' songs, though many were banned and no one wanted to record them for him, though some handwritten lyrics were discovered recently. But the civil war's end brought growing interest in Tsitsanis' songs - they were sung more freely, and Tsitsanis himself became a leading figure of rebetiko, as this previously marginalized specific music increasingly transformed into popular "laiko" music sung by ordinary people. In the 1960s, famous Greek composer Manos Hatzidakis, who greatly admired Tsitsanis' music, presented several of his rebetiko songs in new arrangements to Athens' elite audience. This was when folk music began penetrating Greek high society that had previously rejected rebetiko. Another renowned composer, Mikis Theodorakis, said he wished he could write songs like Tsitsanis. Vasilis Tsitsanis collaborated with such famous Greek singers as Stelios Kazantzidis, Sotiria Bellou, Grigoris Bithikotsis, Stratos Dionysiou, Akis Panou, and Keti Grey.

He died on January 18, 1984 (his birthday) in London from lung problems, and was buried at Athens' First Cemetery. At his Athens funeral, streets were filled with thousands following the coffin while playing bouzouki or baglamas. Nevertheless, Tsitsanis' music didn't end there - to this day he is not only well known and remembered, but genuinely loved and frequently performed.

Overall, Tsitsanis contributed greatly to Greek music development. Rooted in rebetiko, he transformed this criminal underworld music into something more beautiful and tender, he became one of the popularizers of Greek folk music. They say, he incorporated anti-establishment and Eastern elements into new social reality. Tsitsanis' songs are simple and unpretentious, and yet so charming and pleasant. He wrote about 600 songs, never putting them on paper but composing both lyrics and music by ear. Some phrases from his songs entered everyday Greek language. To conclude, I will quote a phrase about Vassilis Tsitsanis: "He is our iconostasis of laiko music. In every home, in every heart. Alongside Alexandros Papadiamantis, Panselinos, Makryannis, Theophilos, Spatharis. With them."





Text author: Marina Boronina. The text may be used only with reference to this page or the author.