Michalis volaris biography definition

Michalis Kyriakou known by his stage-name Michalis Violaris (Greek: Μιχάλης Βιολάρης) (born 9 January 1944 Agia Varvara, NicosiaCyprus) is a popular singer and composer of modern Greek and Cypriot music.[1]

He is also a pioneer responsible for popularising in Greece Cypriot songs sung in the Cypriot dialect.

His song Ta Ryalia (also Ta Rialia) sung in Cypriot Greek became a hit in the top-10 of Greece in 1973.[2]

Life and career

He grew in Larnaca, Cyprus where he studied at the National Conservatory of Music in Larnaca, a branch of the National Conservatory of Music of Athens.[1] In 1962 he moved to Greece where he enrolled at the school of Philosophy of Athens University and eventually obtained his degree.[1]

He became part of the musical movement called New Wave in Greece and his first musical cooperation was with Greek composer Yannis Spanos.[1] His songs made Cypriot music widely popular in Greece in the 1960s and 1970s.

He won third prize at the Thessaloniki