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Behold: Giannis Haroulis in front of us. The singer-artist with the largest, recently, concert audience in Greece. Behold he is present again heading concerts, apparently, but also with a new album. A fabulous record. “Colibri”. Different from what we are used to from Giannis until now. I really liked it, it is more “smooth” and more “sophisticated”.

We will hear him live on June 20, at Theatro Ghis in Thessaloniki and on June 27 and 28 at Katrakio Theater in Nikaia. But also, allover Greece. But before we see him on stage, Giannis spoke to us and this is his first interview after many, many years.

«Is “Colibri” the image of yourself at the moment?

“It sees my own lips and identifies it for its’ nest” we listen at the end of the song and it directs us to the sighing.

Sounds more introverted …

Maybe it is this introversion or the calmness experienced by the one who holds his “breath” and calms down after the sigh. This is how we tend to do sometimes. Writing and singing this song by Thanasis, it is like “Colibri” took this sigh from me and relieved me.

Both Thanasis Papakonstantinou and Pavlos Pavlidis in “Colibri”?

Both Thanasis and Pavlos have stood like lighthouses and have shown me a beautiful path which I aim to follow. I deeply appreciate them both, as well as others. The sings entrusted to me are felt like wishes for my journey, so that I can move forward. Like those by Eleni Fotaki and Stelios Siganos and the Frangoulis family, who supported with the lyrics and music to complete “Colibri”. I thank them all because they generously offered me their songs.

Papakonstantinou in particular?

Words are not enough to describe. We are united by something earthly, as if our homelands, our places are connected. I requested him for lyrics and he immediately sent them over to me. The next few days I sent him two compositions and he liked it and I was very happy.

And how did Pavlidis occur?

It was summer and I remember being in Ikaria with Panagiotis Rizopoulos, my sound engineer, and putting a song by Pavlos to play. I was moved. The same moment, I did call him and asked him to try it on. He replied “yes”. I did always want to sing a song by Pavlos.

“The distance gave us the opportunity to re-establish ourselves as human beings” you say …

The pandemic reminded us that nothing is a given. In the pre-coronavirus era, I was left in the lurch, in the speed, in the commotion. Under these circumstances, there are many that I passed-by, and did not realize their value. You act mechanically, because you are used to it, because this is the data and the constants that you have. When these come into a pause you then realize that other things matter, other are important ones.

Your new songs sound like they are going against your crowded audience.

We interpreted exactly what we felt and wanted it to come out. While writing this album we tried to include everyone in. Not only through sounds but also via emotions. It’s a creation made with sincerity and we wanted to communicate it, with the hope that people will embrace it.

Till what point a person can change?

People hardly change. Everything is inside us. Some elements are at the bottom of the well, and when circumstances occur, they emerge to the surface and then again may settle in the well.

That is life?

Life is a constant effort, an uphill, a downhill. Conditions alter, they differentiate and we try to maneuver inside them. Suddenly, when someone saw Giannis at school as a shy student, as a child with agoraphobia, he wonders how growing up he can go out on the stage with thousands of people below. But I am the same person. Man’s weaknesses and strengths remain the same, we just adapt. One night I can feel like a lord and exactly the next day I can feel funny, as our beloved Orpheus Peridis has told us. But the ones that are stable are the values. These do not change easily.

With these thousands of people in front, do you feel more or less safe?

I seek love and acceptance, like the rest of the world and this may or may not make me feel safe. I do not know if this is something that I can define. It’s something that differentiates. One night I feel safe and the next night I may feel the other way round. The company grows, so the joy grows. But then I say to myself “oh, today we have even more people”, so my responsibilities towards them grow. Both exist.

Why do you never get on TV?

In the past years something happened that I could not even imagine. The love of the world overflows and it is more than enough for me. I like to talk up close, looking at and touching the other one. I cannot manage the TV. In any case, I am not the guy who will stand in front of a camera and express his opinion. I would compare myself to a native, as if I see something strange that has come to my area and I do not feel familiar with. I do not feel comfortable

To what extent does Crete become decisive for you?

Crete made me what I am, it influenced me and I cherished that. With its’ pros and cons. A place and its’ people are decisive factors in who I am. When I go back there and become Giannio, everything inside me shrinks, the problems, the distances, the careers. I speak the language I learned growing up and my heart is better expressed.

What do you enjoy more about Crete?

The small community of the village, with its pros and cons. I like this constant exposure, that everything is unveiled in one village, everything is there. People are like open books, they are generous. And I learned from a young age that when I give, I get back joy. This is what I try to do with the people, to make sure they have the best time possible.

And what does dismay you?

What dismays me with Crete, but also in general, is the “false-bravado”. Meaning those who dissrespect others, either verbally or -sometimes- by force. For me, strong is the one who can open his heart and support his fellow. This is both power and humanity.

You read this title: “Young people, the Church, society and politics”. What are you thinking;

The connecting link between these terms is perhaps the feeling of “belonging”. It is a matter of security to be part of a whole. However, it is not a few times that we have seen the few determine the future of the many.

How?

Both faith and power are being abused. In the name of the Church, of politics, of society, wars, sacrifices, killings have taken place. Values are set aside and that bothers me. We put up labels and do not care about the substance.

And the young people?

Young people, on the other hand, have an inexhaustible force within them. If it wasn’t for them, there would be nothing. The way they see life, the way they absorb information and turn it into thought, into statement, into action, is the closest thing to the truth and that is why I trust in them.

Interview to Dimitris Kanellopoulos for Efsyn.city