Musician and ethnomusicologist Spiros Delegos (guitar, vocals, commentary)will present a musical tribute to Greek-American guitarist George Katsaros-Theologitis (c.1888–1997), entitled “Greek Pleasure…”, at Kampin Kappeli (Simonkatu 7, Helsinki) on Friday, 20 March 2026 at 19:00. The event is organised by Suomen Helleenit ry.
It is conceived as a musical journey that brings the ‘black-and-white’ gramophone sounds of the Greek-American guitarist into the present, evoking the ever-present and dynamic themes of migration. The programme draws on a repertoire associated with Greek musical traditions in the vibrant melting pot of early 20th-century United States.
The Greek emigrant George Katsaros (Theologitis) lived and created music in the United States with recordings from the late 1920s, embodying a type of urban popular troubadour. A solo singer and guitarist with an idiosyncratic, drone-based fingerstyle technique, he brought to life both traditional Greek melodies and lyrics of his time, as well as original compositions by himself and other composers, also reflecting influences from the multi-cultural American musical landscape.
Kounadis Archive 2019
Known for his longevity as well as his bachelor and itinerant lifestyle, Katsaros—as he himself recounts—encountered numerous famous personalities over the course of his career, including Andrés Segovia, Rudolph Valentino, Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, and even Al Capone. In 1942, he was invited to the White House by President Roosevelt.
Born on the Aegean island of Amorgos in 1888—according to one of several official records—and part of the large wave of Greek migration to the United States in the 20th century, he vividly expressed the pain of exile, nostalgia for his homeland, love, and themes beyond the narrow confines of Greekness, such as the 1929 Great Depression in the USA.
This approximately 50-minute event will feature Spiros Delegos (guitar, vocals) performing a representative selection of works recorded by Katsaros between 1927 and 1950 in the United States, including rebetika, revue songs, kantades, and more. The programme will be accompanied by short commentary and a slide show of photographs during the performance, both curated by the performer.
Since 2009, Spiros Delegos has presented similar tributes to this singular musical figure on several occasions, including Ano Syros Festival, Chora of Amorgos, and the Rebetiko Festivals in Skopelos and Ioannina.
Spiros Delegos | Short CV (March 2025)
Spiros Delegos, born in Patras, Greece, is a doctoral researcher at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki. He has held a full‑time salaried doctoral position in 2023–24, 2024–25, and 2025, and is a recipient of the Wihuri Foundation grant for 2026. He has been based in Helsinki, Finland, since 2023.
An ethnomusicologist, he is also a performer (guitar, three‑course bouzouki, lavta, mandolin) and a music teacher, and has led numerous workshops on makam modality and harmonisation in rebetiko and related urban popular traditions.
He has been performing since the late 1990s at music venues, concerts, and festivals, both as a solo musician and with ensembles (Basso Cantini, Trikyclo, Mandolinata of Patras, etc.), across rebetiko, folk, modern, and European classical styles, and has curated and directed a series of tributes (George Katsaros-Theologitis, Spiros Peristeris, Markos Vamvakaris, Vasilis Tsitsanis, Music Based on Poems: Dionysis Karatzas & Antonis Fostieris, etc.).
He founded and headed the “Urban Greek Popular Music School” (2012–2023) at the Philharmonic Foundation Conservatory of Patras, while establishing and serving as musical director of the “Urban Popular Music Orchestra” (2016–2020), a large ensemble that featured strings, winds, and other instruments.
In a research capacity, he has delivered multiple conference presentations and published articles, most recently “A Modal Heterotopia: Rethinking Makam Modality and Chordal Harmony in Interwar Rebetiko” (2024) in the ICTMD journal Yearbook for Traditional Music (Cambridge University Press). He is also the translator and editor of the forthcoming Greek edition (2026) of Greek Music in America (2019, ed. Tina Bucuvalas, University Press of Mississippi).
His research interests focus primarily on popular music cultures through perspectives that move beyond ethnocentrism and hegemonism.
(For further information, see academia.edu/SpirosDelegos)