Lopez Blogs

It’s not often we have the possibility to listen to Greek artists in Stockholm of such a magnitude as Despina Vandi. Saturday the 17th was such an evening. The arena, Solnahallen, is an absolutely charmless venue but nobody care as soon as Despina and her band entered the stage.


Before she started, Giorgos Lucas and Stathis Raftopoulos (on photo) warmed up the audience of mainly Greek origin – with some exceptions. Giorgos Lucas and Stathis Raftopoulos are rather new artists, but with my limited understanding of the Greek language I have not able to found out much info about them. During the party afterwards I talked to Stathis and he told me it was the first time he performed in a concert with Despina Vandi. This possibility came up because they have the same songwriter.


I saw Despina in her show at Rex Theatre in Athens 2007 but the concert yesterday was more relaxed. She managed to create an intimate atmosphere and many people were singing along. How come that Greeks always know the lyrics? It's always impressing me a lot.

The concert was arranged by Quality Entertainment, owned by Giorgos Kyrlis, During 2010 the intention is to arrange concerts with both Andonis Remos and Pashalis Terzis. Lovers of Greek music in Sweden hope that Mr Kyrlis will continue his work.


Did you know that:

Despina Vandi started her career in 1994 and today she is one of the most successful Greek singers with fans in many countries. Her album “Gia” from 2001 and Stin Avli Tou Paradisou (In The Garden Of Paradise) from 2004 sold multi platinum in Greece. In 2002 she was the winner of "Best Selling Greek Artist" in the World Music Awards. Her latest full album 10 Hronia Mazi came out 2007 with a repackaged version 2008. Her latest new song, Iparhi Zoi, was released in June 2009. Despina Vandi became 40 this year. She has two children and is married to former football player Themistoklis "Demis" Nikolaidis.

In the future it would be a pleasure to see Despina Vandi participate for Greece in Eurovision Song Contest. Let’s hope!