Aris San
An Israeli Window to the Mediterranean
Aris San was a singer, composer, and artist who invented a musical style and influenced Israeli culture and society.
He lived in Israel for only 13 years, between 1957-1970. In this short period, he made Mediterranean-infused songs accessible to the Israeli public, and laid one cornerstone for the musical genre known to Israelis as: "Mizrahi music."
What was special about him and his music?
It's hard to define in words what the ear hears. What the generation living at that time heard. The magic that captivated them – it's a single package containing voices, sounds, and a historical background setting.
Aris San mainly sang songs in Greek, which he brought with him from his homeland. He sang accompanied by an electric guitar, which he masterfully played with virtuosity. Originally, in Greece, these songs were sung with a bouzouki, a stringed instrument with four pairs of strings. He set aside the folk instrument and converted its chords to the guitar, from which he produced an electronic sound that resembled an electric bouzouki.
The style he created himself, out of nothing, sounded innovative and refreshing, and also suited songs written in Hebrew... .
..and the rest is history.
A history of an Israeli cultural hero who lived and died as a Greek Orthodox Christian, a non-Jew thriving amidst a Jewish society. A charismatic artist full of personal charm, who plucked at the heartstrings of Israelis, immigrants gathered from Jewish communities across the globe.
A history of Jews who came from different cultures, to be part of a historical process that happens once every 2,000 years – a nation reborn and laying foundations for a new society.
A history of immigrants who want to feel part of that society, that culture. And he, an immigrant like them, took them on a magical musical journey that has not ended to this day, many years after his death.
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Aris San songs playlist - To listen click on the image
to watch directly on YouTube click on the link here
His biography is long and convoluted, unfolding across four countries on three continents.
Its details can be found on a variety of websites – from Wikipedia to major media outlets, and from personal blogs to YouTube. Articles and documentaries have been made about him, and many, many people have researched and written and spoken and told and delved into every possible detail of his life story, which sounds like a Greek tragedy.
Of his entire biography, only 13 years are located on the historical timeline of Israeli culture. Here they are in relevant summary:
Aris San arrived in Israel in 1957, a 17-year-old Greek boy, blessed with personal charm, stage talent, diligence, and determination – all of which enabled him to open the first chapter of his Israeli identity.
Immediately upon his arrival, he found work as a guitarist and singer in one of Jaffa's nightclubs.
He worked hard for a living. Every evening he performed with a small orchestra, singing songs in Greek. The club-goers loved what they heard; he understood that he had a unique musical formula that had an audience, and he recorded his songs on records that were distributed in stores across the country.
By the mid-1960s, less than a decade after arriving here, he had already released many records in Greek, and then began composing and singing Hebrew songs, in a unique Greek style, which became bestsellers and were heard on the airwaves and in many homes across Israel.
Aris San's name became famous – because of the unique style of his songs, because of the colorful costumes he used to wear in performances, and also because of the newspaper gossip columns that loved to cover the scandals he was involved in, and the glittering events he participated in.
He earned a lot of money from performances and records, and he himself opened several nightclubs, where he performed together with talented young women he discovered and nurtured, and who became stars in their own right thanks to him.
At the peak of his fame, towards the end of that decade (60s), one of his records was released containing a song in Greek, the song "Boom-Pam." The record sold over 100,000 copies, in Israel alone, and received the highest award in the country's music industry: a "Gold Record" – an achievement no Israeli artist had received before him, and it was the second in the industry's history.
His Israeli fame did not last long.
Shortly after producing his gold record, he left the country and went to do business in the United States. There he got involved in criminal activities and went to prison. After his release from prison, he tried his luck in Hungary, and for a moment he regained his moments of glory, but they too did not last, and he got into trouble again, his health deteriorated, and he died heartbroken
Aris San - If you are young at heart
To watch directly on YouTube - click here
In Aris San's unfolding story, details are missing that would complete the full picture. Researchers, journalists, and everyone who delved into his biography – skipped over historical materials that shape its full backdrop and place it on the timeline of Israeli culture and its music.
Here they are in detail, in the following chapters – each chapter in a separate link:
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Chapter One - Introduction. A Biographical Summary (This page)
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Chapter Two - Aris San Arrives un Israel
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Chapter Three - A Star is Born
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Chapter Four - On the Wave of the Greek Revolution in the 1960s
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Chapter Five - A Girl Who's Truly a Treasure
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Chapter Six - Aris San Bows Out at His Peak
