Antonis Diamantidis (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
: Αντώνης Διαμαντίδης), also known as Antonis Dalgas (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
: Αντώνης Νταλγκάς) was a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
musician. He was notable for his
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 ...
songs. He was also a songwriter and best known as a singer.
Life and career
Diamantidis was born in 1892 in the
Arnavutköy suburb of
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
(then Constantinople) in the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
(present-day
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
).
He took up music from an early age, learning to play both the guitar and the
oud, and by 1910 he began to work professionally as a singer. Because of the unusual and stirring "waves" in his voice, he was given the nickname Dalgas ("Νταλγκάς" which means "passion" in Greek, and "ripple" in Turkish), by which he would be known for the rest of his professional career. In 1919, he married Argyro Nikolaou in Istanbul, with whom he had one daughter, Anna. From 1920 to 1922, he and his band entertained Greek immigrants to America on the ocean liner "King Alexandros." It was during one of these voyages that he learned of the
Catastrophe in Asia Minor, and he afterwards settled permanently in Greece with his family, first in Piraeus and later in Petralona. In the early years, he worked as a singer and musician in various cafés featuring
Smyrneiko,
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 ...
and
Laiko music. Among his associates at the time were
Costas Tzovenos,
Dimitrios Semsis,
Kostas Karipis and
Spyros Peristeris. During this time he also began to compose his own music. Between 1926 and 1933, he recorded more than 400 traditional and rebetiko songs, primarily under the
His Master's Voice
His Master's Voice is an entertainment trademark featuring a dog named Nipper, curiously peering into the horn of a wind-up gramophone. Painted by Francis Barraud in 1898, the image has since become a global symbol used across consumer elect ...
label. His vocal abilities were unprecedented, and as a result of his talent he emerged as one of the most lauded of his era, alongside other "manes" performers like
Costas Nouri and
Vangeli Sofroniou. After 1933, he stopped appearing as a musician, and largely disappeared from recording, preferring live performances in exclusive venues, and focusing on a lighter genre of popular romantic songs. His main partner in this era was
Mark Philandros, who later married his daughter Anna. From 1937 to 1939, Dalgas made a brief reappearance in the music industry as a composer, recording a small number of songs, and he continued to perform until 1941. With the arrival of the Germans in Athens, however, Dalgas sunk into a deep depression, and he eventually died under mysterious circumstances in early 1945.
See also
*
Oud
*
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
*
Greek music
The music of Greece is as diverse and celebrated as its History of Greece, history. Greek music separates into two parts: Greek folk music, Greek traditional music and Byzantine music. These compositions have existed for millennia: they originat ...
References
Notes
# Then autonomous, subject to the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diamantidis, Antonis
1892 births
20th-century Greek male singers
Constantinopolitan Greeks
Greek male songwriters
Rebetiko musicians
Turkish people of Greek descent
Greek guitarists
1945 deaths
Singers from the Ottoman Empire
Greeks from the Ottoman Empire
Greek rebetiko singers
20th-century guitarists
Singers from Istanbul
People from Beşiktaş
Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to Greece