It is with great pleasure that we announce the beginning of our exclusive cooperation with the well-known and much loved artist Manolis Lidakis.
Manolis Lidakis, who has returned permanently to his hometown, will be based in Heraklion and Cretanart Productions will be the exclusive representative of the singer for his performances both in Greece and abroad.
Already, eight major concerts have been scheduled throughout Crete, which will be announced soon.
BIOGRAPHY - MANOLIS LIDAKIS
He was born in Heraklion, Crete, in 1960 and started to play music from a very young age. At the age of nine, he began his musical studies in guitar, wind instruments and music theory. From 1970 to 1977, he participated in the philharmonic orchestras of Heraklion, playing the euphonium and trumpet.
In 1982, he went to Athens, where he took part in the TV show "Here is the Opportunity" and signed his first contract with a record company. Since then he started singing professionally, while in the past he used to sing in small taverns, bouquets and music shops either in Athens, Crete or with his brother in Serres.
Manolis Lidakis: In Crete we had a little group and we sang. In a tavern, well, - it was something like that - they asked me to sing for a few days. "If you can serve us", they said. I went the first week and at the end I said, "Okay, that's enough, I'll stop now." "Don't even think about it," was the answer. "We'll give you double for another week." And I kept singing. When the second week was over, I went to them and said, "Stop now." With that and that I was in Athens to sign a contract with Minos. They said "You're going to be on TV, on "Here's your chance". Lefteris Papadopoulos is there, Giorgos Katsaros". And I went.
In 1982, he released his first album, "After You", by George Katsaros, while he participated in the album "Just Talk to Me" with Eleni Dimou and Yannis Parios, in "Reportage" by Yannis Markopoulos with George Dalaras etc.
In 1988, he signed a contract with the Sony Music record company, when he began to become more known and popular, especially with his album "Nute Pou askedissa" (1990). In the following years, he had a number of collaborations and releases of albums with great public appeal, which established him as a representative of the so-called modern art and folk Greek song. He has also taken up Cretan music, covering various old rizitika and other Cretan songs (e.g. the album "Kokkino Akroγιάli"). He also stated that he has been influenced by singers such as Xylouris, Baxevani, Aedonidis, Kazantzidis, Bithikotsis, but also Moscholiou, Haroula Alexiou and Dimitra Galani.
In June 2001, he released the album "Material of Dreams", in which he collaborated with George Andreou, Lakis Lazopoulos, Kostas Livadas, Socrates Malamas and Alkis Alkaios. The song that gave the album its title is a duet between Lidakis and Eleni Tsaligopoulou (they had collaborated again in 2002 in musical performances at "Sling", inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest).
In 2007, he collaborated in musical performances with Alkino Ioannidis, a tribute to the work of Manos Hadjidakis. The result of this collaboration was the album "4 Theatrical Myths", which includes the music that Hatzidakis wrote for Lorca's "Blood Wedding", Campanelli's "A Tale with No Name", Nikos Kazantzakis' "Captain Michael" and Brecht's "Circle with Chalk".
In 2008, he changed his record label and signed a contract with Legend. In the same year, he collaborated with Dimitris Mitropanos and Bampi Stokas at the Athens Center. His last record was released in early 2009, entitled "Don't gremize my dream", where he collaborated with Pantelis Thalassinos.