Like today: Manos Loizos was born

Manos (Emmanuel) Loizos was a music composer of Cypriot origin, with a great contribution to the art folk song. He was born on 22 October 1937 in the village of Agioi Vavatsinias in the Larnaca district and was the only child of Andreas Loizos and Despina Manakis, the daughter of an agronomist from Rhodes.

His family moved to Alexandria, Egypt in search of a better life when Manos was seven years old.. He has been involved with music since his school days. He enrolled in a local conservatory and started learning violin, but ended up learning guitar. After graduating from the Averofio Gymnasium of Alexandria in 1955, he came to Athens and enrolled first in the School of Pharmacy and then in the Athens School of Music. At the beginning of 1960, the big change in his life came when he decided to abandon his studies and to deal exclusively with music.

To survive, he works various jobs, from waiter in a tavern to graphic designer and decorator.. In 1962 he comes in contact with Mimis Plessas, who mediates in «Phillips» for the recording of his first song. It is the first song of his first album. «Song of the Road», a Greek rendition by Nikos Gatsos of a poem by Lorca, performed by Giorgos Mouchios.

In April 1962, he becomes a founding member and vice-president of the Society of Friends of Greek Music (SFEM), with the aim of supporting the work of Mikis Theodorakis, but also the promotion of new creators. In the ranks of the club, you will soon find Christos Leontis, Yannis Markopoulos, Dionysis Savvopoulos, Maria Farantouri, Notis Mavroudis, Fonta Ladis, Manos Eleftheriou and many others. He takes over the direction of the club's choir and participates with it in the summer performances of the musical revue of Mikis Theodorakis, «Beautiful City», which is being staged with great success at the Park Theatre.

In March 1965 he married Maro Lemnos, later a writer of children's books, known as Maro Loizou. A year later, in August 1966, their daughter Myrsini, a mother of Moi Lois, a marble painter and poet, was born.. The next years will be quite creative for the composer. He writes songs and music for theatre and cinema.

During the dictatorship, he was often targeted by the authorities for his left-wing political beliefs. After the Polytechnic uprising in November 1973, he was arrested and spent 10 days in the security detention centre. In the frenetic climate of post-independence, he participated in the great popular concerts of the time and at the end of 1974 he released the album «The Songs of the Road», with all those songs of his that had either been banned in the previous years or had not been allowed to be recorded due to the censorship of the seven years. During the three years 1974 - 1977 he was one of the main exponents of the political song. In 1978 he became president of the Greek Music Composers' Union and took the lead in the creation of a copyright collection agency. In the same year he married the actress Dora Sitzani in a second marriage.

During his twenty-year musical career, he wrote some of the best Greek songs, collaborating with the lyricists Yannis Negreponis, Fonta Ladis, Manolis Raoulis, Dimitris Christodoulou and Lefteris Papadopoulos, with whom he met in 1965 and became inseparable friends. His songs, full of lyricism and tenderness, were performed by great names of Greek singing, such as Yannis Kalatzis, Giorgos Dalaras, Vassilis Papakonstantinou, Haris Alexiou, Yannis Poulopoulos, Yannis Parios, Maria Farantouri, Stelios Kazantzidis and Dimitra Galani.

On 8 June 1982 he suffered a stroke and was hospitalized for a month in a hospital. In August he travelled to Moscow for treatment, where he suffered a second stroke on 7 September. Manos Loizos passed away ten days later, on 17 September 1982.

Basic Discography

• «The Station» (1968): Seven songs with lyrics by Lefteris Papadopoulos and five orchestral songs. («Minos») Successes: «Dolphin, Dolphinaki», «The Old Roll», «Work makes the men», «The Station». Singing: Yannis Kalatzis, Litsa Diamanti, Dimitris Efstathiou and Giorgos Dalaras.
• «Thalassographies» (1970): 11 songs with lyrics by Lefteris Papadopoulos. («Minos») Successes: «I have a coffee shop», «Jamaica», «10 lads». Singing: Yannis Kalatzis, Giorgos Dalaras, Mariza Koch, Yannis Parios and the composer.
• «Evdokia» (1971): The soundtrack of the film of the same name by Alexis Damianos. («Minos») Success.
• «If only we had what we had...‘ (1972): 10 songs with lyrics by Lefteris Papadopoulos. («Minos») Successes: «Paporaki», «My Sun, please», «Koutalianos», «Elisso». Singing: Yannis Kalatzis and Giorgos Dalaras.
• «Songs of the street» (1974): 12 songs with lyrics by Yannis Negrepontis, Dimitris Christodoulou, Nikos Gatsos and Manos Loizou. («Minos») Successes: «Mermigas», «Che», «T’ Accordion», «Third World». They sing: Aleka Aliberti, Vassilis Papakonstantinou, the Choir of George Kakitsi and the composer.
• «Good morning sunshine» (1974): 12 songs with lyrics by Dimitris Christodoulou and Manos Loizou. («Minos») Successes: «Kalimera Helios», «Mia kalimera», «With a lighthouse on the moon», «There will only come a moment», «Twelve children» and «When I saw you waking up». They sing: Kostas Smokovitis, Harris Alexiou, Alekos Alibertis and the composer.
• «The Negroes» (1975): A cycle of 10 songs with poetry by Yannis Negrepontis. («Minos») Success. Sung by: Maria Farantouri and Manolis Rasoulis.
• «Our Songs» (1976): 12 songs with lyrics by Fonta Ladis and performed by Giorgos Dalaras. («Minos») Successes: «Melting our youth», «Froze the ginger bread», «The Tree». The album went platinum, but most of the songs were cut from ERT radio because of their political and social messages.
• «The songs of Haroula» (1979): 12 songs with lyrics by Manolis Rasoulis and Pythagoras. («Minos») Successes: «Gyftissa eubizaxe him», «Telly, Telly, Telly», «All remind you». Singing: Harris Alexiou and Dimitris Kontogiannis. The album went platinum.
• «For a day of life» (1980): 12 songs with lyrics by Lefteris Papadopoulos, Manolis Rasoulis, Dora Sitzanis, Fonta Ladis, Tasos Livaditis and Manos Loizou. («Minos») Successes: «I'm following you’, »Even if I'm a rock«, »That day will not be long«. They sing: Dimitra Galani, Vasilis Papakonstantinou, Dora Sitzani and the composer.
• «Letters to the Beloved» (1983): Poetry set to music by the Turkish composer Nazim Hikmet, performed by Yannis Ritsos. («Minos»)
• «Off the Row. Forty scattered recordings» (2002): A collection of his hits that were not included in albums. («Minos»)
• «The Songs of Sinbad» (2003): Collection of his greatest hits («Minos»)