The news of the death of the great composer and songwriter Demos Moutsis, at the age of 86, has caused sorrow in the artistic community of the country.
The esteemed composer wrote music for many significant songs, such as “Don’t Knock on My Door at Midnight”, “Piraeus Girl”, “I Saw Myself in Your Eyes”, “Tomorrow Again”, “With a Complaint”, while his songs have been interpreted by artists such as Grigoris Bithikotsis, Vicky Moscholiou, Manolis Mitsias, Dimitra Galani, and many others.
Demos Moutsis was born in Piraeus in 1938 and began studying at the Athens Conservatory at the age of 7.
At the age of 20-21, he completed his music studies, winning the first prize as a violin soloist. Somewhere in the mid-60s, he met Nikos Gatsos and Manos Hadjidakis.
In 1967, Nikos Gatsos began giving him lyrics. Demos Moutsis’ first song was “God is Raining” performed by Stamatis Kokotas. The collaboration between Gatsos and Moutsis continued with songs like “Don’t Knock on My Door at Midnight,” “Piraeus Girl” with the same performer, “I Saw Myself in Your Eyes” with Vicky Moscholiou.
In 1969, with “Tomorrow Again” performed by Grigoris Bithikotsis, “With a Complaint” with Bithikotsis and the newcomer Manolis Mitsias.
In 1970, Manos Hadjidakis entrusted Moutsis with the orchestration and musical direction of his songs on the album “Return.”
All with lyrics by Nikos Gatsos and performed by Grigoris Bithikotsis and the then newcomer Dimitra Galani. This album included Hadjidakis’ songs “Talk to Me,” “Bitterness Today,” with orchestrations by Moutsis.
At the same time, Moutsis continued to write hits such as “These Hands” (lyrics by Lefteris Papadopoulos) and “Once in Eleusis” (lyrics by Vasilis Andreopoulos) with Manolis Mitsias.
A significant milestone in his career was “Saint February”, recorded in late 1971 and released in early 1972. The lyrics were by Manos Eleftheriou, with Dimitris Mitropanos and Petros Salpeas as performers. This work marked the entire first period, opening up new paths, in Greek discography. Apart from the titular song, the album “Saint February” features other great hits such as: “If Someone Is to Blame”, “The House on the Hill”, “The Plow Went Ahead”, “Someone Else Went to Chios”, and others.
In 1972, “Housing Estate A” followed, with lyrics by Giannis Logothetis (also known as Giannis Michaelidis), as well as Gatsos, Eleftheriou, and Varvara Tsimpouli. Performers included Antonis Kaloyiannis and Vicky Moscholiou, with songs that became big hits, like “White, Red, Yellow, Blue”, “That’s Life” with Vicky Moscholiou, “Gazing Out the Window” with Kaloyiannis, the folk instrumental “The Dance of Courage”, and more. In 1973, “Turns” were released, another folk and melodic record by Demos Moutsis. Solely performed by Vicky Moscholiou and with lyrics by Pythagoras, Logothetis, Eleftheriou, and Gatsos, this album included hits like: “Embrace and Side by Side”, “Cheers”, “An Evening in Larissa”, “I Am Me”, and the atmospheric “At the Hangouts”, dedicated to the memory of Markos Vamvakaris.
In 1974, during the transition to democracy, “Testimonies” emerged, containing Moutsis’ songs that had been censored by the military junta, with lyrics by Manos Eleftheriou, Giannis Logothetis, Giorgos Chronas, Varvara Tsimpouli, and the composer himself, and performed by Manolis Mitsias, Vasiliki Lavina, in one of her early record appearances, and Christos Lettonos.
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In 1975, he released “Tetralogy,” a groundbreaking cycle of set-to-music poetry based on works by C.P. Cavafy, Kostas Karyotakis, George Seferis, and Yannis Ritsos, with Manolis Mitsias, Christos Lettonos, and the newcomer singer Alkistis Protopsalti as performers. This was followed in 1976 by “Labor Agreement,” music from the theatrical work “Strike” by George Skourtis. In 1979, “Itinerary” was released, featuring lyrics by Nikos Gatsos and performed by Manolis Mitsias. The album includes pieces such as “Like Che Guevara”, “Far Away Love Hour”, “Greece Greece”, “In Mount Athos”, and more.
In 1981, “Dam” was released with lyrics by Kostas Tripolitis. Songs like “No Words”, “Delenda est (My Little Peace)”, “Letter from the Foreign Legion”, “Truck Driver”, among others, were included. The folk songs of the album were sung by the renowned rebetissa Sotiria Bellou, with Demos Moutsis singing only the refrain of the well-known “No Words”. The electric ballads of the album were sung by the composer himself. In the same work, Demos Moutsis also sang “Chats with Freud” along with Loukianos Kilaidonis and Alkistis Protopsalti.
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In 1983, he embarked on a solo journey with “Pawn.” In 1987, “There!” followed, featuring well-known songs like “The Dream” and “A Harmonica That Cries.” In 1990, “Traveler of Everything” with Nana Mouskouri was released, marking his last album written for a singer other than himself. In 1994, he returned with “For Sale, Then!” entirely written and performed by him.
In 1999, Demos Moutsis collaborated again with Dimitris Mitropanos and Dimitra Galani in a grand concert at the Herodes Atticus Odeon, where they performed both older and newer hits of the great composer. An eagerly awaited project of his with Haris Alexiou as the singer has never been released!
In the European Parliament elections of 2019, he ran as a candidate for MEP with the party MeRA25. However, the political formation suspended his party membership due to allegations against him.
