by Akis Gavriilidis

Ιn April of 1978, the Greek music review Ichos kai hi-fi (Sound and hi-fi) made a survey about the Greek radio, in the framework of which they asked a large number of musicians to voice their views on the matter. Among these was the folk Cretan singer Nikos Xylouris, who unabashedly said what follows (my translation):

The radio is a shame and a disgrace for them [those running it] … They corrupt and mislead young people with these songs brought from abroad,  this negro stuff, the hu-hu! They brought to our homeland all the filth of America, and this way they lure young people into discotheques and they stultify them. We are close to losing our manners and morals with all these things they brought us. I am ringing the alarm bell. We all must be cautious so that our children do not purchase American records, with all this brainwashing they are subject to through radio. What happens is terrible. You put the First Programme on, you listen to foreign music. The Second Programme, the same thing, from morning till night. You go for the Armed Forces Channel, yet another humiliation, it’s even worse … One certain Petridis character has humiliated our nation. This person should not be permitted to broadcast at all, either on radio or on TV. Shame on them; at a certain point we should remind them we are Greeks. Συνέχεια →