02 June, 2013

THE LEGEND OF ARIS SAN. A GREEK TRAGEDY DRAMA [BIOGRAPHY]




















It is a sad story about a greek musician, but it is worth knowing what an amazing and truly vivid career life he had.
Aris San (full name Aristides Saisanas) was born in Kalamata, Greece in 1940.
He sung and played guitar from an early age and won his first contest at the age of 11! At the age of 17 he went to Israel (following a woman that proved to be married!) where started working in Greek taverns, singing and playing the electric guitar under the name Brian. He was singing in Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, Italian and English and very soon became a star.
What distinguishes Aris San is his playing of the electric guitar as an amplified imitation of the sound of bouzouki creating his own unique sound and mixing folk with rock music.


















In 1969 he went to New York where, as Aris San, opened his own bar-restaurant where he played Greek music with great success. He even played at the Carnegie Hall. His fan club included Anthony Quinn, Harry Belafonte, Telly Savalas.
One of the greatest Greek singers, Stelios Kazatzidis who was a friend of his, claims that Aris San was admired for being one of the best dressed men in New York at the time.
Fame brought the mafia and drugs into his life and later on the FBI which tried to trap the head of mafia through him. He denied and was imprisoned for 2 years.
When he got out of prison he went to Hungary to work where he had an accident and his health deteriorated quickly and passed away.
He is buried in New York next to Louis Armstrong.

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