Stelios Keromitis - bouzouki, vocals (1908-1979).
Keromitis first performed in Piraeus in 1934. He was a classic mangas, well dressed, hashish smoker, bouzouki player. Later, he worked with Markos Vamvakaris and with Vasilis Tsitsanis from 1947-50. He wrote about 25 songs and was known for his low growly voice which Tsitsanis compared to the “growl of a lion”.
In his own words: “I first heard bouzouki in 1916, when I was eight years old, because my father played as an amateur. When I was 12 I made my first clumsy attempts to play it. At that time my father happened to be the owner of a taverna, and this taverna was the venue for a whole host of bouzouki players; the first I met was called Zymaritis, the second Manetas, then Reginas, Mimikos the house painter, Harilaos and Scrivanos. Those were the bouzouki players of the time who played fairly regularly. There were some other people who played but had no talent. We came after them, there was a fifteen years’ difference in our ages; we had started to play more systematically somehow and the bouzouki brought us by degrees together, it made us become friends and meet often and learn from each other and help one another and day by day we progressed; there were Markos Vamvakaris, Keromitis, Anestos, Stratos, Karydakias, Bagianteras, Stefanakos: we were the first to present the bouzouki, the popular song, on record, with songs, lyrics and music of our own inspiration. In 1933 we started our campaign, by means of our songs, to make people love the bouzouki. At first we added a guitar and a little baglama to the bouzouki, in the first joint where we sang and played as professionals, and from the very first people loved us and followed us in droves. But let’s not forget that there were many people with misconceptions about the bouzouki, but with time, the songs were made so harmonious, with a treble and a second voice and then with the terzo added, like a “cantada” of the Ionian islands, that we taught the ones who didn’t love this music to love it too. Our first appearance was at the “Keratzakis”, the first joint in Anapafseos street, in Piraeus. Right after that there were many other offers; first from Antonis Vlachos, at the “Dasos” in Votanikos, Athens. From then on we had a following among all kinds of people, of all classes, from the highest to the lowest. Every night the place was packed. We worked there steadily for two years. At that time many artists appeared there: Tsitsanis, Papaioannou, Chiotis, Kaplanis, Tzouanakos, Hatzichristos, Stefanakos - all of them were younger than us.”