Given his prominence as a performer in America – a discography of more than 130 releases and more than two decades on performing – the online information about Jim (Tzim in anglicized Greek) Apostolou is minimal.
I’ve been able to find out that he was born Dimitris Apostolou in 1912 in Chalkida, Greece and that he arrived in America in 1928. His first recording – a version of Vasilis Tsitsanis’s Sit down and listen, was released in 1948. (Because it was recorded in America, his version included verses that had not been recorded on the original in 1946 because of censorship in Greece.)
From then until at least the 1970s, Apostolou performed throughout America and recorded extensively, as a solo performer or with singers such as Rena Dalia. His early works covered all of the major composers of rebetiko: Vamvakaris, Skarvelis, Tsitsanis, Papaionnou…. His repertoire grew to include some Greek folk music and laiko as his career progressed.
The manga from Votaniko was written by Stellakis Perpiniades (lyrics by Charalambos Vassiliades) and recorded by Stratos Pagioumtzis and then by Stelios Kazantzides in 1953. Apostolou recorded his version the same year in New York.
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