Lakis Chalkias

LANDMARKS IN THE LIFE OF LAKIS HALKIASLakis Halkias was born in Yannena, son of clarinet-player Tassos Halkias. He belongs to the fourth generation of the Halkias Family—known as the HALKIADES, -the largest musical family in Greece. Lakis took his first steps in music and singing at the age of 7, and became a professional musician at 16; by 18, he had cut his first record. He plays Guitar, Bouzouki, Lute, Tzoura and Oud.Between 1960 and 1967, he appeared with famous singers such as Sotiria Bellou, Stelios Kazantzidis, Grigoris Bithikotsis, Giorgos Zambetas and others. He also worked with the great rebetes: Markos Vamvakaris, Yannis Papaioannou, and Vassilis Tsitsanis. At the same period, he travelled around to country festivals and popular feasts with the Halkiades.In 1967 he left for the U.S. and Canada, remaining outside Greece until 1971. In one of his appearances, he collaborated with Anthony Quinn on a Sacramento TV production of Nikos Kazantzakis’s work “Zorba the Greek”.In 1971, he returned to Greece where began recording popular songs in collaboration with Christos Nikolopoulos, Loukianos Kelaidonis, Pythagoras and Yannis Markopoulos. He sang in some of the latter’s most significant works that became records entitled 1) Stratis o thalassinos (Stratis the Seaman) (poetry by Seferis), 2) Thiteia (Term of Service), 3) Metanastes (Migrants), 4) Thessalikos Kyklos (Thessalian Cycle), Anexartita (Independent), and Oropedio (Plateau).In 1976, he performed in Markopoulos concert at the “Herod Atticus theatre”, within the framework of the ATHENS FESTIVAL.In 1977, Markopoulos’s most significant record to date was released: I Eleftheri Poliorkimeni (Free Besieged) based on the poetry of Dionysios Solomos. The singers on this landmark record were Nikos Xylouris and Lakis Halkias, with Irene Papas also playing a major part.In August 1981, Halkias and his group travelled to Australia for the second time. His concerts were cheered by the Greek colony with great enthusiasm. At the invitation of students at the University of Melbourne, he gave a lecture on Greek music. It should be pointed out here that Halkias has spoken on this subject on at least 30 occasions in cities abroad. The culmination of his Australian tour was at the famous Sydney “OPERA HOUSE” where he gave two consecutive concerts to halls packed with cheering Greeks and Australians, since he was the first Greek artist to appear there.2 In August 1982, at the “LYCABETTOS THEATRE” (Athens Festival) Lakis Halkias presented his FAMILY, the HALKIADES, to celebrate the 125th anniversary of their continuous contribution to Greek folk music and other fields. In the same year, he and his group visited Sweden for the fourth time, on an invitation from A.B.F. to give a series of concerts, accompanied by Melina Mercouri, in an effort to bring the two peoples closer together. The events were co-organised with the help of the Federation of Greek Communities.In 1984, Lakis accepted a proposal from Aspasia Papathanassiou to set excerpts from Homer's “Iliad ” to music for Greek Radio 2, using the Kazantzakis-Kakridis translation. In the same year, he cooperated with composer Nikos Mamagakis on Kazantzakis's “Odyssey”, which was presented in Herakleion, Crete and at the Herod “ATTICUS THEATRE” (Athens Festival).In April 1986, Lakis Chalkias released an album called "Jerusalem" dedicated to the Palestinian issue. The poetry incorporated was that of Mahmoud Darwish, Samih al Kasem and Tawfic Ziad. That was the first time that a Greek artist ever used Arabic transalated poetry to sing to.In May 1987, when preparing for his “Summer 87” concerts, he dedicated them to the fight against Drugs.In 1990, the work “AFRICA NOW ” was among the five best musical works in the world with an anti-apartheid message, and was given an award by the Africa Network organisation. It was taken under the auspices of the United Nations which, as a tribute to the artists for their contribution to the struggle against apartheid, organised a concert and invited them to present the work at UN Headquarters in New York on 12 October 1990.In 1992, Lakis Halkias completed a major musical work with the general title “2500 YEARS OF HELLENIC MUSIC”, ( From Homer to the present) which he called the work of a lifetime, as he had been working on it, studying and doing research, for about eight years.In the summer of 1993 the work was presented for the first time in its early form within the framework of the Ministry of Culture’s events entitled “Ekphrasi 93”, and in October Halkias went on tour with it to various cities in America. In April 1994, the work was presented in Germany with two concerts and in September in Cyprus. In October of the same year, Halkias was invited to attend a special event in New York held by the Association of Greek-American Professionals of the U.S. and Canada (“O Krikos”) where he was declared MAN OF THE YEAR for his work “2500 Years of Hellenic Music” and its contribution to preserving and disseminating Hellenic music among ethnic Greeks abroad and among friends in other lands. On the same evening, the artist was honoured by the US Congress through Congresswoman Mrs C.B. Maloney.On 11 April 1995, on the initiative of the “General Confederation of Labour of Greece” (GSEE), the musical work “2500 Years of Hellenic Music” was presented at the Athens “CONCERT HALL” where it was recorded live.Early in 1996, Lakis Halkias introduced his new record entitled “GREECE IS LOVE”, in which the lyrics were taken from the poetry of Georgios Souris, Kostas Virvos, Yannis Kakoulidis, Pavlos Nirvanas and others. On this record, Halkias appears not only as a singer and musician, but also as composer since it was he who set all the poems to music. At the same period, he was working on the final processing of his work 2500 Years of Hellenic Music in the studios of the Athens Concert Hall, and putting the final touches on the book that would accompany the work.On 21 October 1999, after 12 years of on-going effort, the work “2500 years of Hellenic Music” ( From Homer to the present) was launched in the form of -3 CDs and a book 240 pages long. Under the auspices of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) it was presented at a press conference in the Athens “Concert Hall”, and was the subject of remarks by several speakers including Efstratios Galanis, Vice Rector of the NTUA, Prof. Panos Pyriovolis, author-journalist Yannis Kakoulidis, musicologist Constantinos Sgourdas and Prof. Andreas Zeakis-Glynias. One indication of the feeling created by the work on its first official day on the market was its enthusiastic reception by the press, culminating in a review by university professor and author Kostas Georgousopoulos in the newspaper “Ta Nea” on 22/10/1999, the last sentence of which reads: “I have been wondering whether this valuable instrument of self-knowledge shouldn’t perhaps be placed in every school.” The following artists participated in the work: singers Nena Venetsanou and Nadia Karayanni; narrative by Nikitas Tsakiroglou. Several choirs took part including the following choirs: Byzantine Choir of Serres, the Polyphonic Choir of Patras and the Children’s Choir of the Simon Karas Association. And finally the work was supported academically by university professors Panagiotis Pyriovolis, Haralambos Spyridis, Yannis Papachronis, Andreas Zeakis-Glynias and Tassos Fotopoulos. The cover was created especially by artist Dimitris Mytaras.Lakis Halkias says about the work “2500 YEARS OF HELLENIC MUSIC” (From Homer to the present) “It is a reference work for the citizens of the world and for the generations of Greeks to come. A shield of self-knowledge for our young people.”On 11 January 2000, Lakis Halkias, in his first collaboration with composer Christos Leontis, sang in Leontis’s work “KATACHNIA” (Mist) at the Athens “CONCERT HALL” on the initiative of and organised by the PARLIAMENT OF THE HELLENES.In October 2000, Halkias crossed the Atlantic once again, invited by the young people of the Council of Greeks Abroad in Boston to attend the proceedings of the 20th Conference of the Youth of North and South America, where he was one of the main speakers. On his return to Greece in the same month, he began teaching classes in the playing of musical instruments at the newly established Traditional Folk Music department of the Epirus Technical College (TEI) in Arta city.In August 2001, the artist was appointed member of the Art Committee for the musical schools of the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs.28 May 2002 was one of the great moments in the career of Lakis Halkias, as it was on this date that his life’s work “2500 YEARS OF HELLENIC MUSIC ” was presented in the “HEROD ATTICYS” theatre on the sacred site of the Acropolis. It was a very special evening dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the death of Andreas Lentakis. The performance was taped by Hellenic Radio and Television for future broadcasting, as it was the communication sponsor for the performance.In June of 2002, Lakis Halkias launched his new CD entitied “TRADITIONAL MUSICAL EMBROIDERIES”, with traditional songs from various regions of Greece. It is a work devoted to love, as expressed by our people through their songs, and to their philosophy, as expressed through their lives.On 28 May 2003, the musical work “2500 Years of Hellenic Music” was presented at the Herod Atticus Theatre. On 5 June 2003, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, it was presented in Zurich (Switzerland) in one of the most beautiful opera houses in Europe, the “TONHALLE ZURICH”, and in addition to the Greek artists taking part, Swiss artists also participated, including conductor Pedro Cortina and the orchestra Camerata Cortinas Zürich.In 2007, between January 18th and 21st , Lakis was the lead singer for the tribute to the music of Yiannis Markopoulos in the Athens Concert Hall. The collaboration between the composer and Lakis was long overdue and they met on stage after 25 years. The tension in the music was obvious and the audience witnessed three great concerts.From 1977, to the present day, Lakis Halkias and his group have toured more than 40 countries, to most of which they have returned two or three times. To date he has played and sung in more than 1250 concerts in Greece and abroad.