Duets
Wonderful duets with amazing artists!
14 short stories about people who came together through music.
My musical journey so far has brought me closer to artists who each added their unique touch to the colors of the world that my path travels through.
Collaborations that I never imagined, were called upon by the songs… and we, as people, responded to their call.
New collaborations are in progress, and I always look forward to starting each new journey like this.
Giannis Giokarinis - Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2000
I met Giannis by chance when I was recording my second CD ‘A sea that turned wild’. We had a magical connection, and that’s how we came up with the song ‘Butter on my bread’. A song that talks with bitter humor about relationships that survive over the years.
My friend and exceptional songwriter, Dimitris Gkoulousis, wrote the lyrics and music for this song.
Singing with Giannis Giokarinis in the studio and live was a magical experience. His “rockiness” is in all its glory, coming from a beautiful and authentic person-artist!
- Λιόλιος - Γιοκαρίνης - Στο ψωμί μου βούτυρο 3:08
Yiannis Zouganelis - Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2009
When I was looking for a record label to release my third album, Giannis suggested that I leave his record label, “Aulos.”
I quickly made my own suggestion, and when I proposed that we sing “Desmoi – Epidemoi” together, with my lyrics and music, Giannis immediately agreed. So we found ourselves together in the studio recording it.
Of course, humor was pervasive throughout that recording session!
This wonderful artist who goes by the name Giannis Zouganelis will enchant you with the way he sees life, with his art, with his multifaceted great talent and with the kindness of his soul.
Dimitris Gkoulousis - Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2010
Our connection with Dimitris is a deep old friendship of many years. Perhaps even older than the soda pop bottles.
Excellent as a singer-songwriter and as a person. His songs are full of sensitivity!
As far as music is concerned, we had been on parallel musical paths our entire lives. We didn’t collaborate because it was necessary, we collaborated because our souls needed it, and that happened with the song “What Fits” in 2010.
Karma – Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2012
“Κarma” was a Greek band that “shook up” the waters in Greek rock music scene from their very first record release.
As three of the band members – the singer Anna Manolaraki, keyboardist Vasilis Drakontaidis, and bassist Akis Zervos – had been known to me for a long time, the time eventually brought about our collaboration when I participated in the song they wrote with lyrics by Marios Katsonis and music by Vasilis Drakontaidis.
We sang together “Fos Dynato” (Strong Light) from their album “To Chreos” (The Debt) (2012). A song full of anger, realization, but also hope.
Lavrentis Machairitsas - Dimitris Liolios.
Collaboration 2015
I first met Lavrentis Machairitsas in 1985 in Zakynthos when I was only 17 years old. I played bass with Litis & Tryk and we were going to perform with Termites in a local artistic event.
The next time we met was at the historic Greek rock festival “Sounds of Winter” back in 1986. Years passed, our paths diverged, until we met again in 2015 through our mutual collaborator Tommy D’ Acquisto. I thought he would have forgotten about me after all these years, but to my surprise, it was the opposite!
D.L.: Lavrentis, do you remember me? I played with Letis & Tryk… L.M.: Are you kidding me? Didn’t you release a CD in 1998 by Minos? D.L.: Yes… L.M.: Well, I bought it and I have it in my collection.
Then he listened to “Everybody” a song with my lyrics and music, in a demo format that I had back then, from a portable MP3 player. He gave the okay, and our next appointment was to record the song.
A year later, we performed it together in my music-theatrical performance “Anemodiktes” at the Anna Maria Kalouta theater, where I starred alongside the talented Stelios Katsaris.
Lavrentis was a man full of passion for life and music. He opened new paths in Greek music and inspired young people in their musical journeys. I am one of them. He had gentleness and a constantly enjoyable and accurate sense of humor. These are the things I remember and hold from this charismatic person and artist.
Panos Mouzourakis - Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2016
Panos… this wonderful Artistic soul!
At some point on a summer night in 2013, I wrote lyrics and music for the song “Ta balomata” (“The patches”). The song was put in a drawer for later, with the thought that it would fit very well with Panos Mouzourakis’ voice…
Three years later, the Universe conspired and we found ourselves at one of his shows, where he was proposed to sing “Ta balomata” together. We arrive at the day of recording in my studio, which was more about conversation and analysis than recording. When souls communicate, there is little we can do as humans.
Whether in the studio or in a live performance, I could describe the experience of collaborating with Panos as magically unique.
I could say a lot about his amazing talent. However, I think that “Artistic soul” covers the whole spectrum of his artistic identity.
Sophia Vossou - Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2016
The appointment to record was at 11 in the morning. I was nervous because I was going to record with a big voice like Sophia’s. My anxiety was even greater because in addition to performing with her, I would also have the responsibility of recording her voice as we would be recording in my own studio…
When she arrived and passed through the door, I met a beautiful smiling person full of kindness that you could feel was coming from his soul.
I met Sophia through her daughter Erasmia Manou, with whom we are dear friends over the years.
“Beyond the touch” was an inspiration that “visited” me as a need to praise love and passion as a situation in which the human being recognizes his feelings through unconditional love and not so much as a feeling that comes to happen. One realizes that with an interpreter like Sophia Vossou, the song would reach deeply into the listener’s soul. And that’s exactly what happened!
Apart from feeling extremely lucky to sing beside her in the studio and later on stage, I feel blessed to have met her artistically.
Erasmia Manou - Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2016
Erasmia, apart from being a dear friend over the years, is an exceptional artist who sings with such a unique voice that it cannot but move and thrill you every time.
She does exactly the same with the wonderful songs she writes in lyrics and music.
Our first collaboration was in 2012 with “Yes” where she wrote the lyrics and I composed the music. Four years later, we meet again in the studio for a very special project – “bet”. So, to participate in it, I had to dare to cover Mikis Theodorakis and specifically “The train departs at 8” by Mikis Theodorakis and Manos Eleftheriou.
The project was successful and we participated together with exceptional names in Greek music in the collectible CD album “Reading Mikis again”.
My collaboration with Erasmia is an open chapter. It never closes…”
Christos Dantis - Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2017
I first met Christos in 1999 when I was performing in “Stavros tou Notou” and the mutual appreciation we had and still have was evident from the very beginning.
2017 was the year that brought us together artistically, performing a song that we both loved from its demo version.
“Prin mou gyrisei to mialo” with lyrics by Erasmia Manou and music by me. Inspired by the difficult years that seemed never-ending.
What can one say about the wonderful Christos Dantis? An exceptional artist in every sense and a warm and kind person. This collaboration is one that I will never forget.
Michael Paouris - Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2017
Michael Paouris is a musical phenomenon. He has revolutionized the bouzouki on a global scale through significant international collaborations (Al Di Meola, Rosenberg Trio, and many others), as well as numerous appearances at international festivals and recognition from major international institutions.
In addition to being an incredible musician, he is also a wonderful person who believes in self-awareness and communicates faith in life and deep human values.
One night, the exceptional lyricist and friend George Doultsinos sent me the lyrics of his poem “Antartopolemos sto pepromeno” (“Guerrilla War in Destiny”).
The message of these lyrics touched me immediately as soon as I read them, and I started writing the music right away…
I felt the need to orchestrate my music with this verse in a completely unconventional – revolutionary way.
So, I searched and found Michalis Paouris, who immediately responded to my call. Both of us excited about the coexistence of two – theoretically different – musical worlds, we went to the studio and recorded the song “Antartopolemos”.
Sophia Arvaniti - Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2018
The well-known and beloved to all of us Sophia Arvaniti. Friends since 2011, our collaboration is continuous on an official and unofficial level, as friendships that arise through music, do not miss the opportunity to function and communicate through it.
Sophia is a passionate and powerful singer. To me, she is essentially one of the most rock vocalists we have in Greece and a person full of the sweetness of life and love.
Our official collaboration began in 2018 when I wrote four songs for her album “Alavantrahala”. “Mia atithasi kardia” and “Antexei to karavi” with lyrics by Sophia and music by me, and “Yia hara” and “Zoi pou me emathes” with lyrics and music by me, which we sing together on the CD.
It was a complete musical work that showcased different paths we had never explored before.
Our most recent collaboration is on the well-known song written and first performed by Haris Alexiou, “Panselinos”.
Lefteris Tzagarakis - Dimitris Liolios
"Ta Monopatia" (The Paths)
Collaboration 2019
Lefteris Tzagarakis is an excellent artist, singer and lyra player from Chania.
With Lefteris, we had met online. That was the way we kept in touch since the distance between us was quite large.
When I wrote “The paths,” which was a song with a message of freedom from our social self-imprisonment, I needed, besides the way I usually express myself musically, another alternative approach to expression in interpretation and in the sound of the song.
So the moment came when I suggested to Lefteris that we collaborate and perform the particular song together, which eventually happened. We overcame the distances through technology and recorded in different studios, me in Athens and he in Chania. A truly “from the heart” collaboration in every sense.
Giorgos Chatzis - Nomadi - Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2021
Giorgos Chatzis is an exceptional artist. He is a composer, musician, singer and actor with a very interesting and extensive resume.
He has released complete instrumental albums abroad, while his music has been included in the famous cd collection Budha Bar. He has been awarded the Global Music Award abroad.
Since 2012, he has been a permanent member of the Agamoi Thytai band.
I met George when he participated in the performances that the “Agamoi Thytai” did in 2015. Since then, we have had a deep friendship.
My friends know my love for Italian music and culture. And here, two stories come together into one: my collaboration with George Chatzis.
Among the many Italian artists that I have admired over the years, there are also Nomadi. In Greece, they collaborated with Lavrentis Machairitsas when they traveled from Italy to participate in the legendary concert that took place in the Kallimarmaro stadium in 2012.
In January 2021, during the pandemic lockdown, one evening I needed to listen to a song that would exude positivity, so while browsing on Youtube (something that I think most of us did at that time), I came across their song “Io voglio vivere”.
A little later, I found myself at my piano softly singing along to the chords of the song. In a short time, I had written the Greek interpretation of the lyrics. The next day, I called George and suggested this song as a new approach, not just lyrically but also orchestrally.
The idea excited him, and so, despite the difficult conditions at the time in terms of meeting people in person, we recorded the song, each one from our own personal studio at home.
Here enters again in the story the magical connecting link of many of my collaborations. Tommy D’Acquisto who brought us in contact with Bepe Carletti, founding and key member of Nomadi. The result was the release of “I Want to Be Here”.
Anemodectes Dance Project - Irini Karropoulou - Dimitris Liolios
Each art has its own codes of deciphering the world we live in, each one approaching it through its unique way of expression.
Dance and music have inherently interrelated elements.
In 2012, I started writing music for contemporary dance. It was a validating move for me as I always felt the need to express myself through instrumental music.
My collaboration with Eirini Karapoulou began through her school’s performances where I wrote musical themes. It eventually took its final form in 2019 when she and her dance group “Anemodectes” presented their dance show titled “Ego” at the Vebo theater, for which I wrote the musical themes of the performance.
Watch the full performance of Anemodectes here:
