London Greek Radio

Cyprus confirmed Greek singer Elena Tsagrinou will be the nation’s representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

The Cypriot broadcaster CyBc announced the artist and song-title ‘El Diablo‘ in an official statement in November.

The 26-year-old Athens-born singer will perform in the Eurovision’s first Semi-Final, at Rotterdam’s Ahoy Arena this May. The song is up-tempo, and is said to be a current radio-friendly hit and Eurovision “competitive” enough. The scenario, Elena seems to have fallen in love with someone as bad as ‘El Diablo’ (Spanish, for ‘The Devil’).

The official song and music video will be released very soon. The choreographer Chali Jennings will be responsible for, Elena and her dancers routine in long-anticipated release of the Eurovision video.

Elena takes over from Sandro Nicholas, [his song ‘Running’] last year’s Cypriot titleholder, [he was unfortunate not to sing it], at the cancelled Eurovision Song Contest.

The song-writing team composed of Jimmy Thornfeldt, Swedish songwriter, the Canadian songwriter and Eurovision regular Laurell Barker, behind ‘You Got Me’ by Luca Hanni, which came fourth in 2019, Brazilian-born songwriter Oxa, and Thomas Stengaard, penning the 2013 Eurovision winner ‘Only Teardrops’ by Emmelie De Forest.

Cypriot bosses have stuck to the winning formula of choosing artist and song internally. Cyprus have a 100% qualification record in five years which is impressive and one that Elena Tsagrinou is hoping to emulate their successes. The 2018’s runners-up with Eleni Foureira’s ‘Fuego’, plus five qualifiers between 2015 and 2019, Cyprus have upped their game in the music event for sure.

Cypriot chiefs felt that the songstress was right for this year’s contest as the upbeat song compliments Elena as a vocalist and performance-stage artist.

Head of the Cypriot Delegation in Eurovision Evi Papamichael helped define the criteria for their selection. “In recent years we have been collaborating with major record companies of the region. Greece and Cyprus are, as you know, a single record and music market.” Papamichael explained, confirming that Cyprus music is almost intertwined with Greece’s record labels, and world-class vibrant music industry.

Elena is signed to Panik Records, record label whose former Eurovision predecessors have included Ivi Adamou, Demy, Eleni Foureira and Anna Vissi.

The female soloist has been in the music industry since she was 14, where she reached the semi-finals of Greece Has Talent.

After five years with the band OtherView, Elena went solo in 2018 and has presented shows like The Voice of Greece, Just the 2 of US and K-POP Stars.

Last summer she released Latin-Reggaeton-fused ‘Amore’, the exotic tune also made it to our airplay charts. Her debut hit ‘Pame Ap’ Tin Archi’ launched a young-fledging solo career. The hits included ‘Paradeisos’, ‘Logia’, and duets; with Mike ‘Pare Me Agkalia’, feat, with Oge ‘San Lava’, ‘Tsai me Lemoni’ with Dakis and last December, Elena and DJ Kas covered dance track ‘Be My Lover’.

Elena performed at concerts in Cyprus and Greece, alongside artists such as Konstantinos Argiros and Melisses. Her music videos have accumulated millions of views on youtube, and entrusted Elena as one of the most exciting up-and-coming artists, in Greek music.

Cyprus will be staged with the help of artistic director Marvin Dietmann who helped Austria to a Eurovision triumph in 2014 with their song ‘Rise Like a Phoenix’. The involvement of the Austrian creative highlights the Cypriot ambition to impress at this competition.

Cyprus competes in the First Eurovision Semi-Final which airs on Tuesday 18th May, on BBC Four. The Top 10 qualifying nations have progression to the Final on Saturday 22nd May, on BBC One.

London Greek Radio wishes Elena and Cyprus the best of luck in the Eurovision.

Rebetiko musician Agathonas Iakovidis, best known for his collaboration with Koza Mostra in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 has died suddenly.

Iakovidis died on Wednesday morning, 5th August, at his home in Thessaloniki at the age of 65, after an apparent heart attack, according to thestival.gr.

Agathonas whose signature Baglama wowed Eurovision fans with the song, “Alcohol is Free”, notching a Top 6th placing for Greece, which was their best result for that decade.

Many British fans rated the ethnic-ska-band’s song as one of the much-cherished entries from Greece. The song received the UK’s eight-points and a fantastic Twitter reaction from Eurovision fans.

As a friend of LGR, Agathonas performed a live acoustic performance with Koza Mostra, at our studios during a pre-contest tour and was one of the memorable Eurovision moments at London Greek Radio.

His parents hailed from Asia Minor, and he was born in Evangelisomos Langadas, Thessaloniki, in 1955.

He launched his musical career in 1973, with a fondness for Rebetiko and just four years later formed his own group, the “Rebetiko Band of Thessaloniki,” with a number of live concerts and two hit albums.

He was also known for his collaborations with musicians such as Costas Papadopoulos, George Koros, Vassilis Soukas, Lazaros Koutalidis, Nikos Filippidis and Nikos Hatzopoulos.

Earlier this year, the performer had paid tribute to hospital staff in Thessaloniki who were dealing with COVID-19 patients.  He performed alongside fellow musicians at the entrance to hospital to express his thanks to the medical workers.

Everyone at LGR was saddened to hear of his passing and we express our condolences to his family and friends.  May he rest in peace.

The “British-Cypriot” sitcom, ‘Stath Lets Flats’ was a double winner at the Bafta Awards on Friday night [July 31st], scooping Best Scripted Comedy and Best Male Performance for its star and creator Jamie Demetriou.

The programme has screened a second series last year and is a quirky, off-beat, eccentric comedy with a somewhat dry sense of humour.

The Channel 4 show, co-written by London-Cypriot Jamie Demetriou, with Tom Kingsley, Seb Barwell and Ash Atalla, beat out tough competition in the form of ‘Fleabag’ and ‘Derry Girls’ to take home the Scripted Comedy Award.

Mr Demetriou picked up a Bafta Craft Award for Comedy Writing for ‘Stath Lets Flats’, earlier this month.

Jamie thanked his fellow cast members in response to the Best Male Performance gong saying, “My character dosen’t work, my performance dosen’t work without the other cast so I want to thank my amazing sister Natasia [Demetriou] whose the heart of this show.

I want to thank the amazing Al Roberts who I have just worshipped, just everyone. Katy, Kiell, Christos, Ellie, Dustin, Nick and David. And finally I’d like to thank my dear friend Charlie Perkins for getting me to do comedy when I was trying to be the bad boy of musical theatre when I was 21, thank you for saving me some embarrassment. And I want to thank my parents for their amazing love and specificity.”

The lead character, “Stath”, (Jamie Demetriou) plays an imbecilic lettings agent working at ‘Michael & Eagle Lets’, an apparently chaotic London lettings agency run by his father, “Vasos”, (Christos Stergioglou).

The set-up is that Stath comes across as incompetent, impulsive and ambitious – in equal measure, and is desperate to prove himself to his Greek-Cypriot father who is retired and at home in series two but still as ever-observant and watchful over his son’s antics.

Demetriou is awaiting a possible confirmation to a third series from TV chiefs at Channel Four.

The annual ceremony was broadcast on BBC One and was the first in its history to be held virtually.

Richard Ayoade hosted the event in a closed and socially distanced studio, with winners accepting their awards via video link.

Jamie Demetriou: “London Greek Radio has been playing in my house since I was a foetus.”

We all grew up to it…

The “British-Cypriot” sitcom, ‘Stath Lets Flats’ is in the running to win a Bafta for Best Scripted Comedy.

The programme has screened a second series last year and is a quirky, off-beat, eccentric comedy with a somewhat dry sense of humour.

The Channel 4 show, co-written by London-Cypriot Jamie Demetriou, with Tom Kingsley, Seb Barwell And Ash Atalla, is shortlisted alongside ‘Derry Girls’, ‘Fleabag’ and ‘Catastrophe’.

Jamie Demetriou is also nominated for the ‘Writer (Comedy)’ category as well as for ‘Male Performance in a Comedy’.

Mr Demetriou picked up a Bafta Craft Award for Comedy Writing for ‘Stath Lets Flats’, earlier this month.

Jamie thanked his fellow cast members and production team in response to the award saying, “Thank you, Bafta Craft, for this award it’s made me feel very grown up and scared.

“Congrats to my fellow nominees, thank you so much to everyone at Channel 4. Thank you to the ‘Stath Lets Flats’ team – Sed Barwell, Tom Kingsley, Ash Atalla, Jon Petrie, thank you for your support and guidance and to my reps… and thank you so much to the exquisite cast of ‘Stath Lets Flats’, without whom the brilliant scripts would make no sense, to my brilliant sister Natasia [Demetriou], Alastair, Kiell, Katy, Christos, Dustin, Ellie, Nick, David [and love] to my parents…”

The lead character, “Stath”, (Jamie Demetriou) plays an imbecilic lettings agent working at ‘Michael & Eagle Lets’, an apparently chaotic London lettings agency run by his father, Vasos, [Christos Stergioglou).

The set-up is that Stath comes across as incompetent, impulsive and ambitious – in equal measure, and is desperate to prove himself to his Greek-Cypriot father who is retired and at home in series two but still as ever-observant and watchful over his son’s antics.

Demetriou is awaiting a possible confirmation to a third series from TV chiefs at Channel Four.

The British Academy Film & Television Awards ceremony will air on Friday 31st July on BBC One.

In accord​ance with current restrictions, the awards will take place in a closed studio, with winners invited to accept their awards ‘virtually’.

London-Cypriot actor and writer Jamie Demetriou won Writer: Comedy for ‘Stath Lets Flats’ at the 2020 Television Craft Awards online ceremony, last night (July 17th). 

Recognising the wide variety of behind-the-screens talent that goes into making television programming, this year’s ceremony was held via an online stream amidst the coronavirus outbreak, and hosted by Stephen Mangan.

Demetriou beat off fellow nominees Sam Leifer (Plebs), Phoebe Waller-Bridfe (Fleabag), Danny Brocklehurst (Brassic), Tom Basden (Plebs).

Jamie thanked his fellow Stath cast members and production team in response to his win. Jamie responded in a video: “Thank you Bafta Craft for this award it’s made me feel very grown up and scared. Congrats to my fellow nominees, thank you so much to everyone at Channel 4. Thank you to the ‘Stath Lets Flats’ team Sed Barwell, Tom Kingsley, Ash Atalla, Jon Petrie, thank you for your support and guidance and to my reps… and thank you so much to the exquisite cast of ‘Stath Lets Flats’ without whom the brilliant scripts would make no sense, to my brilliant sister Natasia [Demetriou], Alastair, Kiell, Katy, Christos, Dustin, Ellie, Nick, David…”

Star-of-the-show, “Stath” Mr Demetriou is playing an incompetent, impulsive and ambitious letting agent, at ‘Michael & Eagle Lets’, a dodgy London lettings agency [owned] by his father, Vasos, (Christos Stergioglou). The father who in series 2, is at home and retired is as still ever-watchful over his son’s antics.

The “British-Cypriot sitcom” with its lead characters siblings Jamie and Natasia Demetriou, is a quirky and off-beat comedy. The cast seem to compliment the subtle jokes and kind of British eccentricity, really well.

Jamie is in the running to take home a BAFTA Television Award for Best Scripted Comedy, Writer: Comedy category and Male Performance in a Comedy.

The British Academy Television Awards ceremony will air on Friday July 31st on BBC One.

English-Greek actor Michael Angelis died on Saturday, 30th May in Berkshire. He was 76 years old.

Michael was the narrator of the classic children’s series, ‘Thomas The Tank Engine’ from 1991 to 2012 and had a lengthy television career, which included the powerful 1980s drama ‘Boys from the Blackstuff’.

The actor was born Nicolas Michael Angelis on 29th April 1944 in London to Margaret (née McCulla), and Greek father, Evangelos Angelis. He was raised in Dingle, Liverpool.

He trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, where he played roles in several pieces of work, including Brendan Behan’s ‘The Hostage’ and ‘The Zykovs’ by Maxim Gorky.

Angelis also appeared in comedies such as ‘The Liver Birds’ between 1975 and 1978 and Luv 1993–94, as well as films such as ‘A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square’ (1979) and ‘No Surrender’ (1985).

In 1983, he appeared at the Royal Exchange in Manchester in Harold Pinter’s ‘The Caretaker’ and played a villain in the revived television series ‘Auf Wiedersehen, Pet’ in 2002.

The much-loved actor narrated John Peel’s autobiography, ‘Margrave of the Marshes’ and in 2006 he starred in the film ‘Fated’.

Angelis also appeared in episodes of ‘Midsomer Murders’ and ‘The Bill’.

He was married to Coronation Street actress Helen Worth in 1991 and after their divorce in 2001, he married Welsh model Jennifer Khalastchi, in 2003.

He was the younger brother of fellow actor Paul Angelis who died in 2009.

LGR express their condolences to Michael’s family and friends.

In essence, tonight was supposed to be Eurovision night but our favourite song contest, like other events around the globe, has been postponed.

Instead, we’ll be watching “Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light”, a non-competitive replacement “song contest” which honours the 41 countries which would have competed to win the 2020 Eurovision crown.

Hosted by Chantel Janzen, Edsilia Rombleyand and Jan Smit, who would have fronted the ‘regular’ Eurovision from the Ahoy Arena of Rotterdam in The Netherlands, it promises to be just as spectaculous!

Eleni Foureira, whose ‘Fuego’ tune came second for Cyprus in the 2018 Eurovision, returns with a virtual performance in the “Eurovision Heroes” segment of the show.

Other returning artists, alongside the current “Class of Eurovision” have a virtual sing-song [from their countries] to thank essential frontline workers battling Coronavirus daily.

In a time before “social distancing” and “staying at home”, there was often occasion for Cyprus and Greece to come up with their Eurovision trump-cards.

Cypriot broadcaster CyBC internally selected Sandro Nicholas [real name Alessandro Rütten] to fly the island’s flag.

The entry ‘Running‘ is a deep, house-style inspired electronic-pop song and is dark and dramatic. The lyrics have a deeper meaning about mental health issues and depression and is very relevant now, as this once taboo-issue is ever-more discussed openly, with its impact on males in particular.

The 23-year-old German-Greek singer-songwriter, worked for months to find the right song and he co-wrote it with Greek producer Teo Arkitekt, Australian singer-songwriter Alfie Arcuri, Sebastian Rickards, and Octavian Rasinariu.

CyBC told LGR, “Having gone through depression himself, Sandro’s performance underlines the tunnel of darkness that we must keep on running through in difficulties or catastrophes but also of the strength needed to stand tall and not fall.”

The video is dark and moody with Sandro appearing as a solitary figure.

As the song choruses on about ‘running’ progressively, it comes to a visual-climax in a hopeful and optimistic way, with shades of light on the screen.

For Greece, 17-year-old Stefania Liberakakis stood out as the nation’s candidate this year. She was born in The Netherlands to Greek parents from Greece.

‘Superg!rl‘ is an up-tempo, pop-dance track with ethnic beats that are really catchy. The song has already entered the radio-friendly playlists of London Greek Radio for several months.

The song’s lyrics are about social adolescent empowerment and young people attaining their goals, as well as trusting their super-innate-strength to achieve their ambition.

Unfortunately, Eurovision fans won’t have the chance to see the Greek ‘Superg!rl’ on stage, however, there will be news about the singer’s Eurovision adventure.

The broadcaster confirmed Stefania would be Greece’s Eurovision 2021 Song Contest act, with a new Eurovision tune up her sleeve especially composed for next year. The details of the entry are not yet known, although we think it might include the current team of creative songwriting talent.

Eurovision veteran, Dimitris Kontopoulos and Arcade comprising of Pavlos Manolis, Diveno and Gabriel Russel composed and produced ‘Superg!rl’. The lyrics are co-written with Swedish songwriter Sharon Vaughn.

The music video was filmed in Athens which included the Fokas Evangelinos dance school of performing arts.

Mr Evangelinos who has staged some of the biggest and effective performances in Eurovision for Greece, Russia and Azerbaijan, has confirmed his involvement in the Greek song next year.

To top off the night, all 41 acts will come together, from their separate locations across Europe, for a rendition of the United Kingdom’s 1997 winner ‘Love Shine a Light’ by Katrina and the Waves.

Watch Cyprus and Greece Eurovision videos here: lgr.co.uk/videos

A whole host of Cypriot artists have united to create a music video especially for the island during the coronavirus pandemic.

The video was made in response to the Cyprus Government’s lockdown measures which were vigorously enforced for several weeks.

“Ego Tha’ Me Edo”, which translated into English is “I’ll be here” is a sweet melodic number which was filmed at artists homes as the country stayed home to reduce the spread of the virus.

Stalo Georgiou, a former Music Director at Manor Hill Greek School in Barnet, who now lives in Paphos, composed the music. Theodoulos Koullapi wrote the lyrics and filmmaker Charalampos Charalampous was responsible for the editing.

The four-minute video includes Konstantina, Cypriot traditional singer Michalis Hadjimichael and former winner of the 2011 LGR Music Awards, Iphigenia Loucaides.

The other artists involved are Andri Karantwni, Vasiliki Hadjiadamou, Efthivoulos Theocharous, Christina Tselepou, Demetris Souroullas, Christos Rialas, Demetra Xatzi, Stella Stylianou, Kalypso Dimitriou, Elena Polydorou, Fani Anastasiou.

Stalo Georgiou, the organiser of the video, told LGR that she became involved because she was particularly concerned about the morale of Cypriot citizens who were staying at home.

She added that the video was important creatively as a vehicle to boost morale and put in place a positive mental-mind-set at these uncertain times.

Stalo said: [Translated] “The concept envisaged was to creatively seek a positive message of love and optimism. The other intention was to honour the essential workers battling on the frontline to defeat the coronavirus epidemic. The song’s lyrics underlined that we are here for each other in lockdown, also crucially to stand together afterwards when this is eventually over.”

Watch it here at our videos section: lgr.co.uk/videos

Greece has confirmed that Stefania will be the nation’s representative at the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam taking place later this year.

The 17-year-old Greek-Dutch singer Stefania Liberakakis will perform in the Eurovision Second Semi-Final at Rotterdam’s Ahoy Arena, this May. She was born in Utrecht in the Netherlands to Greek parents from Sofiko Evrou in Greece.

The Greek broadcaster ERT announced the artist and song-title ‘Superg!rl’ in an official statement this month. The ethnic up-tempo song, where Stefania sings about the adolescent youth, a self-empowerment song which draws on the innate strength each person possesses against which battling challenging situations, or issues.

Stefania had taken to Instagram thanked the Greek delegation and responded she was “proud” to be flying the Greek colours at the Eurovision, told music fans.

The Eurovision veteran Dimitris Kontopoulos and music production ARCADE, composed and produced the tune, co-written the lyrics with Sharon Vaughn. The Creative Director Fokas Evangelinos will be responsible for the stage show, well-known in Eurovision circles, for numerous impressive stage acts in the contest.

The songwriters confirmed a modern ethnic up-tempo dance-pop track for Greece, with Greek instruments. The producers describe a “radio-friendly current hit song” with immense potential, standing out amongst the competitors in the Eurovision’s line-up.

The Eurovision tune and the official video-clip whose filming was shot in Athens, will be released in March. We at London Greek Radio are super-excited to be premiering our Greek entry very soon…

The Greek Eurovision delegation which included head Dimitri Papadimitriou and spokesperson Maria Koufopoulou chosen the so-called ‘Dream Team’ earlier this year.

In 2016, Stefania represented The Netherlands at Junior Eurovision in Malta, as part of the three-piece girl group Kisses. Their upbeat song ‘Kisses and Dancin’ placed eighth in the contest.

Stefania came to fame in 2014, when she participated on The Voice Kids. After wowing judges with her audition performance of Alicia Keys’ ‘No One’, Stefania made it as far as the Battle round before being eliminated. She also sang as part of the Dutch children’s choir Kinderen voor Kinderen.

More recently, Stefania has worked on her solo pop career. Late last year, Stefania released ‘Turn Around’, a sophisticated contemporary pop track. Her debut single in 2018, ‘Stupid Reasons’ reached No1 in the Kids Top 20, a hit single, composed and written by J Joachim Vermeulen Windsant and Maarten ten Hove. In March last year she released the single ‘Wonder’ which was the soundtrack to the animation film ‘Wonder Park’.

Stefania has also been working on her pop career in Greece. Last summer, she performed at the Mad VMA music awards, as part of an all-girl cover of Daddy Yankee’s ‘Con calma’ along with Ilenia Williams and Konnie Metaxa.

As well as singing, Stefania also has an acting career. She has starred in the Dutch high school mockumentary Brugklas, the recent dystopian action film De club van lelijke kinderen (The club of ugly children) and made an appearance in the teen comedy 100% Coco New York.

The Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Finals are on 12th and 14th May, with the Grand Final on Saturday 16th May 2020.

Stefania will perform ‘Superg!rl’ in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday 14th May.

London Greek Radio wishes Stefania and Greece the best of luck in the Eurovision.

Cyprus has confirmed that Sandro Nicholas will be the island’s representative at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam taking place later this year.

The Cypriot broadcaster, CyBC, announced the news to excited Eurovision fans in an official statement towards the end of last year.

The 23-year-old German-Greek is an up-and-coming artist and a star of “The Voice Germany” from 2018. He managed to turn all four chairs with Shawn Mendes’ ‘In my blood’ where he reached the semi-finals.

Sandro Nicholas’ real name is Alessandro Rütten and he was born and bred in Germany, with an American father and a Greek mother from Zakynthos. He speaks Greek and travels to Greece frequently. He plays the drums and guitar and at the age of 15, started to write songs and formed his own rock-band.

Sandro has a soulful, pop and rocky-edged vocal and exudes a confident manner on stage.

As well as ‘The Voice’, Sandro was the American entrant at the New Wave Festival in Russia last summer. One of the judges was the Greek Eurovision hit-maker veteran, Dimitris Kontopoulos, who was said to have put in a word with the decision-makers in Cyprus for Eurovision.

Cypriot bosses have stuck to the format that has served them well in previous years by internal selection of the artist and song.

The formula has yielded fairly good results for Cyprus with Eleni Foureira’s spectacular 2nd place and Tamta scoring 13th in Tel Aviv last year.

Mr Nicholas will face the task to uphold Cyprus’ impressive qualification run, with five qualified entries in a row from 2015 to 2019.

Cyprus received 120 songs, all vying to compete as the island’s act for 2020 and have shortlisted the options to three songs. The exact details about the song will be released at a later date.

CyBC chose Mr Nicholas out of several artists, trusting the young and talented potential to resonate with the Eurovision voter.

Sandro is playing a constructive role in the creative song-writing to the entry, in order to find the killer-tune for this contest. Mr Nicholas has told media, he wants “an emotional song”, one that is a genuine, honest song.

In his interview to Cypriot media, Sandro said, “[I am] absolutely captivated. This country is probably one of the most beautiful countries I have ever been to. I’ve been to Zakynthos, Greece. I am Greek, but this place is magical and I’m so honoured and so pleased to be able to represent such an amazing country.”

He added, “It’s an honour for me, [to represent] for the Cypriot flag, and I want to do my very best. It’s fantastic, it’s a dream for me.”

The Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Finals are on 12th and 14th May, with the Grand Final on Saturday 16th May 2020.

London Greek Radio wishes Sandro and Cyprus the best of luck in Eurovision.