By Richard Burnett for Curtains Up
@bugsburnett
There is an ancient Greek theatre on the southern slope of the Acropolis in Athens called the Herodes Atticus Theatre, built by the Greek aristocrat Herodes Atticus in 161 AD. Some 1,800 years later, another Greek, the musician Yiannis Hrysomallis – better known by his stage name Yanni – would sell out the 5,000-seat theatre and make modern musical history: The 1993 recording of his concert there – Yanni Live at the Acropolis – sold over 7 million albums and over a million videos, making it the second-best selling video concert of all time.
I spoke to Yannn about that September night, the last time he visited Montreal, two summers ago.
“Returning home to Greece for this concert was a very special, once-in-a-lifetime situation,” Yanni told me.”It was the first time that my parents were going to see me perform and it was at a venue that has been almost mythical to me since I was a young boy. There was so much energy and a lot of nerves but being able to perform for my mother and father was the best feeling I remember from the concert. They were in the audience and they had a light on them for the shooting and I could see their faces throughout the show.”
Yanni – who headlines Montreal’s Bell Centre on August 8 – is hailed as a national treasure in Greece.
“An old Greek saying in response to this comes to mind,” says Yanni. “Loosely translated, ‘A person should not derive honour from the place they come from [but] rather a person should honour the place from which they come.’”
Still, Yanni returned home for that famous Acropolis concert like a conquering hero, after moving to America in 1972 to study at the University of Minnesota, where he earned a degree in psychology.
“Studying psychology definitely has an influence on the way I create music,” says the self-taught pianist, keyboardist and composer whose music has been adopted by the New Age movement. “When I create music, it is a reflection of my soul, my experiences in life and my relationships with other people and cultures. Psychology, and understanding who we are as people in this world, is present in almost every creative thought I have, either directly or indirectly.”
But Yanni doesn’t much like being pigeonholed as a New Age artist.
“Overall, it makes me happy that people are able to enjoy my music, including people who feel that I have a certain genre based in my music. [However], personally, I have never liked putting art into categories or assigning labels and defining art. I have always composed my music to honestly reflect the lessons learned and the experiences I have shared throughout my life.”
By his mid-20s Yanni was deeply influenced by electronic music, notably the groundbreaking electronic music that producer Giorgio Moroder created with Donna Summer in the 1970s, songs like the landmark I Feel Love, which laid the groundwork for the electronic dance music of the 1980s and 1990s.
“I love that music,” says Yanni, now 59. “That [1970s] period of time was particularly influential on how I developed as an artist. With the new technology and instruments I became incredible fascinated by the electronic and keyboard possibilities. In fact, during that period of my career I focused very heavily on the electronic side of music. I continue to learn about new technology and how to use it [in] music.”
Yanni believes his music and concerts can be an escape, even a temporary reprieve – though he quickly adds, ‘I never create music to address any particular purpose. That way it allows each person to interpret and derive whatever works for them from the music.”
Yanni headlines Montreal’s Bell Centre on August 8. Click here for tickets and more info on the official evenko website.
Click here for Yanni’s official website.
