Thomas Venakis: The Cretan who after gaining a doctorate in Chemistry and 34 years in teaching, sings the songs of Asia Minor

From the site: irakliolive.gr

by Maria Kallerghi

A figure straight out of the Bible, a Cretan through and through, Thomas Venakis surprises you first of all by his appearance. You are mesmerised by the directness of his gaze, and then comes the stentorian voice to complete the impression. When he sings the songs of Asia Minor, as in the case of the first on his CD 'My Precious Ruby and Sapphire', or rizitika, he awakens emotions and speaks to human hearts. No, Thomas Venakis is not some young man who is trying to take his first steps in song and music. He is a man with a long and distinguished career in education and music.

He has had two great loves in his life - chemistry and music. And in both he has scaled the heights. In chemistry he earned his doctorate in Zurich and became involved in secondary education, where he served for 34 years, for 27 of which he was Principal at Arghyroupoli and Anogheia. The other great love of Thomas Venakis started out, as he told irakliolive, together with his earliest childhood memories, with the source of his inspiration being his father, Venosifis, whom he describes as a '“distinguished personality”. From him he learnt and made a record of rare rizitika songs when as a young boy he wandered with him among the mountains and valleys of Crete. Thomas Venakis's father sang until the very last moment of his life - at the age of 96 - but for the two last years he sang only laments, as he had lost his life's partner two years earlier.

Rare unpublished material

As Mr Venakis explains: "Music has always been in my life. So now that I'm retired, I decided to take a step beyond and publish the valuable material that I've been collecting for so many years so that it isn't lost. So the first CD with 12 Asia Minor songs, of which four are being heard for the first time, has already been published."

However, Thomas Venakis is clearly not concluding his career in music with this CD. He is in possession of rare hitherto unpublished material, consisting chiefly of rizitika songs, which he hopes to be able to publish next. Up to now, Thomas Venakis has sung frequently at events together with important artists. A memorable appearance of his greatly impressed the public of Irakleio at a concert for Mikis Theodorakis organised by Ergotelis. At the beginning of this, an unknown figure sang two rizitika songs: 'On a high mountain, on a deep-rooted rock' and 'When will the sky be clear?'

'My precious ruby and sapphire'

The CD includes 12 songs and one instrumental piece. Of these, most are from the collection of the great teacher of our national music, the late lamented Simon Karas. Four of these have appeared on a CD for the first time; in the case of one of them, the words have been written by Mr Thomas Venakis himself, and he interprets them in the appropriate manner, to a well-known Asia Minor tune.

Mr Venakis works with the following skilled musicians: Manolis Karpathios, kanun - he is also the music editor of the CD - Stratis Psaradelis, Constantinople lyre, Periklis Papapetropoulos, Constantinople lute, and Yorghis Tzanetos, percussion.

The musical pieces are an accompaniment to three outstanding texts. Two are those by two men with a profound knowledge of our Byzantine and traditional music and fine interpreters of it: (a) the Archpriest and General Episcopal Commissioner of the Metropolitan Bishopric of Kifissia, Marousi, and Oropos, Fr Christos Kyriakopoulos, and (b) the extremely prolific interpreter and professor of Greek national music Mr Constantinos Markos. The third is that of the composer and interpreter Mr Thomas Venakis.

Plans for the future

In giving advance notice of what is to follow, Mr Venakis tells us by means of the CD: "This work of music is a precursor of a volume on music which is to follow - I hope soon - entitled 'Selections from the Treasures of Greek Musical Tradition and the Songs of our People. Volume One'.

It will include three discs: the first with 12 songs, interpreted by my father, VENOSIFIS (1899 - 1995), a rare figure as a genuine Cretan with the voice of an archangel. Of the innumerable songs which he knew, some recordings of 1966 have been chosen. The second will include one of the finest frontierland songs and an outstanding variation with music and interpretation by myself. On the third disc I shall sing songs from Crete (rizitika, etc.)."