The presentation of Haris Alexiou’s new album “Ta Oneira Ginontai Pali” (“Dreams Come True Again”) on the stage of Gazarte
Wednesday 5 November
On the evening of Wednesday 5 November, the atmospheric stage of Gazarte hosted the presentation of Haris Alexiou’s new album “Ta Oneira Ginontai Pali”, released by Heaven.
The event was held in association with the radio station Diesi, with 100 lucky listeners given the chance to attend; representatives of the media, friends and collaborators were also present.
It was a truly special evening, sweet and dreamlike, which began with a warm welcome from Heaven’s General Manager, Mr Spyros Stamoulis, to the strains of the new song that has already stood out, “Kaio Esena” (“I Burn You”). He then invited everyone who had worked on the album on stage: Haris Alexiou, Nikos Moraitis (who wrote the lyrics and supervised the production), the composers Rous, Stathis Drogosis, Vassilis Gavriilidis and Andrianna Babali, and the production manager Giorgos Kyvelos.
Haris Alexiou described how she came to join this new company of friends and how the story began: with Nikos Moraitis and the songs of Stathis Drogosis, “the first blow to my heart”, the arrival of Rous and “Ena Fili” (“A Kiss”), then Vassilis Gavriilidis and finally Andrianna Babali… the period of recording her vocals in the studio on Paros, while work went on in parallel in the studios in Athens. “It isn’t easy to keep putting yourself to the test after 45 years of career, but it seems there is something very strong inside me that won’t leave me in peace and tells me to try even harder,” she explained.
Giorgos Kyvelos pointed out the symbolism of the title “Ta Oneira Ginontai Pali”, a message for the record industry and for society more generally, while Nikos Moraitis – who confided that how he would like to see Haris Alexiou in 2014 had been his own personal vision – observed that, quite spontaneously and without any plan, each of the composers taking part, in their own way and style, seems to converse with and complement the others.
“A great lifelong dream and goal” came true for Vassilis Gavriilidis, and also for Stathis Drogosis, who said: “I used to listen to Haroula with my mother, and now my wife and my daughter are here listening to us.” Andrianna Babali spoke of how moving it is to hear a song of hers sung by Haroula, a singer who “means every word she sings, and that is unique”, while for Rous it was “one of the most beautiful things that has ever happened to me, and above all for the opportunity an artist of her stature can give”.
Then Haris Alexiou, joined by the composers Rous (guitar), Stathis Drogosis (piano) and Andrianna Babali (ukulele), performed some of the album’s songs live, with special guests Sotiris Lemonidis on piano and Manolis Karantinis on bouzouki, and the evening closed with “Ena Fili”.
