At the age of 86 the great left his last breath spreading sorrow to friends, relatives and all over the artistic world. The composer Municipality of Moutsis was one of the artists who with his creations marked an entire generation and left his own mark on the Greek music scene, while the collaborations and songs he created are now considered timeless. He was a rare composer, singer and pianist. Cooperation with Nico Gacho and Mano Hatzidaki From an early age he studied music. In the mid-60s he met Nikos Gatsos and Manos Hatzidakis, in a café – pastry shop, a place of artists in Athens, where they both frequented. In 1967 Nikos Gatsos started giving his lyrics to Mutsis and thus wrote his first songs. Mutsis’ first song was “God Rains” performed by Stamatis Kokotas. The collaboration Gatsou and Mutsis continued with songs such as “Don’t knock at midnight on the door”, “Piraiotissa” with the same performer, “I saw you in the eyes” with Vicky Mossyliou. In 1969 with “Tomorrow again” performed by Gregory Bithikotsis, “With a complaint” with Bithikotsis as well as the first appearing Manolis Mitsias (the first performance of the song was by Mitsias in the film “A dude in the living rooms”. In 1970 Manos Hatzidakis assigned to Mutsi, the care of the orchestration and music direction of his songs to the album “Return”. All in lyrics Nikos Gatsu and with performers Gregory Bithikotsis and the first appearing then Dimitra Galanis. From Lefteris Papadopoulos to “Saint February” Moutsis continues to write successes such as “These hands” (Leuteri Papadopoulos tracks) and “In Elefsina once” (stichs Vasilis Andreopoulos) with interpretation by Mitsias. After a series of great folk songs, written by Moutsis, performed by old and new singers, such as Mitsias and Galani and the albums “Some Summer” and “A Smile”, he arrives at “Saint February”, recorded in late 1971 and released early 1972. In the lyrics Manos Eleftheriou and performers Dimitris Mitropanos and Petri Salpea. In the album “Saint February” apart from the song of the same name we will listen to other major songs such as: “And if it’s anyone’s fault,” “The house in the uphill”, “The sousta was going forward”, “Other for Chios drew” and more. In 1972 “A Settlement” with lyrics mainly of: Giannis Logothetis (who also had the pseudonym Giannis Michailidis) but also Gatsu, Eleftheriou and Varvaras Tsimoulis. Performers Antonis Kalogiannis and Vicky Moschoiu (music from the play “50 years tears 50 years laughter). In “A Settlement” we will hear several major successes such as the well-known “White, red, yellow, blue”, “So is life” with Moschoiu, “In the window watching” with Kaloyannis, the folk orchestral “The dance of lavender” etc. In 1973 there was another popular and also very melodic discographic work of the Municipality of Moutsis. With only performer Vicky Moschou and lyrics Pythagoras, Literator, Eleftheriou, but also Gatsu. There we will hear successes such as: “A hug and side”, “And hello joy”, “An evening in Larissa”, “I am me” and the atmospheric “In the baxes” dedicated to the memory of Mark Vamvakar. In 1974 in the post-politization, “Martyria”, which included Mutsis’ songs that had been cut off by junta censorship. In 1975 “Tetralogy” was released, a pioneering cycle of mellified poetry based on poems by K.P. Cavafy, Kostas Karyotakis, Giorgos Seferis and Giannis Ritsou. The “Work Agreement” followed in 1976, music from George Skourtis’ play “Apergia”. In 1979, the “Romebook” was released on lyrics by Nikos Gatsu and with the interpretation of Manolis Mitsias. In the “Rombook” we will hear tracks such as “Like Che Guevara”, “Long of Love Time”, “Greece”, “On Mount Athos” etc.In 1981 the “Frame” was released in lyrics Kostas Tripolitis. With songs like: “You don’t say a word”, “Delenda est (My Lady)”, “Letter from the legion of foreigners”, “Dalika” etc. The folk songs of the album were sung by the great rebetissa Salvation Bellou with the Municipality of Mutsis singing only the chorus from the well-known “You don’t say a word”. In 1983 with the “Enforcement” inaugurated the lonely course. In 1987 he follows “Na!” which contains his well-known songs “The Dream” and “A harmonica crying”. In 1990 “Traveler of all” with Nana Muskouri, who was the last album to write for another singer except himself. In 1994 he returned with “For Sale Well!” again with lyrics and interpretation of his own.
Municipality of Moutsis: From Mano Hatzidakis to “Saint February” – The songs that changed the Greek music scene
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in Greece