THE NATIONAL HERALD, NOVEMBER 8-14, 2014
COMMUNITY
3
Mario Frangoulis’ Renditions of Gatsos’ Songs a Revelation in Tribeca
TNH Staff
NEW YORK – Hellenes have
been blessed over the past century – indeed they have been
helped to heal from and endure
its many tragedies – by gifted
poets and composers and the
great and beloved singers who
have interpreted them, but on
November 2 Mario Frangoulis,
following in the footsteps of fellow international signing star
Agnes Balta, demonstrated that
voices trained for opera have a
unique ability to reveal the emotional and musical depths of a
nation’s great songs.
Frangoulis and the fine orchestra that accompanied him
performed 29 songs with intermission and in between numerous songs he offered welcome
commentary on the selections
and the artists who created
them.
“To Tragoudi tis Sirinas –
Song of the Siren,” he explained, was not about the
mythological destroyer of men,
but a young woman waiting for
the return of her lover, a sailor
she only sees once a year.
After the opening song,
“Hartino to Feggaraki – Paper
Moon” with its sweet lyrics “an
me pisteves ligaki tha’san ola
alithina – If you believed in me
Mario Frangoulis asked the orchestra to rise and receive the applause of the audience. Alexandros Trampas who also played the bass violin (not visible) arranged the music.
just a little/all this would become real,” Frangoulis greeted
the guests and welcomed them
to the celebration on 27 years
of radio station Cosmos FM.
At the conclusion of the concert, Andrea Stassou, its chairperson and Emcee, and Stavros
Sousou, GAEPIS’s chairman,
thanked the guests for supporting the station’s fundraiser and
Frangoulis for donating his performance.
The concert was a tribute to
Nikos Gatsos, the poet from the
Arcadia region of the Pelopon-
nesos whose work was immortalized by Greece’s great 20th
century composers.
Frangoulis described how
Gatsos’ words formed the backdrop of the lives of generations
of Greeks through movies, songs
and theatrical productions, but
added that he was also a fine
translator of foreign literature,
including the Eugene O’Neill
play Long Day’s Journey into
Night.
Part of Gatsos power as a
poet, the singer said, stems from
his blending of developments in
both Greek and Western European poety, including surrealism.
The singer praised the poet’s
mastery of rhyme and one guest
suggested that it is the Greek
language’s rhyming power that
is the foundation of its beauty.
All but three of the songs
were set to music by Manos
Hadjidakis. Frangoulis’ voice
was perfect for his Hadjidakis’
music, which enabled the international tenor to show off his
emotional, tonal and dynamic
range.
One of the first half’s highlights was Frangoulis’ rendition
of “Athina,” the glorious anthem
to Greece’s capital. With its refrain, “Hara tis yeis kai tis avgis
– Joy of the world and of the
dawn” it is one of the most
beautiful songs ever inspired by
a city.
At one point he referred to
his country’s current plight, but
declared to loud applause “but
we will succeed and we will survive, just as we have for thou-
sands of years.”
Mikis Theodorakis’ wrote the
music for “I Myrtia - the Myrtle
Tree” and Stavros Xarhakos set
“Aspri Mera Kai Gia Mas – A
White Day for us Too” and “To
Dikti – The Net.”
Emmanuel Velivasakis, who
with his wife Orsa were listed
on the program as benefactors,
told TNH enjoyed the concert
and told TNH “I held all I can
because Cosmos FM is worth it.
It is a beacon of the community
that must continue. “ He is
proud to say that Frangoulis is
a son of the diaspora “he is a
fanstastic singer and tonight he
reminded us of youth with the
song we grew up with and
which made us Greeks.”
Fr. Eugene Pappas, the pastor
of Three Hierarchs in Brooklyn
and Cosmos FM program producer and host, said “Tonight’s
concert could not have a better
and more stellar star than Mario
Frangoulis – a Greek of the Diaspora. He was born in Zimbabwe and repatriated to
Greece and educated there. He
became an international star
and we are thoroughly thrilled
with his patriotism, his love of
Hellenism and his espousing the
Greek sprit on a global basis and
to share this evening with him.”
Kaloidises Announce Donation to Support Cosmos FM; Frangoulis is Honored
By Demetris Tsakas
TNH Staff Writer
NEW YORK – Dimitrios and
Georgia Kaloidis, the owners of
the famous Terrace on the Park
catering complex in Flushing,
and who are already wellknown in the community for
supporting important institutions such as the parochial
school of Brooklyn’s Holy Cross
church that is named after
them, have undertaken a major
financial to support Astoriabased Hellenic Public Radio,
Cosmos FM.
The gift was announced by
Board member Kostas Angeloudis at the 27th anniversary
gala on November 1 where international singer Mario Frangoulis was presented the 2014
Phidippides Award for Passionate Advocacy of Hellenism.
The Board of Directors of the
not-for profit Greek American
Education Public Information
System (GAEPIS), which runs
the station heard on WNYE 91.5
in New York, voted unanimously
to name their broadcast center
after the generous couple,
which received the Phidippides
Award in 1998.
The event’s commemorative
journal and the award ceremony were almost entirely in
English.
The announcement of the
donation, which came as a surprise to the audience, and the
speech of Georgia Kaloidis were
in Greek.
She said the purpose of the
donation is the preservation of
the Greek language through its
transmission to the younger
generations.
Kaloidis added, "we congratulate Mario Frangoulis for the
award and we hope you have
the strength of Pheidippides to
run around the world not stop
fighting for Greece and Hellenism.”
Among the dignitaries were
Manos Koubarakis, the Consul
of Greece in New York, Nikos
Papakonstantinou, director of
the Press Office of Greece in
New York, and Nassau County
Comptroller George Maragos.
Stavros Sousou, the chair-
Karaloukas’ Killer Found
Incompetent to Stand Trial
By Constantinos E. Scaros
BOCA RATON, FL – On March
13, Tilus Lebrun, a 42 year-old
Haitian national, fatally stabbed
his employer, Dimitrios Karaloukas, a 61 year-old GreekAmerican restaurateur who
owned Jimmy the Greek Taverna in Boca Raton. Apprehended moments later in the
street by police, Lebrun, still
holding the murder weapon,
confessed that he did it, apparently, as he said, because he was
angry at Karaloukas for posting
a picture of him on the Internet.
The National Herald was first
to report, based on good authority, that Lebrun is an illegal alien
(“Anyone Care if Greek’s Killer
Dimitrios Karaloukas (above),
owner of Jimmy the Greek
Taverna, was killed on March
13. Tilus Lebrun has confessed
to the murder, but a criminal
court judge has found him incompetent to stand trial.
is an Illegal Alien?” Apr. 5). But
now, there is a new element to
the story: Lebrun will not be going to jail.
On September 24, the Palm
Beach County Criminal Court
declared that Lebrun is not mentally competent to stand trial.
The Florida law regarding
mental competence to proceed
(Statute 916.12) states that “a
defendant is incompetent to
proceed…if the defendant does
not have sufficient present ability to consult with her or his
lawyer with a reasonable degree
of rational understanding or if
the defendant has no rational,
as well as factual, understanding of the proceedings against
her or him.” Court-appointed
experts may recommend treatment that they may believe
would cause improvement and
thereby render the defendant
competent to stand trial at a future date. Therefore, although
at this point it does not appear
that Lebrun will go to jail for
killing Karaloukas, that evaluation may be overturned at a
later date.
A “status check” on Lebrun’s
case is set for March.
Besides TNH, the West Boca
News, a local news operation
run by criminal defense attorney
Warren Redlich, continues to report on this story. When the
murder
first
happened,
statewide and national media
outlets wrote about it. But now,
several months later, it no
longer garners national attention, but West Boca News covers
it because it happened at Karaloukas’ Taverna, a local restaurant, and TNH continues to follow the developments with
interest, as the victim was
Greek-American.
“I'm not surprised he was
found incompetent,” Redlich
told TNH. “Most crime in the
United States involves mental
illness. As an attorney I see that
all the time.” To some extent,
Redlich has a personal connection to the case: “I've eaten at
the restaurant several times.
Nice people,” he said, referring
to Karaloukas’ family-run establishment, in which Lebrun
worked.
(L-R) Poly Kyriakou, Kostas Aggeloudis, Mario Frangoulis, receiving the award, Nick Andriotis,
Stavros Sousou, Andrea Stassou and Tasoula Christofidis.
man of the GAEPIS board, spoke
about Cosmos FM’s 27-year history and congratulated and
thanked the volunteers, including the producers and program
hosts, and all who support the
station.
Andrea Stassou, who was
chairperson and Emcee of the
event, presented a video about
Frangoulis and introduced the
honoree.
The Very Rev. Eugene Pappas, who hosts a popular program for Cosmos FM on Saturdays, offered the invocation.
Frangoulis said it was humbling to receive the award and
that it was a great honor for
him.
He shared the story of his
life, which began with his birth
in Zimbabwe and dedicated the
award to the aunt who raised
him when his family sent him
to Greece to be raised there.