Biography
Born in Athens, Greece , Athanassios Panou’s musical career began at the Conservatory of Music of Athens. With unrelentless dedication, Athanassios graduated as a Honorary Major in Professional Guitar.
Driven by his desire to expand his musical knowledge, the young musician attended seminars with internationally reputed classical guitarists: Kostas Kotsiolis, Leo Brower, Avielo Desiderio, Roberto Aousel, amongst others. Impressed by the works of such great musicians, Panou was inspired to begin composing his own music.
In 1991, Athanassios Panou entered a contest at the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Intellectual Property, in which he received the second place award of the Greek National Prize for Composing. That same year, the enthusiastic young musician was selected to be the Official Artistic Representative of Greece, in a world wide conference held in Romania in honour of poet and writer Panait Istrati. There, Panou was invited to appear at the palace of Boukourest as well as at the national radio and television stations in Romania.
Upon his return to Athens, Panou was approached by leading members of the Chorus of the National Television, to collaborate, under the direction of maestro Antoni Kontogeorgiou and Loukas Karitinos, as a tenor accompaniment at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Mediterranean Games in Athens.
In the following years, the musician continued to compose and began focusing on the lyrical accompaniment of his work.
In 1995, Panou collaborated once again as a tenor accompaniment with Oslo Sifonetta, directed by Stefan Skold, at the Festival of Argos in Greece.
Athanassios spent the following years working as a singer at various local concerts and accepted numerous invitations to appear on Greek television. During this time, the aspiring musician met with and had the opportunity to work with some of the most acclaimed names in the music industry in Greece. These include Thanasis Polykandriotis ,Georgos Katsaros, Marios Tokas, Paschalis, Manolis Mitsias, Gerasimos Andreatos, Vicky Moscholiou, Sophia Vossou, Lena Alkaiou and Marina Skiadaresi. He also worked with jazz group Nama as well as with singers I.Vei and Kay Konnors. In 1998, Athanassios Panou became a member of the International Federation of Musicians.
In early 2000, Panou collaborated as a leading guitarist, with the Country group Replete Bros. Their album, Crossroads, was later released in 2002, by Legend Records.The Replete Bros received nominations for Country Music Association Global Artist Award two times in a row in 2003 and 2004.
Panou’s musical talent and his ability to perform various genres of music won him the recognition and admiration of music connaisseurs in Greece and abroad. He was invited by honorary members of the American and Romanian Embassies in Greece, to perform at conferences and galas hosted by the embassies.
In 2000, Panou received the First Award of Chamber Music at the Conservatory of Music of Athens.In 2001, after presenting many successful performances, he released "The Old music", a CD featuring a musical synergy of Native American-Indian rhythms, country beats and contemporary Mediterranean undertones.
Gregory Cascante, founder, president and Chief Executive Officer of CEO Films LLC, and August Entertainment, took special interest in Panou’s eclectic style, and invited him to become a member of "Audition for Hollywood", as an opportunity for Panou to display his talent and gain visibility amongst entertainment industry decision-makers.
Today, Panou’s work continues to draw inspiration from various genres of music, as he appears in various events and conferences throughout Greece. Panou appears as an impressive guitar soloist in a repertoire which includes soft and classical Greek music, traditional and soft-rock ballads, soothing flamenco melodies, and entrancing Indian-American beats.
***************The Story***************
Each of the 6 musical themes is part of a story.
A story of “lonely” man in everyday life that sees a dream that changes the course of his life. It is a dream of a quest between his apparently real everyday life and the real course of his existence, as he battles the quest of his soul's light, faced with “shadows” that fight him. In the dream (First theme: The Dream) he is in a town of North America, and gazing at it from a hill and, as the dusk comes, he feels as though the town looks familiar to him, as though he had been there in the past.
He knows the place from long ago, before the marks of this civilization.
Suddenly he is conquered by the feeling of the quest and the reason that he is there (Second theme: Wherever You Are) and is incarnated in the quest of a person, feeling that in this way he will find the answer he is looking for.
Suddenly with the corner of his eye he catches the shape of an old man approaching him.
By his features he can tell that he is a Native American.
After getting close to him he sits beside him and tells him, “I know why you are here. The force to beat the shadows is inside of you. You just need to see with the eyes of the soul" and so he begins to sing an old tune (Third theme: The Old Music) and the “traveler” is now in a different era in an Native American Indian camp among people that he feels are his brothers. He is filled with infinite joy.
Here are details of the story as to what is happening in the camp with two additional musical themes.
Now he knows. Now he has the power.
And so, he begins his return. (Theme four: Epistrofi (The Return)
1.THE DREAM{MUSIC BY THANASSIS PANOY}
2.WHEREVER YOU ARE {MUSIC BY THANASSIS PANOY}
3.THE OLD MUSIC {MUSIC BY THANASSIS PANOY}
4."EPISTROFI" (THE RETURN) {MUSIC BY THANASSIS PANOY - GEORGE KATSANOS}
ORCHESTRATION BY GEORGE KATSANOS
RECORDED AND MIXED BY KOSTAS KOSTOPOULOS AT WAVE PRODUCTION GREECE