Greek rock

From Freepedia

Rock and roll is an African American genre of music that spread around the world in the 1950s and 60s, entering Greece in the middle of the latter decade. Greek performers in the field include Jimi Quidd (born Jimmy Hatzidimitriou, later of The Dots and producer for Bad Brains), the Bob Dylan of Greece, Dionysios Savopoulos, who also plays rembetika and laika, and Pavlos Sidiropoulos, the most important representative of Greek folk-rock.

Greek rock first peaked in the early seventies, while Greece was still ruled by a military dictatorship. Bands include Socrates Drank the Conium (progressive hard rock with english lyrics), Exadaktylos (humorist-political lyrics), Peloma Bokiou (Santana like latin rock with greek lyrics), Poll (folk with vocal harmonies, greek lyrics).

The fall of the dictatorship was followed by a total cultural dominance of left wing intellectuals (though the government was still moderate right wing). For them, rock was an "imported" (xenoferto) form of music and they instead promoted music based on local traditions like Thodorakis's compositions.

Greek Rock was revived at the end of the seventies, with the first punk and new wave bands as well as some older artists. The ex-frontman of Exadaktylos, Dimitris Poulikakos made an LP in 1976, and Sidiropoulos, ex-frontman of "Damon kai Fintias" and "Mpourmpoulia" in the early seventies made an LP with the new band Spyridoula.

The Idol series of television shows has Greek counterparts in Fame Story and Super Idol, both of which feature rock musicians.

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World rock