Nick Nikitakis

Nick Nikitakis ( Greek Νίκος Νικητάκης , * 1955 in Thessaloniki ) is a guitarist, bouzouki player and songwriter of Greek origin living in Germany .

Life

Nikitakis came to Cologne with his parents in 1960. He already appeared as a child at the WDR and in 1970 as a guitarist at the Schauspiel Köln ; In the mid-1970s he played guitar in the jazz rock bands Brainstorm and Friendship as well as with Guru Guru . From 1985 he studied Greek music and bouzouki. In 1989 he toured with Big Time Sarah and with Charlie Musselwhite and since that year has worked with three bands in the field of blues rock , rebetiko and Mediterranean jazz fusion. The three bands were merged in 1997 to form the Nikitakis group.

In 1992 he took part in the campaign against right-wing extremism Ass huh, Zäng ussenander ; he composed the title song of the action, for which Wolfgang Niedecken from BAP wrote the text. His album Kitchen Songs was released in 1995, followed by The Blue Songs from Thessalonia in 1999 . His studio album Jam Francisco, recorded in San Francisco, was released in September 2013 after an extensive trip to the USA .

With the stage program and the album Les cycles de Theodorakis , Nikitakis paid homage to the Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis . On his album Nä wat ess dat schön he recorded popular folk songs from Cologne with friends. In 2004 he published the book Aigelstein ... un Wenn die Musik nit wör (with CD), which contains stories that he tells about his songs when he performs. He also worked as a studio and guest musician with Werner Dies , Lydie Auvray , Peter Kraus , Reinhard Mey , the Bläck Fööss , the Höhnern and Jürgen Zeltinger .

Web links

• Nick Nikitakis' homepage
• Biography (Rhinelander)
• Works by and about Nick Nikitakis in the catalog of the German National Library