Today, April 17, 2012, Dimitris Mitropanos passed away at the age of 64. Twelve years later, close friends and colleagues still remember him, through statements and posts.
Peggy Zina, one of his closest collaborators who took their first steps with him, gave her account of the years she spent away from her mentor. Through Instagram, the singer uploaded a joint photo of her with Dimitris Mitropanos from rehearsals they did together for their concerts.
In the caption she wrote: “This day dawns with gray clouds for me ..it's raining it's raining…This year for some reason I chose a happy moment from our first rehearsals. I carry you in my soul every day my mountain... I feel you close to me. I listen to your guidance, our jokes with your (our) Venia.. but yes.. there are moments when I can't digest that I can only see you anymore by closing my eyes... Even if they cut me in half I will love you twice . And I will miss you more."
On April 17, 2012, Greece "farewelled" a great voice of the Greek pentagram, Dimitris Mitropanos, at the age of 64, who breathed his last after acute pulmonary edema.
Dimitris Mitropanos was born in Agia Moni, a district outside Trikala - where his mother came from - on April 2, 1948. After the third year of high school, in 1964, he went down to Athens to live with his uncle on Acharnon Street. Before finishing high school he started working as a singer.
At the same age, at the urging of Grigoris Bithikotsis, whom he met at a gathering of his uncle's company, in which he sang, he visited Columbia. There, Takis Lampropoulos met Giorgos Zambetas, with whom he will work in Dawns.
In 1967, Mitropanos recorded his first 45-track record, with the song Thessaloniki. The song Hameni Pashalia was previously recorded, but it was censored by the Junta and was never released.
In the course he set out on the path of popular artistry, 1972 is an important milestone: the composer Dimos Moutsis and the poet-lyricist Manos Eleftheriou release Agios Februarios, with performers Mitropanos and Petri Salpea, marking a milestone in Greek music.
In July 1999, Mitropanos and Moutsis will meet again on stage at Irodeion with Dimitra Galani and soprano Julia Souglakou for two musical evenings as part of the Athens Festival. These concerts are recorded live and released on a double CD two months later. This is followed by The Road to Kythira by George Katsaros and The Synaxaria by George Hatzinassios, works of high quality but also of great impact in Greek society.
In his long career in Greek singing, Dimitris Mitropanos collaborated with the greatest creators of folk and art song. Giorgos Zampetas, Mikis Theodorakis, Dimos Moutsis, Apostolos Kaldaras, Takis Mousafiris (The Two of Us etc.), Christos Nikolopoulos (Make Decisions in Lyrics by Lefteris Papadopoulos), Yiannis Spanos (Mitropanos sings Spano) were the composers with whom he was associated professionally, building a career intertwined with the Greek folk music tradition, until the end of the 80s.
The very important collaboration with Thanos Mikroutsikos with the album In the Age of Parga, with lyrics by Alki Alkaiou, Kostas Lachas, Linas Nikolakopoulos and Giorgos Kakoulidis, is a shift of the performer to even more "artistic" paths, again maintaining the identity of the folk.
On September 10, 2009, he gave his first personal concert at the Herodes of Atticus Conservatory, with a program - a retrospective of 40 years of his artistic career. A historic concert, recorded and released on a double disc by Minos – Emi entitled "The songs of my life". His last album was released in the summer of 2011 with the title "Here we are", with music by Stamatis Kraunakis.
Source: protothema.gr