The American composer Chris Sfiris is not so widely known in Russia, but if you hear his music and singing at least once, you will definitely not forget. The combination of Greek motives with modern arrangements makes his music unusually beautiful, melodic, and mesmerizing.
In addition, Sfiris is a legendary musician, because it is he who is considered the creator of the New-age musical style and its legend. He is put on a par with such groups and performers as Vangelis, Era, Kitaro, Karunesh, Enia.
Biography
Chris Sphiris was born in 1956 in Milwaukee, Wikskonsin. His family is from Greece, his parents were the owners of a circus show. In this circus, almost all of their relatives were artists: their uncle was a director and part-time strongman, his wife worked there as a cashier, and all the children were constantly spinning behind the scenes.
Many of Chris's relatives are talented people. His cousin Jimmy Sfiris was a musician who worked in the genres of jazz rock and new wave. Unfortunately, he died in 1984 in a car accident. Chris later said that if not for this ridiculous death, Jimmy would have become the best in his genre. Now, from the height of his experience, the musician says this quite responsibly. The composer's cousin Penelope Sphiris became a film director, producer and screenwriter. She has directed many interesting documentaries, including The Fall of Western Civilization. She is also the director of thirty-five feature films, the best of which are "Without Feelings" (1998) and "Little Rascals" (1994). The composer's brother Costa Sfiris is also a director and screenwriter, well known in France and Greece.
It was in such a creative environment that Chris's talent developed. In addition, all of his relatives were very musical: they often sang Greek songs, especially mom and grandmother. They were excellently musically educated, so there was no need for Chris to go to a music school - everything that they themselves knew was passed on to the boy with love.
It is not surprising that a wonderful musician grew up in such an atmosphere. Chris started playing guitar and composing his first tunes when he was only seven years old. When he grew up a little, he began to compose songs and sang them with a guitar. As a teenager, his idols were musicians Elton John, Johnny Mitchell, and he also loved listening to the Beatles' compositions.
Musician career
At the very beginning of his journey, Sphiris was fascinated by Greek folk music, so all his songs somehow included these tunes. He already had his own handwriting, his own manner, a great voice, and he could perform his songs with a guitar quite successfully.
However, times have changed, and electronic instruments have replaced acoustic instruments. When Chris was twenty years old, he began to play with the famous guitarist Paul Woodouris. His partner at that time was already familiar with the synthesizer, he himself wrote something. And he showed a friend the albums of Genesis, Yes and Brian Eno. The idea of "new music" completely captured Spiris, and he began his experiments with a synthesizer.
Then he realized that with the help of new technologies it is possible to create such works in which it is possible to more fully reflect the spectrum of emotions that cannot be shown by playing an acoustic guitar.
Another circumstance in the composer's life played an important role in the fact that he created his own unique musical style: he traveled a lot around the world. During these trips, his musical taste developed, he enriched his knowledge with new shades that the cultures of different countries gave him. Each had something of its own, inimitable and unique, and Chris's subtle ear perceived everything and processed it, preparing the ground for something special.
Chris approached his travels professionally, and from each trip he brought information for his "musical vocabulary", in which he entered various exotic accords, and later used them in his work.
And in 1996, Sfiris released the album "Mystic Traveler", where he just used his dictionary. This album is a completely unique edition, new for the musician, something different from what he created before.
Your label
In the mid-eighties, Sfiris and Vuduris parted ways - each began to work on his own project. Chris created increasingly complex keyboard compositions and recorded them on tapes. Relatives and acquaintances listened to them, but this did not go further. And then one day the tape with the composition of Sfiris fell into the hands of an employee of the famous recording company Columbia Records. He showed it to his colleagues, and Chris was immediately offered to sign a contract for the release of albums. In this company, the musician recorded his albums "Desires Of The Heart" and "Pathways To Surrender". This was a very important event in his life.
However, the musician did not stop there - he decided to create his own label called Essence. Most of the composer's albums came out under him. And when he started working again with Paul Woodouris, their joint albums were also released under this label. During these years he tried his hand as a composer of documentary television films. Now in his portfolio there are more than sixty films for which he wrote music.
Chris Sfiris has many prestigious awards for his work: there are gold awards, two platinum awards, as well as various professional honorary awards.
Personal life
Chris Sfiris is a versatile person. In addition to music, he also paints, writes poetry. And also he is fond of philosophy. He considers his music not to be his own composition or an expression of his own talent - he says that music sounds in his head all the time, which means that someone is broadcasting it to him.
