Angelo Avramakis (Greek: Βαγγέλης Αβραμάκης) is a Greek musician and bouzouki player. Born in
Serres
Serres ( ) is a city in Macedonia, Greece, capital of the Serres regional unit and second largest city in the region of Central Macedonia, after Thessaloniki.
Serres is one of the administrative and economic centers of Northern Greece. The c ...
, Greece, he has spent most of his life in Australia. He is considered the leading bouzouki player in Australia and among the top bouzouki players in the world.
Avramakis began playing drums at the age of 4. He learned the bouzouki at the age of 8 and began studies in music theory and harmony at
Melba Conservatorium of Music. He also plays the guitar, keyboards, bass guitar and Greek
baglama.
Avramakis has performed and toured with some of Greece's well known artists: Vaso Hatzi,
Vasilis Saleas,
Tasos Bougas, Lakis Alexandrou, Stamatis Gonidis,
Zafeiris Melas,
Rita Sakellariou, Doukissa,
Tzeni Vanou,
Stamatis Kokotas
Stamatis Kokotas (Greek: Σταμάτης Κόκοτας, 23 March 1937 – 1 October 2022) was a Greek folk singer.
Life and career
Kokotas was born in Athens into a family of six children. He lost his father, a doctor, when he was a small ...
, Antzela Dimitriou,
Lefteris Pantazis, Yiannis Katevas, John Tikis, Giannis Vasileiou and
Marinella. He has also performed with the very popular and very talented Turkish singer
Ibrahim Tatlises when he appeared in Melbourne as a guest at "Nikos Greek Tavern" in the 1990s.
Over the last three decades, Avramakis has appeared in Greek newspapers as well as TV shows
such as “Tonight Live with
Steve Vizard
Stephen William Vizard (born 6 March 1956) is an Australian television and radio presenter, producer, writer, lawyer and businessman. He is an adjunct professor at Monash University and University of Adelaide.
Vizard has written for and produc ...
”. Some of Angelo's original music has been played on radio stations 3XY and
FOX FM. Thousands of YouTube and Facebook followers regularly share his music videos online.
Avramakis has released a number of CDs, the most popular being "Terma Oi Thisies" and "New Wave Passion", which contain some of the most beautiful bouzouki pieces ever written.
Angelo's bouzouki playing style is
rebetiko
Rebetiko (, ), plural rebetika ( ), occasionally transliterated as rembetiko or rebetico, is a term used to designate previously disparate kinds of urban Greek music which in the 1930s went through a process of musical syncretism and develope ...
,
laiko with new ideas. Most noticeably, his playing style is very clean, sweet sounding, pleasant to the ear, accurate and well disciplined. His main influences are
Manolis Hiotis (Greek: Μανώλης Χιώτης) and
Giorgos Zambetas
Giorgos Zampetas (Pronounced 'Zabetas', , sometimes romanized as George Zambetas / George Zabetas / Giorgos Zabetas; 25 January 1925 – 10 March 1992) was a Greek bouzouki musician. He was born in Athens, where he also died, but his origins were ...
(Greek: Γιώργος Ζαμπέτας).
Songs
Below are some of the songs written, co-written, arranged or produced by Avramakis. In brackets are the year of CD release, the composer and the lyricist:
References
*
*
External links
* {{official website, http://www.bouzoukifever.com
Greek bouzouki players