George Dalaras

George Dalaras (Γιώργος Νταλάρας, 29 September 1949) is a Greek singer and musician.

He is one of the most prominent figures of Greek musical culture.

Since the 1960s, George Dalaras has sung numerous different Greek music styles (e.g. rebetiko, laïkó, Latin, pop), Israeli and Arabic music, and religious music.

He has collaborated with many contemporary Greek composers, including Mikis Theodorakis, Stavros Kouyioumtzis, Manos Loizos, Apostolos Kaldaras, Stavros Xarhakos, Manos Hadjidakis and Christos Nikolopoulos.

He also discovered and supported young Areti Ketime, producing her first album.

Apart from his prominent singing career, Dalaras is considered to be one a talented musician as he plays most of the stringed instruments of a Greek folk band with great success, including the guitar, bouzouki, baglamas, tzouras and outi.

He has accompanied Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucía, among others.

Dalaras' most important projects include collaborations with several international singers, including British singer Sting, releasing together a duet of Sting's song Mad About You.

He has also collaborated with Pyx Lax, Bruce Springsteen, Jethro Tull, Yehuda Poliker, Emma Shapplin, Goran Bregovic, Apostolis Anthimos, Dulce Pontes, Andriana Babali and many others.

Dalaras' first song, "Προσμονή" (Prosmoni, "expectation"), was recorded in 1967.

Since the late 1970s, he has performed in over 800 concerts outside Greece, promoting Greek culture abroad.

He has performed at some of the most famous concert halls all over the world, such as Radio City Music Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Metropolitan Opera, Olympia, Roy Thompson Hall, Meadowlands Arena, Kooyong Stadium, Rod Laver Arena, Sydney Opera House, Hammerstein Ballroom, Madison Square Garden, Wembley Arena, Rosemont Theatre, Trump Taj Mahal, Heichal HaTarbut, The Wang Theatre, Apollo Theater, Place des Arts, Wiener Konzerthaus, Palais des Congrès, etc.

He has also appeared at numerous cultural festivals, including Cuba (1981,1998), the Europalia Festival in Brussels (1982), the Peace Festival in Vienna (1983), the Youth Festival in Moscow (1985), the Aid to Africa Concert in the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus (1986), the Amnesty International Concert in Athens with Peter Gabriel, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman and Youssou'n'Dour (1988), the Poznan Jazz Festival in Poland (1999), the Crossing Border Festival in Amsterdam (2001), the Saratoga Festival in USA, with the famous Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit (2001), etc.

In 1983, he performed two back to back sold-out concerts in the Olympic Stadium of Athens, attended by more than 160,000 people.

It is the biggest music event ever held in Greece.

"Greek music enters the era of the big stadiums" stated the Rolling Stone magazine.

In 1987, he performed a third personal sold-out concert at the Olympic Stadium of Athens.

In 1992, he performed a sold-out concert at the Wembley Arena in London.

It is the biggest Greek concert ever held in United Kingdom.

It was a personal initiative of George Dalaras, to support Cyprus and to promote the Cyprus problem.

Among others, Vanessa Redgrave and Georges Moustaki had taken part in the concert.

"George Dalaras sings in Greek, yet his music, springing from the heart, has a universal appeal" stated the French daily Le Figaro in 1993, long after his reputation had reached across the borders of his native land.

The packed theatres and stadiums, the thousands of concerts, the tenths of tours around the world, the collaborations with many prominent Greek and foreign artists, the collaborations with many of the most renowned symphonic orchestras of the world etc, ascertain George Dalaras’ exceptional and unique course as an artist and as an ambassador of the Greek culture.

In 1994, he performed at the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey before an audience of 22,000.

It is the biggest Greek concert ever held outside of Greece.

This concert was also dedicated to Cyprus. After this concert, he was invited to Washington D.C., where he received the "Kennedy" Award from Senator Edward Kennedy, in recognition of his humanitarian contributions.

George Dalaras is a Greek traveler, an exceptional interpreter, a restless musician who deeply believes in the individual character of Greek music, in its power and its competence and, at the same time, in its global quality.

His relentless pursuits journeyed Greece to the end of the world while, his conviction that the multinational model is based on the mutual possession of the artistic heritage has fused his interpretation abilities with the dexterity of a number of the most renowned orchestras of the world.

In 2000, Dalaras discovered a new local orchestra that specialized at traditional Smirneiko (from Smyrna) and Rebetiko songs.

The orchestra's name was "Εστουδιαντίνα Νέας Ιωνίας" (Estoudiantina Neas Ionias and it came from Nea Ionia, a city near Volos. Dalaras pulled Estoudiantina in the light of publicity and make it known to the Greek public. Since then Estoudiantina has become one of the most important and famous orchestras in Greece. Estoudiantina's repertoire now also includes Modern Greek, Greek Laiko, and Mediterranean.

In October 2006, he was selected as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency.

He was born in Piraeus.

His first memories of music were the basic forms of Greek music, such as traditional, folk, rebetiko, laïka, which influenced him as an artist.

In addition, he has performed many other music genres in several different languages, such as pop, rock, latin, contemporary, byzantine music, classical, opera etc. He has collaborated with many Greek and foreign artists (composers, poets, maestros, musicians, etc).

In all, he has released almost 90 personal albums and has collaborated in more than 140 others as singer, musician or producer.

He is the Greek artist who has performed the biggest concerts of all time, both in Greece and abroad.

He has performed at some of the most famous concert halls and stadiums all over the world, and has collaborated with many of the most renowned symphonic orchestras of the world.

He has received several honors and awards, including the "Kennedy" Award and the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadorship.

George Dalaras has released almost 90 personal albums (which in total have sold more than 18,000,000 copies worldwide) and has collaborated in more than 140 albums of others as singer, musician or producer, always expanding his musical horizons with his multi–faceted creativity.

Dalaras moved from his homestay label of Minos EMI in favour of Universal Music Greece in 2006, thus ending an almost 40-year collaboration.