Nikos Economopoulos - Νίκος Οικονομόπουλος
It was a lucky catch: one day, while rambling through the YouTube videos and being disappointed with everything, I decided to check out a mix, made of many Greek songs sung by various singers. It was not bad, but still I did not feel any great satisfaction until suddenly the sound of a voice I would not even dream to find emerged. Believe me – I was really happy! And I was two times lucky, because the owner of the video carefully included all the names of the singers featured on the video. So, it turned out, the voice belonged to Nikos Economopoulos (through Google more often it could be found with a different spelling - Oikonomopoulos, because of the direct Romanization of Greek letters.) Well, it was totally new name for me.
I had previously visited Greece several times and already knew some singers and, besides we Russians, in general, have some idea about and appreciate Greek music. I went to YouTube search and in a minute found his portrait: “Wow! Nikos is a handsome blond guy! It is already a good reason to start listening to the song” and with those thoughts I clicked on “This Star” (ΑΥΤΟ ΤΟ ΑΣΤΕΡΙ) video. Again - “Wow!” Then - a few more tracks…So, after “My Eyes” (ΜΑΤΙΑ ΜΟΥ) I became a complete and untreatable fan of Nikos Economopoulos
I was eager to ask the opinions of others and I started to show his songs to some of my friends and students. Reactions were along the lines of: “This voice I could listen to the whole day long” or “I can’t believe to what I am going to say, but this is the best singer at least in Europe!”… “Opa!” – As my Greek friends say, or even - “Eureka!” (Ευρηκα), if we remember Archimedes. Starting from the middle of July 2009 I checked Niko’s videos daily and never was disappointed, with his live recordings being especially impressive. In every video clip I was heard and saw confirmations of what I found in him straightaway: an unusually beautiful voice, a very exact pitch and an outstanding charisma.
Nikos Economopoulos was born and spent his first 17 years of life in Patras, the town in the north of the Peloponnese, dubbed as “The Gates to the West”. Patras has strong historical connections to Italy and France and obtained fame as a city of a distinctive culture and tremendous carnivals, which could compete with those of Venice. Patras’ slightly bohemian life style and big concentration of musicians and artists brought out another name for the town: “Little Paris”. So, even while being involved from the very early years in his family’s fishery business, Nikos was soon influenced by the unique musical atmosphere of his hometown. Here, in Patras, are the roots of his singing style and persona.
Another positive feature of Patras’ culture is that ordinary people, who knew Nikos, were able to recognize in him a big talent. As a result, the owner of a pizzeria, where the hard-working boy was employed, has found some musical professionals to develop his natural gift. This was a beginning of Niko’s career.
As a young and still unknown singer, Nikos was performing around Greece until finally, at the age of 22 he entered and won a TV contest “Dream Show 2,” in December 2006. His perfect interpretation of the hit of one of Greece’s most beloved singers Paschalis Terzis “I Asked my Eyes” (ΡΩΤΗΣΑ ΤΑ ΜΑΤΙΑ ΜΟΥ) was a real triumph. As a result, Nikos was signed with Sony Music (Greece) and in 2007 his first single “My Eyes” and an album “First Love” were released. In 2008 Sony invested into a second album “I Heard” and it became Gold.
At the very beginning of 2010 (3rd of January) the new CD “ΚΑΤΑΘΕΣΗ ΨΥΧΗΣ” (in my free translation - “An Offering from the Soul”) was issued as a promotional release, which was sold together with the weekly newspaper “Sunday Espresso”. The global financial crisis has seriously affected the music industry, which was already in a shaky position long before it – and not only in Greece. So, no wonder that sometimes CDs in Greece may be released primarily for the promotion of an artist and live performances become the main source of a singer’s income. Nikos Economopoulos has been doing live performances for all the years he is in music.
But it is not just money that the performances are bringing to an artist. The precious experience of work with other, already well-known musicians (for Nikos these were Anna Vissi, Nikos Makropoulos and Stamatis Gonidis) and public applause are the most important things in a singer’s life. Nikos is no different. In his interviews the young star always accentuates it, saying that it is not money, but that live performances and the warm reactions of people that make him happy.
The fact that such a huge figure in Greek music as Giannis Parios started helping Nikos can be described as a blessing from the heavens. The moment at which the bigger public started to associate Nikos Economopoulos with Parios occurred during the popular TV programme “Στην Εγεια Μας!” (“To Our Health!” of 17 October 2009. Giannis was a guest on the show and Nikos was honoured to sing a couple of old Parios’ hits. A very successful interpretation of ΛΥΠΗΣΟΥ ΜΕ (Have Pity on Me) by the young singer, attracted to him more attention from a lot of people in Greece and even abroad, including those of 40-50 years old or more.
Following that live TV appearance, further performances together with Parios at the very popular night club “Fever’ made the picture complete: a most respected figure in Greek music scene obviously was pointing out to the world: “Look at him – he is the one!” With great appreciation and respect, Nikos calls Giannis “father” meaning Parios’ role in his artistic life.
So, my very short biographical writings were done just to make it easier to shed some light on the main goal of my essay, in other words - to find out which qualities of Nikos Economopoulos earmark his as a singer with a big future and, maybe, to identify his emerging style.
At this point I can restrain myself no longer from describing the precious instrument given by God to the young Patras native. Let me now concentrate attention on some qualities of the voice belonging to Nikos Economopoulos!
First of all, his sound is very attractive with its tremendous sensuality; just like a voice of an old Italian master’s cello or violin. We, musicians, call this quality an overtonal timbre. Amazing is that this beauty spreads through the whole range of Niko’s voice – from the bottom till the top. Each note he sings is well supported, that’s why the sound is extremely even and reliable as that of a luxurious expensive instrument. Niko’s voice perfectly resonates in his mask (a “carnival mask covered” area in the singer’s face, which has the resonating cameras) and this feature gives us a feeling of easiness while we listen. His vibratos of various kinds are naturally well controlled.
All the registers in his voice appear with the most desirable qualities: the lower is velvety and strong, the middle is clear and noble and the top is dramatically bright. In opera the kind of this singer’s voice would be called tenor “spinto” (combined lyric and dramatic), but the pop style of singing lets Nikos go lower, to the baritone range. Not necessary the highest, but the most versatile voice! Amazing that all these privileges of his voice are always there, even while Nikos is moving on the stage! But he knows perfectly well how to move and not to lose the quality of his vocal performance.
I feel obliged to describe how important is the exactness of his pitch, because this is another secret to the attractiveness of Niko’s singing. I checked dozens of his live videos and every time experienced almost a soccer fan’s excitement, willing him to never to lose pitch. And Nikos was always perfect. This is a real joy for people like me: I start getting sea-sick with the slightest signs of out- of -tune singing. That’s why I feel very insecure listening to a new singer, being scared of developing this unpleasant feeling. With Niko on stage any demanding expert should feel fine and relaxed. He is giving to the public exactly what is supposed to be sung, without being disturbing listener's ears with so-called “neighbour notes”.
As a stage artist Nikos Economopoulos doesn’t need to do much to impress. His exceptionally attractive looks naturally make him the centre of attention without any extra efforts from him.. Imagine, please, blue-eyed dark blond (at least for now!) Apollo, dressed with a smart yet sophisticated and relaxed sense of understatement. And I say all this without any exaggeration, in fact in total seriousness. The inner sense of ease and comfort with himself and the happiness with what he is doing reflect in each gesture or step while Nikos is performing. He is not pretending and is not trying hard to keep the public amused, he knows that his work on stage is impressive enough not to be bothered with over-playing. At the same time being a real Greek artist, Nikos generously involves his public in the performance process and creates an atmosphere of a big party during his concerts.
So, we are smoothly drifting with our observations towards the most desirable by readers and most dangerous for the writer’s part of our essay – we need to catch and nail a capricious butterfly called “style”.
Niko’s repertoire covers a few genres of songs within one big trend in Greek music – laika (specific Greek folk pop music). In trying to categorise his songs into different groups and classes I finally found my self buried under the big mountain of music, performed by not only Nikos Economopoulos but other Greek singers as well! To save myself and readers of this article from the flood of information I took a decision not to compare Nikos to anybody and to avoid topics regarding any system in his repertoire. I will just try to describe the unique features of his style by analyzing some live as well as some recorded performances of a few selected songs.
Let’s take as a first example one of his most popular songs - “This Star” (ΑΥΤΟ ΤΟ ΑΣΤΕΡΙ) from the first album of the singer.
This pop laiko style piece has a very attractive tune, made of down words going passages, which consist of the shorter down words going motives. So, in the melody itself there is an illusion of the sparkling waves, created by a composer Panos Kapiris. Instrumentation has prominent bouzouki lines above the rhythmical section. Niko’s voice in this piece reflects the tune shape by creating the effect of inner sparkles within, at the same time echoing bouzouki sound. How is it possible? The secret is that in the choruses of this song our singer adds tiny vibratos to some notes in an excellent proportion, which lets his sound to be generally smooth while still having some flashes of a “fire” inside.
As a contrasting sample to the previous one piece we can take, let’s say, “ΑΚΟΥΣΑ”.
The title song from the second CD, “ΑΚΟΥΣΑ” (I Heard) is written jointly by Alexandros Chrisovergis and Spiros Giatras in the zeimbekiko (Greek man’s dance) genre. One of the features of a zeimbekiko is an alternation of shorter and longer phrases in the vocal line, which creates an additional rhythmical spring. Niko’s voice demonstrates some metal in this song, but at the same time retains an overtonal timbre and above-mentioned sparkles. He doesn’t let his long notes be ornamented and does not add any extra vibratos to them, but uses those arabesques for the shorter motives. The result is that the song brings out a lot of energy as well as an overwhelming beauty of the tone of his voice.
A lyrical ballad “It’s my fault” (ΦΤΑΩ) has a very provocative tune, full of dangerously sentimental turns in it. I think, what Nikos is doing with this song shows a great taste in his performance, which is a very rare feature for a young singer. By singing with the best vocal quality, Nikos doesn’t use any speech-like or sobbing effects, because the song itself has a lot of drama inside and it doesn’t need any extra effects to be added. As a result we have a perfect interpretation of what was written by the composer, an amazing fusion of both technique and emotion, the real musical masterpiece.
In the song “And Don’t Come Back” (ΚΑΙ ΜΗ ΓΥΡΙΖΕΙΣ) - the last one from the same album – I would like to turn the listener’s attention to the sound of the longer notes Nikos is creating. Long lasting, very even and strongly supported, those notes in his voice are challenging the clarinet solos in the orchestra with their rich cello/violin like nature.
Another remarkable thing in Niko’s song interpretation is his very clear articulation, which does not affect the vocal cantilena at all. The great Enrico Caruso was letting beginners to sometimes sacrifice articulation in order to achieve the good sound as a priority. In Nikos Economopoulos' case everything works perfectly. The song “I Would Like to Be” (ΘΕΛΩ ΝΑ 'ΜΑΙ from the third album) has a big impact on the listeners with its words by the gifted poet Vangelis Karatzanos. The singer’s voice drifts here along with the tune, imperceptibly transferring from the speech-like beginnings of the verses to the cantilena choruses, always giving the priority to the poetry. His precise work with each word is unfolding a deeper meaning of this simple-at-first-sight song.
While speaking of Niko’s unique cantilena, I have to mention this in the context of his performance of “The Absolute” (ΑΠΟΛΥΤΟ). This great piece composed by Alexandros Chrisovergis and Spiros Giatras should soon become recognized as one of the world’s famous love songs. And at the same time Nikos should be named as one of its creators, because besides the refined lyrical poetry and a beautifully-shaped tune, the charms of his voice and his interpretation transform this song into a big event in the contemporary pop music. Here again, as in the previous example, the singer combines his ability to work with low register speech-like motives and huge breath-taking cantilena waves. For the first ones he uses his tiny ornaments, which sound extremely sensual in the low range; for his big breath-demanding waves Nikos just gives what he has in his voice – a million golden sparkles for each note, this is the way his overtones work, bringing out the effect of a shimmering light within the sound.
The last sample I will take is from the Nikos Economopoulos and Christos Papadopoulos collaboration. The song “On the Roads where you wander” (ΣΤΟΥΣ ΔΡΟΜΟΥΣ ΠΟΥ ΓΥΡΝΑΣ) has not yet been included in an album, but became popular because of the Cyprus TV soap opera “Dangerous Zone”. Here, same as in another Papadopuolos song “One Soul Said to Me” (ΜΟΥ 'ΠΕ ΜΙΑ ΨΥΧΗ) Nikos sings permanently on the border of his middle and high range and it is a very hard technical task for any singer. In this range Niko’s voice sounds in its most subtle way, gently and smoothly, exactly as oriental violin which Papadopoulos likes to include in his instrumentation. No extra vibrato is used here, but just an exquisite performance of the existing in-the-tune ornaments.
Now, I guess, it is a time to stop with my descriptions and to look on what we can cast as original features of Nikos Economopoulos’ style. It doesn’t seem very hard to conclude that any genre of laika songs he is working with (Nikos is positioning himself clearly in his interviews as a laika singer) has a quality which is always there: the perfect sound of the voice is the main priority of everything he is doing. And this sound is very emotionally coloured, exactly tuned, extremely well supported and it works well together with the articulation of the words. A beautiful voice, when it's positioned above everything else, in classical music has a title “bel canto”. Nikos Economopoulos has got a talent big enough to make it possible for him to be judged as equal to the famous opera stars and so I am giving my verdict by calling his style “bel canto laikos”. This combination of Greek and Italian words in the phrase brings me back to Niko’s biography and I see in him a new “Gates to the West” as his native Patras has always been. I strongly believe that Nikos Economopoulos is a singer born to make Greek music more and more popular around the world!
List of the songs and authors, mentioned in the article:
ΑΚΟΥΣΑ : Αλέξανδρος Χρυσοβέργης – Σπύρος Γιατράς
ΑΠΟΛΥΤΟ : Αλέξανδρος Χρυσοβέργης – Σπύρος Γιατράς
ΑΥΤΟ ΤΟ ΑΣΤΕΡΙ : Πάνος Καπίρης – Αγγελος Παλαιολόγου
ΘΕΛΩ ΝΑ 'ΜΑΙ : Δημήτρης Αναστασόπουλος – Χρήστος Παπαδόπουλος –
Βαγγέλης Καρατζάνος
ΚΑΙ ΜΗ ΓΥΡΙΖΕΙΣ : Νίκος Παπαδόπουλος - Νίκος Βαξaβανέλης
ΜΑΤΙΑ ΜΟΥ : Παναγιώτης Μπρακούλιας- Νίκος Βαξαβανέλης
ΜΟΥ 'ΠΕ ΜΙΑ ΨΥΧΗ : Χρήστος Παπαδόπουλος - Ελένη Γιαννατσούλια
ΛΥΠΗΣΟΥ ΜΕ : Γιάννης Πάριος- Πυθαγόρας
ΡΩΤHΣΑ ΤΑ ΜΑΤΙΑ ΜΟΥ : Γιάννης Κάραλης
ΣΤΟΥΣ ΔΡΟΜΟΥΣ ΠΟΥ ΓΥΡΝΑΣ : Χρήστος Παπαδόπουλος–
Χριστάλλα Κουλέρμο
Lucy Vaganova B(Music) Hons Auckland (NZ)
Diploma Novosibirsk Conservatoire (Russia)
I am very grateful for support of my friends Eirini Renata Eousebi(Greece) for providing me with info, videos and CDs and checking my Greek, Theo Simeonidis (New Zealand) for helping with translations and editing, Hristina Andreeva (Bulgaria) for keeping me updated with photos. Thank you, Patra residents (especially Gwgw and Sotiris) for bringing to New Zealand an atmosphere of your home town!
