Ηanomai Giati Remvazo (how the name sounds in Greek) is a unique case in the annals of Greek song. They are the ultimate expression of the domestic underground, even if their purely Western sound has nothing to do with the electric rock sound.
Wednesday, August 12, 21:00
Horto Theatre
Admission 15€
Ηanomai Giati Remvazo (Οι Χάνομαι Γιατί Ρεμβάζω) (HGR) is one of the most unique and longest-running musical groups of the alternative Greek music scene, with a history dating back to the early 80s. The name comes from a verse by the poet Gιώργου Βέη. The group’s name in English roughly translates as “I Am Lost Because I Am Daydreaming”.
The group’s music was considered the ultimate expression of the Greek domestic underground, even though their Western musical influences had nothing to do with the electric rock sound characteristic of other countries in that period. Their music continues to skillfully blend poetry and literature with psychoanalysis, as well as pure folk ballad with more allusive Greek musical forms.
The group began their recording career in the early 1980s. During that decade, HGR released an album every two years. Their unique poetic ballad style was in direct contrast to the “skyladiko” (σκυλάδικο) music – a term used to describe a specific, raw sub-genre of Greek music and the late-night establishments where it was played – which was prevalent during the PASOK-era. Their musical style offers listeners reverie as a form of contemplation and reminds us that, in these times, not everything is machine generated and converted into numbers and calculations.
Their fifth album “Paroinia” (Seirios, 1989) marked the beginning of their decade-long collaboration with Manos Hadjidakis, and which resulted in their own album “Towards Immortality, the Martyrial.” In 1999 the eclectic album “A Thank You”, seemed to bring to a close a creative cycle spanning two decades and represented a thank you to the artists they had collaborated with, and were influenced by – Vasilis Nikolaidis, Vasilis Papavasileiou, Spyros Sakkas, Nena Venetsanou, Thodoros Kotepanos, Michalis Siganidis, Yannis Bach Spyropoulos, Giorgos Makris, Christos Tsiamoulis, Tasos Misirlis, Agathi Dimitrouka, Anna Karageorgiadou, Vasilis Gisdakis – all of whom represented an entire era of Greek song.
Subsequently HGR began recording with Yafka Records, founded by Giorgos Mitropoulos, a close collaborator of Manos Hadjidakis. The resulting album featured two song collections, “Diary of a Woman” and “For a Day’s Wager” involving a younger generation of musicians – Theodora Baka, Markellos Chryssikopoulos, and Maria Thoidou – who were aesthetically and artistically akin to HGR’s style.
More recently they released “Chronicles of a Troupe” in Greece with Metronomos Publications. It cannot be easily described, it is neither simply a book, nor a CD, nor even a book-CD. It is a complete and multifaceted work of art that essentially unites music and songwriting with poetry and literature, philosophy with the visual arts, even psychoanalysis with ritual practices.