Nikos Economopoulos: Interview to PAREA 104FM (by Anna and Stratos)

Nikos Oikonomopoulos (Economopoulos): Interview to PAREA 104FM( by Anna and Stratos)23.04.10

(This is a slightly shortened version of the interview)

(From this interview the most precious thing for me was to learn about the recording process, the way Nikos is doing it. It is incredible! 4-5 songs in 2 hours! And "Χτύπημα τελειωτικό' from one take! And I know - this is true. I can hear the way he sings live: better then a record!)


A&S: So, you are "offering a soul" (KATATHESI PSYCHIS)?

N: "Yes.Always, in everything I do, but especially in my work, which I love a lot. I am very lucky to have Spyros Giatras and Alekos Chrisovergis to give me songs. There is a chemistry between us.... I love the process of the studio work, I enjoy it. I might say, I do not sing the song often (during the recording process) to not lose the feeling. Sometimes I lower the studio lights to achieve the right result."
A&S: * Most of us spend endless hours in a studio, but not always get a right result ...
N:"I do not know how I do it, maybe because I love the studio... I am used to make recorded within two hours, lets say, 5-6 songs. I remember especially the" Χτύπημα τελειωτικό" from the new album, I sang it once and it was recorded ....
A&S: * You have a wonderful venue “Thea” to perform this summer...
N: We are friends with Kostas Martakis, Polina and.Eleni from" X-Factor "- two very good voices who I saw and decided immediately to work together. I'm very happy. Here comes summer, people have a more relaxed mood ... Can not wait to start. I live for music. The days I work I live! On Sunday morning I am looking forward for Thursday night. I feel like I am not doing anything other days . I can not live without singing. All day long I am singing to myself, during my spare time ... But at the venue I feel like I am alive, that I am Nikos. A strange thing and feeling .... "

A&S: * At what stage is your career now?
"I am in a very good way. I think I have built quite a solid foundation to keep the weight of the career that I dream to do ...."
A&S: * You had a great winter with Yannis Parios?
N:"I had a great time. In twenty years time I will tell my children that I worked with such a great singer. I enjoyed it more than anything else."
A&S: * Do you think that after twenty years from now artistic images will be of similar size and range as Yannis Parios and do we have in our time equal stars?
N:"Our time quickly create fireworks, which is the wrong thing, because there are very good voices who can sing songs as good old times artists did.... I want to be one of them "
A&S:*How not to be a “firework”?
N: "It is to deal only with the job and not with everything surrounding it… So people could see: this is a singer."
A&S:* The public, however, is greedy, it wants to learn details about an artist it admires ...
N: "I am not doing anything more special than the rest of the world. When I am not working I'm at home with my friends, can go to a movie, nothing special ...."A&S:* Do you listen to the opinion of people?
N: "I do and very much. I follow opinion of people, especially regarding the songs. To understand what happens ...."
A&S:Is there something you want to do?
N:"Already I had a huge collaboration with Yannis Parios, and I want to do it more. He was coming to the rehearsals we did for “Thea”, sat with us. On Monday we had a friendly meeting from 6 pm until dawn. Singing .It was not a rehearsal. But we talked about many things, about songs, about details of the job .... "
A&S:* Yannis Parios is like a mentor for you, isn't he?
N:"Yes. And I love a lot. I would have never expected. I sang with Parios, but did not expect that we will become that close friends. And yet it happened. We are very close. From the first day… Parios came at 2 and was (by himself) in the venue till 7 pm. Unbelievable! And I do it, but not by 7. Still I'm coming early, to be prepared, to create a climate. I love being in the venue, to be with people of work, to have some fan. Thursday, Friday and Saturday I live. I'm always happy. But if I am not, and this is happening because we are not robots and as humans we have personal problems, but when I go on stage I forget about everything"

Translation by Lucy Vaganova

Special thanks to Hristina Andreeva for her operative work!