When talking about Greek soul music of the first half of the
20th century, many will remember the sounds of Rebetika, the music that
had developed in the poverty of the slums, which were overcrowded by refugees
of the Greek-Turkish war in 1922.
However, there was another kind of music at the same time, European music, which was popular with the higher economic classes. At its best, it was a replica of the artistic soul. A famous artist in this category was Cleon
Triantafillou, known as Attik.
He was born in 1885 in Egypt, the son of a very rich cotton merchant. His family migrated to Athens
and at that time his father died. His
mother had a great passion for the arts, literature, and music. She used to conduct “music hours” in which she
and her children played the piano and she would not hesitate to hire a whole
train to travel to Paris for her family and
servants, so as not to miss Caruso singing at the Paris Opera.
Cleon’s sensitivity, awareness, and love of sounds were revealed at an
early age. He studied music in Paris and
very soon he became a sought-after young musician, lyrist, and performer in
Paris, all over Europe, America and Japan.
A serious illness of his sister and the deterioration of
the family business hampered his international success and brought him back to
Athens. Here he further developed his
composing and poetic abilities.
He was married three times and he loved each of his wives
very much. His first wife Marie-Eleni
died just after they lost their baby son.
His second great love, Marika left him
for Spyros Merkouris who became later the mayor of Athens (Melina Mercouri was their daughter), leaving him heartbroken. So he started writing sad poems and melancholic music. The
third was Shara, a lovely Russian dancer whom he fell in love with, during his
visit to Russia in 1917, where he even met Czar Nikolas II, the last czar of Russia. His painful experience
of the first marriages, made him hesitate so they married
nine years later.
Attik’s high artistic qualities reached their zenith in 1930
as he established the “Mandra,” a group of artists that gathered around him and performed, in the beginning, in an outdoor yard in Athens. He starred in numerous roles as a pianist,
composer, lyrist, singer, actor, mime, and speaker. He composed impromptu on the piano, whistled, and
exchanged humorous small talk with his enchanted audience. A highly talented musician.
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