Earlier, I posted about Giovan Tsaous who recorded only a dozen songs, all of which figure prominently in the rebetiko repertoire. (Original post here; opens in new tab.)
Antonis Kalyvopoulos is the singer on six of those songs, which is , as far as I can find, are the only recordings he made.
According to online sources, Kalyvopoulos was a mechanical engineer and not a practising musician. He was born into a wealthy family in Asia Minor in 1905. His mother was a cousin of Panigiotis Tountas, the great rebetiko composer. Kalyvopoulos was recruited to sing on those six sides after Tsaous heard him sing at a family wedding.
We don’t know why that was all he recorded. He was apparently injured in an accident that sent him to hospital of six months soon after the recordings, which may have played a role in that.
His voice, full and expressive, suited Tsaous’s songs well, even if it was a little less polished than the other vocalists Tsaous worked with, such as Stellakis Perpiniadis.
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