Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, nicknamed “Vangelis” had signed the “Blade Runner”, “1492: Christopher Columbus” or “fire trolleys” for which he had received an Oscar. The Greek composer died on Tuesday, at the age of 79.
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For ordinary people, he is the author of an Olympic theme, which goes without saying for a Greek citizen. An ostinato produced by a sequencer, enhanced with two notes of synthesizer as if to announce a sunrise on the ocean. An astonishing effect of rhythm box, triolets used as a melodic motif, precedes the exposure to the piano of a tube theme, before an even more lyrical refrain. Remember the image of British athletes, all dressed in white, who are preparing for the 1924 games, in Paris, running along a beach. And the intrigue of the fire trolleys (1981), Hugh Hudson’s film which won four Oscars, one necessarily returning to the author of music: Vangelis. The soundtrack hoisted at the top of American rankings with sales reaching a million copies.
This international impact instrumental should have primarily scheduled to salute the disappearance of the Greek composer, who died on Tuesday May 17 in a French hospital, at the age of 79. Because after the release of the film, this titles that we will rename Chariots of Fire continued his sports career thanks to its repeated use, by the organizers as by televisions, during successive editions of the Olympic Games. This could obscure the rest of a work that made Vangelis, alongside Wendy Carlos and Giorgio Moroder, a master of synthetic music in the cinema. More cult among fans of B.O. is indeed his partition composed in stride for Blade Runner (1982), Ridley Scott, a perfect symbiosis of epic grandeur and agonizing climates. = “CCJJ0UXIGVA” Data-Provider = “YouTube” Data-Title = “Blade Runner • Main Theme • Vangelis”>
Before becoming this mysterious sorcerer of the Synths, Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, born March 29, 1943 in Agria, Thessaly, had experienced a celebrity of Popstar within Aphrodite’s Child, the most famous Greek group abroad. Whose singer and guitarist was not a stranger either since it was Demis Roussos (1946-2015). Before joining their talents in 1967, these two were already stars in their countries, Papathanassiou as a leader and organizes Forminx, one of these countless garage groups as it existed almost everywhere in the world, imitating the Son of the British invasion initiated by the Beatles. Before the Colonels dictatorship tragically whistles the end of recess.
His destiny is played in Paris in May 1968
Aphrodite’s Child then plans to settle in London, but it is in Paris that its destiny will be played in May 1968. The group is stuck in the capital, without anyone knowing if it is by the In the absence of strikes or administrative formalities. However, he took the opportunity to sign a contract with the Mercury label, enter the studio and come out with Rain and Tears. For the music of this summer slow, Papathanassiou has borrowed directly – it will be neither the first nor the last – the majestic canvas of the Pachelbel canon. The text, in English, was entrusted to a room, Boris Bergman, future parolier of Alain Bashung. The angelic voice of Demis Roussos and neobaroque arrangements close to The Left Banke do the rest: published in July 1968, this millionaire single triumphs at the top of the French hit parade.
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