Like a fairy tale....
I have known the bagpipe since my childhood. Back then, when as a child, in the summers I saw my grandfather, Georgios Karakousis, friends and relatives partying in Alistrati Serron with a bagpipe and a dachare.
My uncle, Kostas Trumpouras, his sister and my Grandmother Vasiliki, Achilleas Vozianos, Kostas Kountouras, Giorgos Kordokousis, Giorgos Filiosis, Takis Ademis, Panagiotis Koufakis from Thrace, aunt Despina... Beautiful years ...
At that time, until my teenage years, I learned piano in various conservatories in Athens (where I grew up) but there was always a force within me that pushed me to explore the music of our country.
Just before I joined the army in 1996, I held my grandfather's bagpipe in my arms. It looked easy on my eyes for so many years, but when I tried to play for the first time the difficulty level was disappointing. Without a "teacher" then, with the eye and the ear, next to my grandfather, I took or, as the old people say, stole my first steps... And so I started my first steps...
Then, in the summer of 1998, my Uncle, Vassilis Karakousis, came.
Inexhaustible source of knowledge and perhaps for me, the greatest bagpiper and performer I have met in these years.
He was then living in Germany, but the foreignness gave him a sense of humor. Sixth in line (as far as we know) in our family tree from members of our family that has gone through seven generations of bagpipers....
My great-grandfather, Stergios Karakousis, impressed the surrounding villages with his playing. Difficult life, difficult years, still some "old people" remember him and commemorate him, like Ilias Kouventaris from Agriani Serron. I too, apart from the few recordings of my village and the 7th Folk Winter of Giorgis Melikis, listen to them with emotion, since for me it is like listening to my grandfather Giorgis.
From the summer of 1998 I started recording in Alistrati Serron and in the surrounding villages of Eastern Macedonia and at the same time I started searching for older recordings. I was taught and played with many bagpipers, such as Barba Kota from Kalivrysi of Drama, Giannis Dobridis from Thrace, Markos Pavlou from Volakas of Drama, Petko Stefanov from Bulgaria, and many other older and modern instrumentalists.
In Athens, in 1999, I started as a rebel to my father playing the bagpipes in the streets of Plaka and in the small monastery.
There, I was found by Christi Stasinopoulou and Stathis Kalyviotis. They invited me to the live they had at An club, but I went to the next one, since another of my uncles, Koulis, worked at the bar and I had an alleged reason for my presence there. During the break, in the dressing rooms, the meeting took place again with Christi and Stathis. Rehearsal with words and shortly after on stage.
And how things came to be, in the summer of 1999 I was with Christi and Stathis at the jazz festival in Montreal. My first live with consistency and responsibility. And then others came with the children. All over Europe, America, Canada, Brazil... and in Greece forgotten....
With rewards, jamming with musician friends and good company came the collaboration with Melina Kana. Giorgos Palamiotis, Yiannis Zeugolis, were and are great teachers for me. Airy, to the lice. Next to Melina I learned a lot...
Then, Dionysis Savvopoulos came. A lion on stage. And through that he opened a door that I still remember and we are moved. "Balkan bikes"... Fuat Saka, le mystere des voix bulgares, mode Plagal, Kleon Antoniou, and of course Nikos Papazoglou....
I have no words to describe those years. An incredible company. And somewhere there, with godfather Fuat, the "Muhabbet mafia" was born with Cleonas Antoniou and Antonis Maratos.
Papazoglou has since put me on the hook. "Learn to make bagpipes yourself" he told me. The lathe is a big school... And so later, in 2007, I bought my lathe from Thessaloniki...
At the same time, "Greeks and Indians - The Thracians" with Sokratis Sinopoulos, Chroni Aidonidis, Petrolouka Chalkia...
In Pyromachos with Psarantonis and with Michalis and Antonis Fragiadakis.
Stelios Petrakis and the northern paths...
Chainedes, Orfeas Peridis, Lizeta Kalimeri, Alistrata, Athens conservatory as a teacher, Muhabbet mafia in Afaneis with the Fani and night jobs where I could to earn something and not live on loans from parents and friends....
In 2009, Pantelis Thalassinos came. A man who disarmed me with his kindness. I calmed down... and I owe a lot to Pantelis, even if he doesn't know it.... Gasias, Plagianakos, Mermigas.... A new company that gave me a smile again....
In 2010 and 2012 I participated in the William Kennedy Piping Festival in Ireland... Indescribable moments and experience...
At 12, Pantelis couldn't do concerts... So I put my lathe in front... And Nikos Papazoglou's wish came true... Again in the school... of the lathe... And a new road opened... Wish and dream together...
Paradoxonia.... Vangelis Paraskevaidis, Dimitris Clonis, Nikos Tattoo...
And with all these experiences in company, and unarmed to face the crisis, in 2013, at the Athens airport, I meet Nikos Stratakis. We were going to play together in a show with Psarantoni in Istanbul... With great respect and kindness, he spoke to me about the work he was preparing at the time.... "Anasa" with Sokratis Malama came out, but then more came.... "The girl and the dragon", "Water and salt"... and since then I feel the brothers Nikos and George Stratakis... my brothers... as well as Manolis Stratakis, Alekos Hatzakis, Dimitris Matzarakis, Dimitris Zografaki...
In 2017, a new collaboration came. Dimitris Zervoudakis - Melina Kana... I have been working with Melina for twenty years. My esteem and my love for her is known... But Dimitris, was a person I wanted to meet since recently, I listened to his songs during the hours I worked on the lathe... We became an amazing company that we lived , even for a while, evenings of honesty...
At the same time, in the same year, I met Giorgos Mavridis, an exceptional man from Drama. Common struggle... same searches and questions... Now he too in Athens... Neighbors... our workshops nearby. Kallithea - Petralona... Giorgis on the Macedonian Lyra... me on the Bagpipe... Together with Costas Mougolias and Lazaros Savvidis we make "Osi"... a traditional group that plays songs of our country... Her Eastern Macedonia...
...and the fairy tale continues...