Brilliant duets with brilliant artists!

Giannis Giokarinis – Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2000

In a pleasant surprise, it so happened for us to sing the song “My bread butter” (“To psomi mou voutiro”). A song that speaks about the bitter humour of relationships that coexist through time. 

The lyrics and music have been written by my friend and excellent singer, Dimitris Gulusi.

Singing with Gianni Giokarini was a magical experience, both at the studio and the live performance. I could describe it as “Rock” in all its glory from a beautiful, unique man and artist!

Giannis Zouganelis – Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2009

As I was on the look for a company to publish my third CD, Giannis suggested to publish it through his disc label “Avlos”. 

My own counter-suggestion came in not too long after, as I suggested we sing the song “Desmoi – Epidesmoi” together with my own lyrics and music. Giannis happily agreed and, hence, we found ourselves recording it at the studio. Humour was present during the entirety of the recording. 

This wonderful artist in the name Giannis Zouganelis will enchant you with his way of viewing life, his art, his versatile talent and kindness of his soul.

Dimitris Goulousis – Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2010

Dimitris and I are connected by a deep friendship of many years. Maybe older than the one of beers. 

He is wonderful both as an artist and a human being; his songs are always full of sensitivity!

As far as music is concerned, we have always been on parallel musical paths. We didn’t collaborate as a coincidence. We collaborated because it came from the need of our soul, which took form in the 2010 with song “What fits”.

Karma – Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2012

Karma was a Greek band which pleasantly troubled the Greek rock scene from the get-go. 

Having known some of the band members for a long time; the singer Anna Manolaraki, the keys player Vasili Drakodaidi and their bass guitar player Aki Zervo, a collaboration between us came naturally, with the song’s lyrics written by Marios Katsonis and music by Vasilis Drakodaidis.

“Strong light” (“Fos Dynato”) from their CD album “The debt” (“To chreos”) (2012) is a song filled with anger, realisation but also hope.

Lavrentis Mahairitsas – Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2015

Lavrentis and I first met in Zante in 1985 when I was 17 years old. I was playing bass with Litis & Tryk and was taking place at an artistic local competition with the Termites. The next time our paths crossed was at the historical Greek rock festival “Winter Sounds” (“Hchoi tou Cheimona”) in 1986.

Through the years, our paths rarely crossed again until 2015 through our mutual colleague Tommy D’Acquisto. I was under the impression that he would have forgotten all about me but to my surprise the opposite occurred.

– D.L: Lavrenti do you remember me? I used to play for the Litis & Trik
– L.M: Are you joking? Didn’t you release a CD in 1998 with Minos?
– D.L: I did…
– L.M: E…I bought it and have it as part of my collection.

We sat down and he listened from an mp3 player to the song “Everyone” (“Oloi”), which I had produced with my own lyrics and music, and it was then at a demo form. He said he was on board and approved it and our next rendezvous was when we recorded the song.

A year later, we performed the song and he took part in the musical theatre show at the theatre Anna Maria Kalouta with the title “Windmarks” (“Anemodeiktes”), in which I was starring alongside the charismatic Stelios Katsaris.

Lavrentis was a man filled with passion for life and music. He paved new ways in Greek music and singing and inspired young people to pursue a musical career. One of those people happened to be me. He had a distinct kindness and permanently enticing and spot-on humour. One of the things I remember and will always hold dear, is this charismatic man and artist.

Panos Mouzourakis – Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2016

Panos…what a wonderful artist and man!

During one summer night in 2013, I wrote the lyrics and music for “The patches” (“Ta Mpalomata”). I saved that song in a drawer, with the thought of having it sang by Mouzourakis’ voice.

Three years later, the universe conspired and we happened to be at one of his shows, where it was suggested that we sing “The patches” together. On the day of the recording, we ended up conversing a lot more than recording. When the two souls can communicate, there is very little we as humans can do.

Whether in the studio or performing live, I could only describe the experience of working with Panos as magical. I could say so much about his wonderful talent, but I think “kallitechnanthropos” (“art man”) covers the entire spectrum of his artistic entity.

Sofia Vossou – Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2016

The time set for our recording was 11am. I was quite nervous as I would be recording with a big vocalist like Sofia. My nervousness increased because apart from performing with her, I was also in charge of recording her voice, as we would be doing the recording at my own studio…

When she arrived at the door, I was met with a beautifully smiling person, full of kindness that you felt was coming straight from her soul.

Sofia and I were introduced through her daughter Erasmia Manou, with which I have been great friends through the years.

The song “Farther than touch” (“Pio pera apo tin afi”) was created by an inspiration that “visited” me as a need to praise love and lust as a state of being in a person, recognising the feelings from through unconditional love and not so much through a feeling that just so happens.

Hence, one can understand that with an performer like Sofia Vossou, the song was bound to reach the deepest parts of the listener’s soul; which happened indeed!

Apart from the significant luck of getting to sing alongside her, both in the studio and later on on stage, I feel blessed for having met her artistically.

Erasmia Manou – Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2016

Erasmia is not only a much loved friend, but also a wonderful artist, whose performances and voice cannot but captivate and touch my soul every time. The same thing applies to the amazing songs she writes lyrics and music for.

Our first collaboration happened in 2012, with the song “Yes” (“Nai”), for which she wrote the lyrics and I the music. Four years later, we meet again in the studio for a very particular project – “bet”. For us to participate in this project, I would have to remix Miki Theodoraki, more specifically his and Mano’s Eleftheriou song, “The train leaves at 8” (“To treno fevgei stis 8”).

With the success of this project, we both took part alongside big names of the Greek music industry at the collaboration album “Re-reading Miki” (“Ksanadiavazontas ton Miki”).

My collaboration with Erasmia remains a chapter with no ending. It never concludes…

Christos Dantis – Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2017

Christos and I met in 1999 when I was playing at Stavros tou Notou and our mutual respect for each other became apparent from the get-go. 

2017 was the year that brought us closer artistically, as we performed a song that he loves from its demo form. 

The song “Before my mind turns” (“Prin mou gyrisei to myalo”), with lyrics written by Erasmia Manou and my music, was inspired by the difficult years that showed to have no ending. 

How can one begin to talk about the wonderful Christo Danti? An excellent artist in all levels and a warm and kind person. One of the collaborations, amongst others, which I will never forget.

Michalis Paouris – Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2017

Michalis Paouris is a musical phenomenon. He reintroduced bouzouki at an international level through various important collaborations (Al Di Meola, Rosenberg Trio and many more) as well through his numerous participations in world festivals and his awards from international organisations.

Apart from being an artist of exceptional calibre, he is a great man that believes in self-realisation, communicates his belief in lice and in the deep human values. 

Our story goes as follows: The excellent lyricist and friend Giorgos Doultsinos sent me the lyrics from one of his poems, “Antartopolemos sto pepromeno”. The message of those lyrics touched my soul and I immediately began to write the music to accompany them…

I felt the need to create my music in such an unconventional way for these lyrics. That is when I searched and found Michali Paouri, who promptly responded to my call. With mutual excitement for the co-existing of what we can theoritically say are two different music worlds, we went to the stuio and recorded the song “Antartopolemos”.

Sofia Arvaniti – Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2018

The well-known and loved by us all, Sofia Arvaniti. 

Friends since 2011, our collaboration has been continuous in both an official and unofficial level, as friendships born through music communicate and interact with each other through it too. 

Sofia is an artist with passion and strength in her perfomances. For me, she is essentially one of the most rock artists in Greece, and a person filled with the sweetness of life and love. 

Our official collaboration happened in 2018, during which I wrote four songs on her album “Alavantrachala”. The songs were “Mia atithasi kardia” and “Antechei to karavi”, in lyrics written by Sofia and my music. Additionally, “Geia chara” and “Zito pou me emathes” are the two other songs written in my music and lyrics that we sang together in that CD.

A complete musical endeavour in fully different musical paths that no one had introduced to us in the past. 

Our most recent collaboration is the one firstly written and performed by Charis Alexiou, “Panselinos”.

Lefteris Tsagarakis – Dimitris Liolios
«The pathways»
Collaboration 2019

Lefteris Tsagarakis is a brilliant artist, singer and lira player from Chania, Crete. Lefteris and I met online and that was the way we kept in touch, due to our geographical distance. 

When I wrote “Ta monopatia” (“The pathways”), a song with a message about the freedom of escaping social captivity, I needed to express a different apporach to my usual way of artistic expression, in both the performance and the sound of the song. 

Therefore, this was how the moment I suggested to Lefteri to collaborate and preform it together came to form, which ended up happening shortly after. 

We beat the distance through technology and recorded in different studios, me in Athens and him in Chania. A collaboration that truly came “from the heart”.

Giorgos Chatzis – Nomadi – Dimitris Liolios
Collaboration 2021

Giorgos Chatzis is a brilliant artist. He is a composer, musician, performer and actor with an interesting and lengthy biography. He has published complete instrumental projects abroad, and his music has been featured in the famous CD collection Budha Bar. He has also been awarded abroad with a Global Music Award. 

Since 2012, he is an official member of the band Agamon Thyton. That is how Giorgos and I met, at one of their performances in 2015, building a friendship that follows us every since. 

Our friends know the love and I have for Italian music and culture. And that is where two stories that are connected lie in and become one. In my collaboration with Giorgos Chatzis. 

Amongst the many Italian artists I admire, Nomadi is one of them. They have collaborated in Greece with Lavrenti Machairitsa when they travelled from Italy to take part in the legendary performance he gave in 2012 at the Kallimarmaro stadium. 

In January 2021, during the pandemic lockdown, as I was browsing Youtube in my need to listen to a positive mentality song, I happened to select and listen to their song “lo voglio vivere”. A few moments later, I was sitting by my piano playing the song. A short time after that I had written the Greek remix of the lyrics of the song. The next day, I called Giorgo and suggested we approach it from a different perspective both musically and lyrically. 

The idea proved exciting to him, and with the difficult circumstances happening at the time, we each recorded the song at our own personal studios at home. 

This is the part of the story where the magical connecting link from various of my collaborations reappears. Tommy D’Acquisto brought us in contact with Bepe Carletti, one of the founding members of Nomadi. This resultes in publishing the song “Thelo na eimai edo” (“I want to be here”).

Anemodeiktes Dance Project – Eirini Karropoulou – Dimitris Liolios

Art has its own decoding ways in the world we live in, by approaching it with a unique way of expression. Dance and music have an unbreakable bond and interconnecting aspects to them. 

In 2012, I began to write music for classical dance. It was an introductory move on my part as I always felt the need to be expressed through instrumental music. 

My collaboration with Eirini Karropoulou began through her dance school’s performances, for which I wrote the musical sheets, reaching a conclusion in 2019, where her dance team “Anemodeiktes” performed at Bempo theatre with the title “Ego”, with music written by me.

Η συνεργασία μου με την Ειρήνη Καρροπούλου ξεκίνησε μέσα από τις παραστάσεις της σχολής της όπου έγραφα μουσικά θέματα για να φτάσει να πάρει την τελική της μορφή το 2019 όπου με την δική της χορευτική ομάδα «Ανεμοδείκτες» ανέβασε στο θέατρο Βέμπο την χορευτική παράσταση με τον τίτλο «Egο» για την οποία έγραψα τα μουσικά θέματα του έργου.