Aris San worked hard for a living.
The young Greek, a non-Jew who had no Israeli citizenship, was determined to succeed. He performed every evening at the club and made good money, mainly from the cash tips the club-goers tucked into his pocket.
After accumulating a handsome sum, he decided to embark on an independent path and opened his own club – more lavish, more invested, with plenty of parking spaces that filled up every evening with club-goers. Among them were men and women from the middle and upper classes. These were individuals who could afford a private car in an era when it was an especially exclusive means of transport for the well-to-do.
At Aris San's club, Greek music gained a senior status. From there it trickled into record stores, until it reached the radio.
The state radio channel, "Kol Israel," was the main stage for singers and musicians. Almost every home in Israel already had a radio set, and on it, they listened to "Kol Israel" broadcasts: many spoken-word programs, interspersed with Hebrew songs, a few foreign songs, and special "Listeners' Choice" programs – songs by listener request. Requests were sent on postcards, arriving from every settlement, from every community. For listeners from immigrant population centers – special "Listeners' Choice" programs were dedicated: "Music of the Communities" or songs with "Mizrahi flavor." There, the demand for Aris San was high, to the extent that separate programs were dedicated to him featuring his Greek songs.
The program editors didn't have to bother too much.
Since his arrival in the country until the early 1960s, he had managed to release over 10 records, including EPs with two or four songs, and LPs (Long Plays) with 12 songs – a feat unmatched by any other singer in the limited Israeli music market at the time.
Many of his songs in Greek were not original.
He sang folk songs he knew from his childhood in Greece, from the tavernas he frequented, from records he brought from there. He sang cover versions of songs by well-known musicians, such as Theodorakis and Hadjidakis, whom Israelis were not very familiar with, and he, with his velvety voice and accompanied by his electric guitar, presented them with a charm that captivated their ears.
That's how he began his career.
With his commercial instincts, he realized that his audience was expanding, encompassing more and more immigrant communities from various countries of origin. He also added songs in Spanish, with his own special arrangement.
The song "Margarita, Margaro" - popular among his songs To watch and listen directly on YouTube - click here Or click on the image
Just four years after arriving in Israel, at only 21 years old, it was already evident that Aris San was making music that captivated the hearts of Israeli families from the communities of Greece and Turkey, Bulgaria and Macedonia, Syria and Egypt, and permeated all "Sephardic" Mizrahi communities – more than any other musical style they knew.
This happened on a cold December night in 1961 in Jerusalem.
The managers of "Kol Israel" radio produced a show called: "From the Eastern Spirit" at "Binyanei HaUma" (International Convention Center) – a lofty and distinguished Israeli cultural center in Israel's capital city. On an evening dedicated entirely to music originating from Islamic and Balkan countries. Joe Amar and Dalia Amihud performed there, along with orchestras and choirs, dance troupes and musicians playing traditional Arabic instruments.
The hall filled with an audience thirsty for this music.
There were Mizrahi communities, veterans and new immigrants, culture enthusiasts. Those who could afford to buy a ticket for the show at a not-cheap price. Those who were labeled as "Sephardim," members of all communities. Who longed for an experience that reminded them of their roots.
They applauded politely, as befit the accepted manners in the cultural hall where they sat, and sometimes hummed a familiar melody, feeling contentment that reached them from the atmosphere, from the sounds that evoked nostalgia in them.
And then...
Then the young man from the clubs, Aris San, the one heard singing Greek songs on the radio in special 'ethnic' broadcast slots, took the stage.
From the moment he began to sing and masterfully strum his guitar strings, they were drawn into the rhythm and swayed their heads and bodies right and left, back and forth. And when he lifted the guitar behind his neck and continued to strum it in ecstasy, whistles were heard from the audience.
They wouldn't let him leave the stage and demanded encore after encore with fervent applause, and for a moment it seemed as if all the other artists who participated in that special evening – were merely warm-up acts for the Greek virtuoso who was barely 21 years old.
At that time, it was already clear that Aris San "did it for them" – like Elvis Presley for American music lovers. Like Edith Piaf for French chanson lovers. Like Antonio Carlos Jobim for Brazilians.
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The second song on this album – a cover version of "Children of Piraeus" (Tapedia Tou Pirea) – a song that won an Oscar from the movie "Never on Sunday," which also won an award. The film heralded the rise of Greek music to cultural stages worldwide.
On the Greek wave that swept global culture, and about Aris San who rode the wave and reached the mainstream of Israeli culture...
In the next chapter:
This is Chapter Three out of six chapters in A Musical Biography of Aris San – a singer, composer, and original creator, who developed and promoted Mediterranean music in Israel, and paved the way for the breakthrough of "Mizrahi music" in Israel.
