It would not be an exaggeration to recognize that the Municipality of Moutsis it was one of the few old ones that remained timeless and relevant.
His distinctive voice and the even more distinctive sound of his violin still resonated on the radio – in spite of the times and unlike other great composers and songwriters overlooked, if not forgotten, who are sadly remembered by producers or lists in tributes and anniversaries .
In the politically turbulent 60s, but artistically fruitful and productive, some completed their musical careers, others took a break and Dimos Moutsis took his first steps. The course of a man who he drew great, played snooker and cooked fanaticallywas to last three decades.
With Dimitra Galani and Grigoris Bithikotsis. – Photo: dimosmoutsis.gr
He seems to have known his future from early on. At the age of seven, in 1945 when the country was counting wounds just before it was dragged into the Civil War, he claimed and won the privilege – for the time – in music education, asking his mom to enroll him in the conservatory. He finished his music studies from the Athens Conservatory and, although a violinist, he admitted in 2015 in an interview with LiFO that “I don’t even have a violin at home”. “I wanted to be a cellist, but life brought me differently…”
If one had to classify his work musically, one would distinguish two main periods of creation. The folk, from the mid-60s until 1980, and the more “political” from 1981 onwards, when it diversified morphologically, stylistically and lyrically. He becomes more “political”, more “electronic”, he includes ballads, something from “country” and synthesizers in his repertoire. Also, the composer Moutsis develops into a singer, as well as a lyricist.
Manuscript of the lyrics of “Traveling to Nowhere”. – Photo: dimosmoutsis.gr
“If you exclude my early folk songs, after ’70 all my works were recognized with great delay. I did not appreciate the success, how can I tell you, hot! And I had to face the “objections” of many people for what I did. “Everyone’s opinion” I also say to “The Traveler of Everything”” with Nana Moushouri, he said in the same earlier interview.
Until 1981, the year of the release of the legendary album “Fragma”, he has already collaborated with artists who marked a golden path in Greek music and whom history honored in the superlative. Some debutants, others already well-sung. From Stamatis Kokota, Grigoris Bithikotsis and Vicky Moscholiou to Manolis Mitsias, Dimitra Galani and Antonis Kalogiannis.
With Vicky Moscholiou – Photo: dimosmoutsis.gr
Dimos Moutsis was one of the first composers (along with Mikis Theodorakis and Thanos Mikroutsikos) to include poetry in the Greek repertoire with “Tetralogy» of, in 1975, composing music poetry of Seferis, Cavafy, Karyotakis and Ritsou. His collaboration with Nikos Gatso, from whom everything started, in 1967, was also monumental. with songs emblematic in Greek songwriting, such as “Don’t knock on my door at midnight”, “Piraeus”, “I saw you in my eyes”, “You took the big road”, “Tomorrow again”, “With a complaint”.
Saint February and… Koemtzis
It was preceded, in 1972, by the record-station “Agios Febrouarios”, with lyrics by Manos Eleftheriou and the composer himself and performers Dimitris Mitropanos and Petri Salpeas, which was well received by the public lukewarm, if not indifferent. It is said that the album’s sales, however, skyrocketed the following year due to a mistake by Dimitris Psathas. The author wrote in the newspaper “Ta Nea” the day after the murder with Nikos Koemtzis as the protagonist, that the song he had requested to order on the fateful night was none other than “O haros darhe Pagania” which was included on the record – which was to remain since then in the musical collective memory as one of the classics.
What is also remarkable about “The Dam” is how it was Kostas Tripolitis who allegedly convinced the composer to take on the role of singer.
The story with Bellou, who when she heard the complete recording of “You don’t speak”, was moved by the “pessimism” of the lyrics and the chorus sung by Moutsis, has also remained legendary. He threatened injunctions and asked Alekos Patsifas, then director of the record label Lyra, not to release it – a misunderstanding that was resolved with flowers, compliments and thanks from Bellou.
Two years later, “Pledge” was released. Among other things, it includes the song “Antonis B.”dedicated to the Zakynthian sculptor Antonis Vezirtzis who set himself on fire in 1981 in protest, but also to the “politician” Mr. Tzafolia, as well as the “Walkman», a song that nostalgically encapsulates an era unknown – or known from the stories of parents and uncles – to generation Z and beyond.
After the album “Traveler of Everything” in 1990 with the interpretation of Nana Mouschouri and “For sale therefore” in 1994, Dimos Moutsis stopped creating, limited to live shows, re-releases and compilations.
In recent years he had withdrawn from public life, although he had a sporadic presence on social media.
“I am very sorry that Dimos is not present in the musical affairs of the place, this is a unique talent, a real melodist with an amazing aesthetic. He would have to give a lot more to the Greek song. I owe him almost everything, because I started “Elefsina” with him. His thinking was ahead of his time and many could not understand him. I was one of the few who didn’t fight with him in the studio. It’s a shame that he has remained silent” Manolis Mitsias said in an earlier interview in Vima about the abstention of the Municipality of Moutsis.
Few would disagree that what he left with his death today, at the age of 86, was –paraphrasing his own verse, from the quiet and evergreen ‘Walkman’– “loud music, loud loneliness.”