This article is the English version of the Greek article
translated in English by TINA REFENES
I was a child when I first heard the Dima sisters sing at the 1980 Thessaloniki Music Festival when they won 2nd prize with “Αν Έρθεις” (“An Erthis” / “If you come”), together with my then favourite singer Gina Spiliotopoulos who won 1st prize with “Της Γιαγιάς τα Παραμύθια” (“Tis Giagia’s ta Paramythia” / “Grandmother’s Fairy Tales”) and Eleni Dimou who won 3rd prize with the amazing “Αν η Καρδιά σου” (“An e Kardia sou” / “If your Heart”).
Being a fanatical collector of records even as a child, I bought their album as soon as it was released by Intersound, (a small record company belonging to the group characterised as “the Omonia companies”) and because I also had an obsession with records and their labels, I was surprised that this award winning song had not been released by one of the larger companies like Minos, Columbia, Lyra or Polygram.
Also, Spyros Papavasiliou, a well known composer who had written many successful hits during that period, was married to one of the sisters and had an active presence in a large part of the Greek discography business, a fact which raises several questions as to how and why the album was released by this small company of Omonia.
The front and inside gatefold cover of the album by the Dima sisters, released by Intersound.
The album “Αν Έρθεις” had a gatefold cover and the production was very good. The album’s B1 song was “Gela Maria”, a disco cover of “Santa Maria” by Neoton Familia. “Gela Maria” was heard quite a lot on the radio at the time, both on the company’s own broadcast “Intersound Presents” and on other state owned radio broadcasts.
If you take a look at the names of the contributors to the album, you will detect the cream of the crop of the period’s top musicians, amongst them: Nikos Antipas of Socrates years before he gave us his masterpieces with Haris Alexiou and Alkistis Protopsaltis; Kostas Ganoselis, Titos Kalliris – Thanos Kalliris’ father, Pantelis Despotidis, Kostas Nikolopoulos and others (see photo below); and please also note the 12-member orchestra of violins!
Two years after “Αν Έρθεις” was released, the record stores were displaying a new album by the Dima sisters, “Η μουσική δεν τελειώνει ποτέ” (“I mousiki den telioni pote” / “The music never stops”). This album was again released by Intersound, but nothing on the front cover indicated that it came from this company as the aesthetics of its cover were similar to those of larger companies. If you look at the back cover, you will also note that the photos were taken by the famous photographer Klisthenis, and the album’s cover art was by Thanos Spyropoulos who was working with many large companies at that time.
And as on this album once again the musicians comprise some of the most important names in Greek discography, it creates a paradox that such a production was released by the same small company Intersound.
This album contains two great disco covers, “Να μη σταματήσει ποτέ η μουσική” (“Na mi stamatisi pote i mousiki”), the Greek version of “Can’t stop the music” by Village People, and “Στο’ λεγα” (Sto’ lega”), the Greek version of “Hands up” by Ottawan, presenting a disco sequel to the previous album whose most successful hit was “Γέλα Μαρία”.
For the first time after so many years, both songs are now uploaded to my YouTube Channel, Kosdil – Dilzas Says and Shares.
Listen here:
1. The rare Greek version of Village People’s “Can’t stop the music” by the Dima sisters.
2. The rare Greek version of Ottowan’s “Hands Up” by the Dima sisters. Years later, Kaiti Garbi adapted this song on her first album, “Πρόβα” (“Prova”) but with different lyrics.
The biggest surprise though comes from the last track on the album which is “Chariots of Fire”, the music score written for the homonymous movie by the world renowned and much awarded Greek composer Vangelis, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Score in March 1982.
The single of the opening theme of the movie was converted into a Greek song with lyrics written by Sasa Manetta with the title “Δεν ξέρω αν πρέπει” (“Den ksero an prepi” / “I don’t know if I should”) and it is perhaps the rarest version of Vangelis’ music score, due to the fact that it was released by a small company, it has never been released on CD, and what is happening now with Intersound’s release rights is unknown.
The truth is that it has never been released digitally, it has never been included in any of the world’s music Collections and the majority of Vangelis’ fans will be unaware of it’s existence due to the obscure circumstances of it’s release, and the fact that it has never been included in any collection of Vangelis’ works nor has it ever been uploaded to YouTube.
And now for the first time ever, this version is uploaded to my channel Dilzas Says and Shares for all of you who have come to love my rarities both on this site and on my YouTube channels.
A very rare moment in the world of discography comes from Greece and the small company Intersound who released this song.
Enjoy!
3. The rare Greek version of Vangelis’ “Chariots of Fire” with lyrics by Sasa Manetta.
The undersigned with the collectible album:
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Kosdil
Dilzas Says and Shares 
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