Greek Composer Dimos Moutsis Dies at 86

Dimos Moutsis one of the most important Greek composers of his generation died in Athens on Wednesday. He was 86.

Moutsis was born in Piraeus. He was a student of the violin at the Athens Conservatoire from the age of seven and graduated at the age of twenty-one as a prize-winning soloist.

During the late 1960s, he met poet and lyricist Nikos Gatsos and fellow composer Manos Hatzidakis at a cafeteria which was a well-known haunt for musicians and artists (Flokas).

In 1967, Gatsos began to provide Moutsis with poetry he had written, thus allowing Moutsis to write his first songs. The first song Moutsis wrote was ‘Βρέχει ο Θεός’ (‘God is raining’), a piece he had already composed the music for and for which Gatsos provided lyrics. The singer Stamatis Kokotas was the first to record this song.

Over the next few years, he continued to write songs with Gatsos which were recorded by well-known artists of the time such as Vicky Moscholiou and Grigoris Bithikotsis, as well as with newcomers such as Manolis Mitsias and Dimitra Galani.

Dimos Moutsis opened new avenues in Greek music

In 1970, Moutsis orchestrated and produced the music for album ‘Epistrofi’ (The Return), with songs by Hatzidakis and Gatsos. During the same period, Moutsis worked with other lyricists such as Lefteris Papadopoulos.

His apogee as a composer came with the release of ‘Agios Februarios’ (Saint February), which was recorded at the end of 1971 and released at the beginning of 1972.

The lyrics were by Manos Eleftheriou and the performers were Dimitris Mitropanos and Petri Salpea. It was deemed a very important work that sealed the entire first period of his work and opened new avenues in Greek music.

In 1981 Moutsis releases ‘Fragma’ with lyrics by Kostas Tripolitis. The song ‘Den les Kouventa’ sang by the late singer of Rebetika Sotiria Belou became an instant hit.

In 1983, with “Enchyro” he begins his solitary journey. In 1987 follows “Na!” which also contains his well-known songs “The dream” and “A crying harmonica”. In 1990 he releases “Traveler of everything” with Nana Mouskouri, which was the last record he wrote for a singer other than himself.

In 1999, Dimos Moutsis collaborated again with Dimitris Mitropanos and Dimitra Galani in a big concert at Odeon of Herodes Atticus in which they sang together older and newer hits of the great creator.

Moutsis was also involved in politics. In the 2019 European elections, he was an MEP candidate for MeRA25, whose leader is former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. He was suspended from the party two years later following accusations of harassment against him.