London Greek Radio

On Friday the 3rd July, LGR Club Nights are hosting The Start Of Summer Party at The Maze Inn, in Southgate.

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Join us for this exclusive Greek party night, where our DJ’s Sooty and Andreas Demetriou will be on the decks, mixing up non-stop Greek & English hits till the early morning.

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We’ll keep you dancing with all the best Modern Laika, Greek Club, Greek Classics, English club anthems, RnB, House & we’ll even be ending the night with a few zeibekika!

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For more info click here to visit our official Facebook event page.

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Our online ticket shop is now closed, tickets for this event will be available on the door of the Maze Inn for just £10.00.

 

 

Ticket sales and event registration: Skiddle Promotion Centre

Article written by London Greek Radio

Well, it felt like a sense of nervy excitement at about 9:50pm on Thursday night and much relief too, that our Cypriot tune had in fact qualified, pleasing all of the fans…

Cyprus has made it through to the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest which is massively historic in the context of this year’s 60th mile-stone of the music event.

John Karayiannis with his heart on sleeve, showing a little of his fragile vulnerability sung his honesty, sweet melody track ‘One Thing I Should I Have Done‘, to take votes off both public and that of the professional jurors for the Top 10 qualifying spaces. It has a radio friendly feel which was only enhanced by that of John’s clear tone strong vocals to the point, you felt he believed every word or line he uttered in the three minutes of his song.

Our tune was penned by Mike Connaris, a London Cypriot song-writer, previously having brought his Top 5th in 2004’s Lisa Andreas entry ‘Stronger Every Minute’ which equals our best ever result this far.

John, a 20-year-old singer from Limassol, with his black thick framed spectacles, took to Vienna’s Wiener Stadthalle Arena, minimalist staging, with a lovely black and white screen affect at the song’s intro, with explosions of colour in the back-drop, as the tune climaxes to the last note.

John speaking after he found out his result was clearly excited and in awe of achieving fine outcome. ”We are through to the final guys!!! Wowww!! So excited and thankful for all the support I have received lately by each and every of you!! Really appreciate it!! Xxx”.

It goes without saying it’s a great feeling of elation to have our Cypriot nation in the final after a long history of mixed results, you have to go back to 2012’s Ivi Adamou ‘La La Love’ for actually the last qualifier of theirs, and it’s a strong come-back after taking one-year’s hiatus from the event in Copenhagen.

At 1am this Friday morning, the official draw gave Cyprus 11th in the final, while Greece’s Cypriot female soloist Maria-Elena Kyriakou is performing 15th, with ballad ‘One Last Breath‘ who was through in the first of semi-finals on Tuesday night.

So the finalist line-up comprises the acts by Sweden, Latvia, Norway, Azerbaijan, Slovenia, Israel, Montenegro, and Lithuania including Estonia, Serbia, Georgia, Belgium, Hungary, Albania, Romania and special guest status’s Australia.

As one of the ‘Big Five’ countries, the UK entry with Electro Velvet has gained automatic qualification to the final alongside Spain, Germany, France, Italy and current title holders Austria.

Well done to the whole Cypriot delegation for giving us something to celebrate, with Evi Papamichael and Klitos Klitou and others, working the last months for this result.

The Grand Final takes place this Saturday at 8pm, you can watch it on BBC1, with tele-voting and jury deciding where exactly each nation finishes.

For those of you who missed it, this is John Karayiannis performing ‘One Thing I Should Have Done’ for the Cyprus entry live at the 2015 Eurovision Semi-Final 2:

Article written by Tony Neophytou

Tonight Cyprus competes in the second Eurovision Semi-Final to win a place in Saturday’s live Grand Final of Eurovision’s massively historic 60th at Vienna’s Wiener Stadthalle Arena.

John Karayiannis, a 20 year-old singer from Limassol, will fly the Cypriot flag with his melodic ballad ‘One Thing I Should Have‘. Singing, 15th, he’s performing this to a minimalist staging, which feels like it captivates really solidly well. The song’s intro is pretty ace we think, there’s all black and white screen for the first verse and chorus, with mini-explosions of colour in the back-drop itself as the tune climaxes, which is very effective.

I am sure Team JK and all of the delegation with Evi Papamichael and Klitos Klitou and so forth, will try their best to create the right sort of emotive atmosphere for his song.

Our tune was penned by Mike Connaris, a London Cypriot song-writer he’s previously brought the island Top 5th, to equal our best ever, with 2004’s Lisa Andreas ballad ‘Stronger Every Minute’ and upping the ante this dynamic duo of Mike and John will be hoping to bank on a qualifier with this good modern effort.

If you look at the statistics, a lowly 33% of all Cypriot songs actually have qualified or broke out of the semis, in the last decade, which obviously is disappointing. As Cyprus’ last qualifier was of course, 2012’s Ivi Adamou with ‘La La Love’, knowing this useful trivia it will surely make us all feel a nervy sense of excitement at 9:45pm of who’s going to make it…

Having said that, this sweet track is both strong and solid with a radio friendly feel to it, John’s sincerity/honesty and sort of fragile vulnerability, adding to his clear tone and faultless vocals, giving it much useful good to the song’s theme of regret of the one thing he should have done.

John revealed to LGR the thinking behind the staging which cultivates precisely the right mood for his story-telling way he goes about this. ”It’s a very simple ballad, and the simplicity is something that is going to be emphasised, I want to create the atmosphere that’s appealing to the viewer’s attention”.

John’s signature look is the thick framed black spectacles and he owns exactly five pairs of glasses he said, and of course his ‘look’ brings that individual touch to his visual aspect to the song.

Mike elated at his second Eurovision explained how he’s feeling up-beat about his adventure as he puts it to lgr.co.uk. About John’s musical talent, he said, ”He is such a young talent with an incredible voice – so cool and calm on stage – nothing fazes him… and if we can get the staging right, there’s no reason why Cyprus can’t be hosting ESC in 2016! Now wouldn’t that be something!”

John was introduced to Mike by Christos Kyriakides, who runs a successful music school of the same name in Limassol. Mike was very impressed with John’s voice and invited him to London. After getting to know John, and working closely in the studio with him, Mike set about writing a song especially for John. The song is about regret, but with a twist because it’s not until the end of the song that the real truth comes out. It makes you realise that in a relationship you should look back with no regrets, and always be honest.

Well, Cyprus’ robust entry is our absolute favourite for tonight’s semi and there it will muscle it out with 17 countries and our tips for potential qualifiers are Sweden, Norway, Latvia, Azerbaijan, Slovenia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Israel then we have Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Poland, San Marino, Malta, Iceland.

The second live Semi-Final, which you can watch on BBC 3 from 8pm until 10pm, has UK tele-voting plus jury deciding qualifiers, to complete the final line-up which already has Greece’s Cypriot Maria Elena Kyriakou with ‘One Last Breath’ making it in the first semi on Tuesday night.

Best of luck to John our Cypriot hopeful… Fingers crossed… qualifying, pretty please…

Article written by Tony Neophytou

John Karayiannis will fly the Cyprus flag at this May’s Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna with his sweet melody ballad ‘One Thing I Should Have Done‘.

Mike Connaris a London Cypriot song-writer penned #Otishd and to keen fans he earns folklore status, by way of his Eurovision’s Top 5th with 2004’s Lisa Andreas ‘Stronger Every Minute’ to equal our nation’s best ever result.

The review by Tony Neophytou supports our tune with the force of a patriotic/proud fellow Cypriot in London.

John’s likeability with the useful hook in #Otishd adding to the strong vocals and clear tone, and it’s that clarity of verse makes sure we are bought into his introspective thoughts, and sold on his tune.

John reveals to LGR the live song/performance has captivating/intimate feel to a great effect on the screens, with good camera-work and lighting. “It’s a very simple ballad, and the simplicity is what we want to convey, what I want to say, is that I want to create the atmosphere that will appeal to the viewer’s attention”.

His signature look are the black thick framed spectacles and when asked exactly, how many pairs of glasses he owns, the answer was five.

He is a Cypriot born Limassol who at 20 years-old is a singer and song-writer fully realising his goal to represent his island.

“As soon as Mike played me the song, I knew this was for me. I just loved the simplicity in the track and beautiful melody… and lyrics… well that was me!”

“Winning the Cyprus Final was the highlight of my career so far. I remember the feeling of not winning the Cyprus JESC and I was really disappointed. But if I’d known then I was going to win the adult Final in a few years time… I would have soon cheered up!”

He reckons qualifying is the main goal “I want to do well in Vienna for Cyprus and get them into the Final proper. If I can achieve that… well, let’s take it from there!”

John and Mike went to Bratislava to record the final mix of #Otishd with orchestra and real guitars, adding sparkle to the track. There’s even the official Euroclub remix by Pepperoni Mohawk the dance-floor filler which speed’s up Eurovision’s buzz this month.

John was introduced to Mike by Christos Kyriakides, who runs a successful music school of the same name in Limassol. Mike was very impressed with John’s voice and invited him to London. After getting to know John, and working closely in the studio with him, Mike set about writing a song especially for John. The song is about regret, but with a twist because it’s not until the end of the song that the real truth comes out. It makes you realise that in a relationship you should look back with no regrets, and always be honest.

#Otishd was to win the Cypriot’s Eurovision Song Project airing on 1st February on CyBc after a lengthy process of live audition and semi-finals chose the outright song.

Mike clearly very elated at his chance at Eurovision explained how he’s feeling up-beat about his adventure ahead he puts it to lgr.co.uk. “Having my song chosen to represent Cyprus again was awesome. I’ve tried since 2004 with different singers but had no luck, so John winning the Final at the beginning of Feb with “One thing I should have done” was amazing. I think the hardest part is over and I now believe John can actually win ESC for Cyprus. He is such a young talent with an incredible voice – so cool and calm on stage – nothing fazes him… and if we can get the staging right, there’s no reason why Cyprus can’t be hosting ESC in 2016! Now wouldn’t that be something!”

My guess it’s a potential qualifier and if we point out the constant struggle to qualify, that’s a huge feat. The sums suggest that only 33% of all Cypriot tunes qualified in recent years, but you can sense the genuine intent of the Cypriot delegation to beat the tough task at qualifying… well, fingers crossed to beef-up our island’s fortunes and the best of luck to Cyprus and John and Mike for achieving the best type of positive outcome this month.

Cyprus competes with the top 10 qualifying from semi-final two on Thursday 21st of May, you can tune in to BBC 3 to catch the event and the UK will be tele-voting at 50%, plus 50% jurors.

Cypriot entry has potentially good draw at 15th in the full line-up of 17 songs and maybe that kind of ‘late draw’ will be an advantage, to win people’s votes.

The grand final will be airing on Saturday 23rd May at the Wiener Stadthalle in host city Vienna.

Article written by Tony Neophytou

LGR is inviting you to vote for your favourite Cyprus Eurovision track of all time in the poll here. The nation makes a strong come-back to this May’s event in Vienna and it’s timely to ask you what you think…

Cyprus made their debut entry in 1981 with Island song ‘Monika’ with 32 official entrants this far… The Cypriot’s best rating was Top 5th by Anna Vissi, Hara and Andros Constantinou and Lisa Andreas producing the highest finish. 

The most familiar  Cypriot singers Anna Vissi, Ivi Adamou, Constantinos Christoforou, Evridiki, Michalis Hatzigiannis, Despina Olympiou and  Alexia have all sung for the island in the music competition held yearly.     

John Karayiannis the 20 year-old born in Limassol will be flying the Cypriot flag, with ‘One Thing I Should Have Done’. The sweet melody track is written by Mike Connaris, a London Cypriot song-writer at Mcasso Studios in Great Marlborough Street, previously wrote 2004’s Top 5th entry ‘Stronger Every Minute’ which equal’s our best ever…

Cyprus competes in Eurovision Semi-Final 2 airing on Thursday 21st May at 8pm, and if you are UK based your tele-votes will be adding to jurors for the 10 qualifiers that night.

Meanwhile, Eurovision’s grand final will take place on Saturday 23rd May at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna.

[poll id=”5″]

Article written by Tony Neophytou

Cyprus will select our song for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 via the route of the live Cypriot Eurovision Song Project which airs on 1st of February in Nicosia. While if you twitter savvy you are sure to have thought at using the hash-tag #EurovisionCY for news on the auditions and Eurochallenge semi-finals (on the CyBc), moreover, 55 entries will be eventually cut to six finalists and our song will be decided by public opinion and judge for who wins…

Mike Connaris, a London Cypriot song-writer has made it all the way to top 6 with his acoustic ballad he penned for Cypriot singer John Karayiannis called ‘One Thing I Should Have Done‘ featuring in a really good line-up of songs eyeing the huge prize of becoming our island’s entry which heads to Austria in the spring. 

Mike’s already written himself into Cypriot Eurovision folklore for his Top 5th result, equaling our best ever, with Lisa Andreas ‘Stronger Every Minute’ in 2004, noting he has an English mother and Cypriot father from Lekkoniko in his biography.

He unearthed male soloist John who is 21 years-old born and bred in Limassol, with the signature look of black, thick-framed spectacles and he recorded the tune at Mcasso Music in Great Marlborough Street and suiting his modern ballad style…

John was introduced to Mike by Christos Kyriakides, who runs a successful music school of the same name in Limassol. Mike was very impressed with John’s voice and invited him to London. After getting to know John, and working closely in the studio with him, Mike set about writing a song especially for John. The song is about regret, but with a twist because it’s not until the end of the song that the real truth comes out. It makes you realise that in a relationship you should look back with no regrets, and always be honest.

The song has a pleasant touch of acapella which is stripped-back to show us John’s crisp really strong vocal, which is adding to the honest and captivating feel to the tune. He knows precisely where the camera lens is and is performing directly to it and each of us are bought into his song and verse…

John explained to LGR his goal of flying the Cypriot flag in Eurovision with his opinion on the song… 

”As soon as Mike played me the song, I knew this was for me. I just loved the simplicity in the track and beautiful melody… and lyrics… well that was me! I would love to represent Cyprus in ESC – and I would be so proud to get the support of the Cyprus public to send me there with Mike’s beautiful song”.

”John is one the best young vocalists I have ever worked with. I’ve known him for 6 months now, and his voice just improves with every session/video. John can eclipse Lisa in Eurovision for Cyprus, I have no doubts. But the hardest task ahead is winning the Cyprus Eurovision Song Project. But he’s getting there! John has the potential to become Cyprus’s biggest music export – he will become a true international star in the future for sure”, explained Mike about his Eurovision ambitions… 

John has applied to Berklee College of Music in Boston where he was put through auditions and managed to succeed and got accepted. At 6 years-old he discovered music writes his biography, and passed Grade 8 vocals exams with a Distinction and attained 1st place in Cypriot island-wide competitions. He even tried his shot at junior Eurovision at the age of 14 and now he aims to go much further… well all the way to Vienna… the Cypriot final result will be decided by public voting at 50% and judges 50% which airs on Sunday, 1st of February at 19:30 GMT.

Cyprus competes in Eurovision Semi-Final 2 on Thursday 21st May, and the UK can vote for the 10 qualifiers… reaching Saturday night, the 23rd of May at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, 8pm GMT.  

You can check out more news of John Karayiannis by heading to the official web-site at johnkarayiannis.com and facebook.com/JohnKarayiannis.Music and twitter.com/JohnKarayiannis.

Article written by Tony Neophytou