Tzimis Panousis
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Tzimis Panousis (; 12 February 1954 – 13 January 2018) 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 A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...
, stand-up
comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...
and occasional film and theater actor born in
Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
, where he spent most of his life. He is often seen as the modern-day
Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...
. His fans usually refer to him as “Tzimakos” (little Jim). His first wife was Lili Achladioti with whom he had a son, Aris. He later married Athina Aidini and they had a daughter, Fotini.


Early biography

Dimitrios Panousis was born on 12 February 1954 in Athens to refugees from
Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
, Theodoros and Foteini, and grew up in
Cholargos Cholargos (, also: ''Holargos'') is a town and a suburb in the Athens urban area, Greece, located northeast of the Athens city proper and about away from Syntagma Square. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality ...
. He made his first appearance in the mid-1970s, performing in various
pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...
s, with his band "Mousikes Taxiarhies" (Musical Brigades, ). Panousis was the
vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...
and main composer of the group. Their first (unofficial)
album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
was ''Disco Tsoutsouni'' (Disco Willy) released in 1980. It was a bootleg tape, many songs of which were later rerecorded for the band's official debut, their eponymous album in 1982. The band went under the alias "Alamana's Bridge" to make a guest appearance with two songs in the compilation album ''Made in Greece''. In 1986, Mousikes Taxiarhies was disbanded and Panousis went solo. His subsequent successful career showed that he could be a band on his own.


Artistic style

Since his debut, Panousis had introduced a controversial style of rock music with humorous and sarcastic lyrics. His songs included caustic remarks on the political and social reality of Greece. His varied musical style included mostly
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
, but also
reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...
and
rembetiko 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 ...
. In his live performances, Panousis delivered sarcastic comments about current events and Greek musicians and personalities. He often interacted with his audience, in a unique type of stand-up comedy, and was also notorious for his on-stage phone pranks.


Discography

* 1980: ''Disco Tsoutsouni'' * 1982: ''Mousikes Taxiarhies'' * 1984: ''An I Giagia Mou Ihe Rouleman'' * 1985: ''Hard Core'' (Live) * 1986: ''Kaggela Pantou'' (First solo album after ''Mousikes Taxiarhies'') * 1987: ''Himia Ke Terata'' * 1990: ''Doulies Tou Kefaliou'' (Live) * 1992: ''O Roben Ton Hazon'' (Live) * 1993: ''Vivere Pericolosamente'' * 2000: ''Me Lene Popi'' (Live) * 2002: ''Digma Dorean'' * 2003: ''Dourios Ihos'' * 2009: ''Tis Patridas Mou I Simea'' (Live) * 2013: ''Obi-Obi-Bi'' * 2013: ''Prosehos Voulgares'' * 2014: ''Mastura ambient'' * 2015: ''I katyusha tou KKE / Igiini Diastrofi''


Controversy

Panousis had several run-ins with the Greek authorities. His second album, ''Musical Brigades'' (''Μουσικές Ταξιαρχίες'' in Greek), was briefly withdrawn from circulation in 1982 because of the ostensibly blasphemous lyrics of a love ballad. In 1984, censors placed beeps over some of the lyrics in Mousikes Taxiarhies's third album, ''An I Giagia Mou Ihe Rouleman'' (If My Grandma Had Wheel Bearings). In 1997, a court battle with well-known Greek singer
George Dalaras George Dalaras (, born 29 September 1949) is a Greek singer and musician. He is one of the most prominent figures of Greek music. In October 2006, he was selected as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. He was born in Piraeus. His ...
began. Panousis had frequently been making fun of Dalaras in his live shows, showing money coming out of his mouth whenever he sang. The court ruled that Panousis would be charged with a one million
Drachmas Drachma may refer to: * Ancient drachma, an ancient Greek currency * Modern drachma, a modern Greek currency (1833...2002) * Cretan drachma, currency of the former Cretan State * Drachma proctocomys, moth species, the only species in the Genus '' ...
fine (approximately $3,000) every time he mentioned Dalaras by name on-stage. Panousis's response to that, was to call him "the unmentionable" in his shows from then on, and use his famous on-stage quip, "Ladies and gentlemen, I have 3 million drachmas to spare: Dalaras, Dalaras, Dalaras!" All this has contributed to the depiction of Panousis as a highly controversial artist. Some regarded him as a modern-day
Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...
while many considered that his pranks and commentaries were of bad taste. Panousis often used offensive language, while the advertising posters of his depicted provocative images. In one instance, he replaced the cross of the
Greek flag The national flag of Greece, popularly referred to as the Blue-and-White (, ) or the Cyan-and-White (, ), is officially recognised by Greece as one of its national symbols and has 5 equal horizontal stripes of blue alternating with white. There ...
with a communist
hammer and sickle The hammer and sickle (Unicode: ) is a communist symbol representing proletarian solidarity between industrial and agricultural workers. It was first adopted during the Russian Revolution at the end of World War I, the hammer representing wo ...
, for which he was charged with a four-month probation. In another instance, he appeared dressed as a priest with a medallion hanging around his neck which depicted the head of a chicken instead of
Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...
. This elicited the angry reaction of
Archbishop Christodoulos Christodoulos (17 January 1939 – 28 January 2008) (, born Christos Paraskevaidis, ''Χρήστος Παρασκευαΐδης'') was Archbishop of Athens and All Greece and as such the primate of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece, fr ...
, the late head of the Church of Greece.


Accusations of antisemitism

Panousis was accused by the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece of expressing antisemitic views, not seldom in connection with his standpoint in the Israel-Palestine conflict. During an episode of his satirical show ''Δούρειος Ήχος'' ("Trojan Sound") at the radio channel City 99,5 in 2009, he used expressions such as ''"Jews - Pigs - Murderers ..may you die a horrible death"'' and ''" ..the jews control all the banks in the American empire, they control all of the show biz ..'', while also referring to the conflict in Gaza. In 2013, Greek Jewish organisations were appalled by the use of a symbol consisting of the David star entwined with a swastika (the symbol itself is used by the Raelites) for the posters of his show "Troika Club". In relation to this symbol, Panousis has been using the term "nazi Jews" ("εβραιοναζί" in Greek) when describing current Israeli politics.


Other activities

Panousis had hosted various radio shows for more than 15 years. He was also the author of six books (a peculiar type of sarcastic essays). Moreover, he had appeared in four movies: the most notable is ''The Dracula of Exarcheia'' (1983, directed by Nicos Zervos), where Panousis was the protagonist. From September 2008 to June 2009, he hosted a 30-minute radio show, called ''Dourios Ihos'' (Trojan Sound) at the radio station "City 99,5". The show was later hosted in "Radio Thema 98,9".


Death

Panousis died on 13 January 2018 after suffering a heart attack at his home in Athens. He had previously been hospitalized after collapsing on stage in December 2017.


References


External links

*. The most complete web site on Panousis. {{DEFAULTSORT:Panousis, Tzimis 1954 births 2018 deaths 20th-century Greek male singers 21st-century Greek comedians Musicians from Athens 21st-century Greek male singers 20th-century Greek comedians