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On Wednesday the 13th of April, Zakynthos will pay tribute to one of beloved sons, Dimitrios Lagios. The event has been organised by the music school of Zakynthos, while others taking part will be the women’s chior “ΡΟΔΑΜΠΕΛΟΣ”, Mantinolata of Zakynthos music school and Lithakias, songs will be sung by young Zakynthians, N. Lykouresi, A Loliou, S. Metsani and C. Giakoumelos. Whilst in honour of Lagio a potrait painted by well known Englishman Mike Elves will be presented.
The event will take place at the Music School at 20.30p.m
Who is Dimitrios Lagios?
He was born in Zakynthos on April 7, 1952 and died of cancer in Athens on April 11, 1991, a few days after he turned 39 years old. Son of Spyros Lagios and Maria, the Tetradis family, from Zakynthos. He studied piano, guitar and theory at the National Conservatory. His teachers were the composers Michalis Vourtsis and Dimitris Dragatakis. He continued his music studies in America at the University of Illinois at Chicago (1974-78, music analysis with Professor Ernest Brown), where, at the same time, he began to research pre-revolutionary songs in Greece. In America he also met his later wife, Peggy Finney.
He returned to Greece in 1980 and engaged in intensive musicological activity focusing on his particular homeland. He deeply loved Zakynthos and served it with his work. In honour of Zakynthos, he even named his daughter Hyakinthi. His love for the special features of his homeland (colours and sounds) led him to the research, study, recording and teaching of works of the Ionian Music School, from which emerged some disco graphic works and the establishment of the ensemble Music Hermitage, with which he organized Art and Speech Festivals in Zakynthos. The Kalveio Center for Music Studies and the Kalveios Music School were also founded in Lagio.
The first disco graphic appearance of Dimitris Lagios took place in 1975 on the album The Four Revolutionary Songs of Rigas Feraios, in collaboration with the historian Georgios G. Ladas, which was published in 1000 copies.
Lagios’s first solo record was the album The Sun the Heliator (1982), in melodic poetry by Odysseus Elytis. The work was written in the period 1978-1980, while the poet himself showed a positive mood for the specific composition.
Since 1980, when he settled in Athens, Dimitris Lagios has been involved in composing great poets. The result of this activity was a series of works, such as The Ideal Autocracies (in poetry by Kostas Karyotakis) and Psalms (poetry by David). In 1983 he released two folk albums, one with Sotiria Bellou entitled O Ai Laos (lyrics by Michalis Bourboulis) and one with Antonis Kalogiannis entitled Here we were born (lyrics by Fonda Ladis). At the same time he continued the study of Ionian music, the fruit of which was a series of relevant records: Folk songs of Zakynthos, Solomos and Zakynthos, Zakynthian Serenades, Zakynthian Ecclesiastical Tradition, Speeches (as zakido is called). work of Mandolin with music by Ionian composers adapted by him for mandolin, with soloist Dimitris Marino. Most of these works were published in a limited number of copies, while some remain unpublished.
In 1985 he met the second great love of his life, Cyprus. From that day until his death he dedicated himself to this place and gave his soul for the struggles of the Cypriot people. He composed Cypriot poets (Evagoras Pallikaridis, Dimitris Lipertis) and with his music and attitude he helped to promote and address the problems of the Cypriot people. His collaboration with the Cypriot vocal and dance ensemble “Diastasi” was also long-lasting.
The activity of Dimitris Lagios spread to many other fields. He founded the Music School of Mykonos and the Music School of the Municipality of Alimos, while he participated in the creation of the first Folk School of Traditional Music with Aristides Moschos. He also founded the ensemble “Rhapsodies”, presenting musical events in archeological sites, while he continued his ethnomusicological research.
In the discography he continued with the works Shadows (1987, in his own poetry) with the vocal ensemble “Dimension”, and Works for Night String Orchestra (1989) with the homonymous orchestra of the Municipality of Patras, which includes parts of the older works of Olympion ( 1986) and Celestial Myth (1986). The dance dramas Erotic Rehearsal (1991, in his own poetry and a poem by Manos Eleftherios) and Ina Ti (1992, in poetry mainly by David, based on the traditional Zakynthian church music tradition) were published, as well as the albums Rogmes (1992) for orchestra. Nights of Strings and The Immortals (1994), in poetry by hanged Cypriot fighters, in collaboration with the Cypriot composer Michalis Christodoulidis. Apart from the discography, there are numerous vocal works in his own lyrics (Rape of each other – Voices of children for destruction) and Greek poets (Kalvos, Karyotakis, etc.).
In 1996, Kastaniotis published the album Dimitris Lagios: Erotic Rehearsal at Death, which included 14 paintings by the painter Giannis Psychopedis (from the series “The letter that did not arrive”).
In 2001, a poetry collection by Dionysis Serras was published, dedicated to Dimitris Lagios and Cyprus.
In 2006, a tribute to Dimitris Lagios was published by the Zakynthian magazine Ionian Leaves (volume KST ‘, issue 1-2).
Souce:- https://el.wikipedia.org/
