THE UNDERDOG WINS – as predicted a couple of weeks back, Periklis won the TV
music game show – Famen Story in Greece. Despite the fact that he is not
really a singer, can’t actually sing much beyond a weak impersonation of
Dalaras in his early days, and has no real intention of becoming one,
Periklis came first. ‘Perry’ as he his affectionately called by his
fanatical supporters is a classic case of how well the ‘underdog’ can fare
on TV. It’s almost like a rag to riches story when you think about it. Here’s this guy a year or so ago, earning 15 quid a day as a waiter, from a
working class background, and he thinks, Famen Story, why not apply, what
have I got to lose, my job waiting tables! The viewing publics were
bombarded with these kinds of stories on a weekly basis about ‘Perry’. The
remaining finalists Giorgos, Vangelis, Chrysanthi and Andreas, all of whom
had far better voices, but of course none of them had the ‘little guy next
door’ appeal like ‘Perry’. All of them were trying so painfully hard to
become professional, successful singers. Seeing as the contest was decided
tele-voting – in other words the rule of the jungle – people could vote as
many times as possible. Perhaps people were also more fanatical about ‘Perry’, thus the same person voting 50 times may have added a few votes his way.
Antonis Remos, one of the most outstanding voices in Greek music recently
commented on the whole circus of ‘Fame Story’ by simply saying none of these
people would be around in one or two years time, due to the fact that they
were all in one or another products of a TV game show – which really is what
‘reality’ shows are about, a little game between the players and the
audience. Singers stand the test of time for decades, whereas somebody who
has overexposed himself or herself on TV has a much shorter life span as an
artist.
EARTHQUAKES FRIGHTENING FACTS – the recent quake in Sumatra, Indonesia was just one of 42 that occurred in the world during the week 31st March – 6th
April. All of these measured 5 – 6.3 on the Richter scale. Northern Sumatra
was also hit by a much bigger quake, measuring 9.0 on Dec 26th last year –
the largest in the world since a magnitude 9.2 earthquake struck Alaska in
1964 at Prince William Sound. The December 26th earthquake led to the
devastating Tsunami which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Some times
you wonder what it’s all about!
ELENA PULLS THE PLUG – Elena Patroklou, scheduled to sing with Costantinos
at Eurovision for his entry for Cyprus has backed out for personal reasons
according to her record company in Greece, EMI. No surprise really as the
song has so far received a lukewarm reception. For example last week on RiK’s ‘tomboula’ Bingo Bingo TV show, Katie Laspa urged the crowd to sing the
chorus to the song but no one seemed to respond. I think language is the
main problem with the tune as a far as locals go. It’s also the problem as
far as this scribe is concerned because better nursery rhymes have been
heard in English school playgrounds from seven year olds. So presumably if
the same music is to be used the person who will sing in Patroklous place
may be miming on the night?
THE EXECUTIONERS WRATH – unbelievable that Fotis Papafotis, EOKA & EOKA B stalwart can still claim on TV boxes that ‘left wingers’ had to be killed
during the EOKA campaign of 1955-59 because they were giving out leaflets.
Its a ruthless perception, particularly coming from some one who claims to
be a teacher. When all the wounds of the past have been properly healed, and
only then, can people move forward. As long as people like this espouse such
harsh lies, history will remain a series of falsities. And just for the
record, Savvas Menekou of Lefkoniko was beaten to death; his son has been
asking for over 50 years what crime his father ever committed. For over five
decades, Mr Papafotis, or whoever was responsible for his murder has never
given him an honest answer.
