Manolis Rasoulis used to travel a lot to explore the world and write music. We are close friends and fellow travellers in some journeys and found out we have a common artisitc purpose. He had his pen and I had my camera to express the world and people's lives. We met for the last time a few days before he died, when he was reciting a prologue during a music event for Manos Hadjidakis at the haunt of "Ianos" bookshop. "When one loses limits one must take measures" he said among other things to the audience, referring to the economic crisis that's plaguing our country.

Condensing life

This rare man and artist encapsulated the life of Greeks into very few words. He used to affect our thinking with just one of his verses and he distracted us from the buzz and ennui of everyday life. His lyrics are minimalist and one couldn’t add or remove even a comma.

His lyrics burst into his mind unexpectedly, while his worse fear was always not finding a pen to write them down somewhere. "I repeat them like 666 times in my head so that I don't forget them, but if I do, I think, ok it's not the end of the world, they'll come to me again". He was inspired by the tempo from the boatmen's row and and transformed it into a song. He came up with his lyrics by hearing sounds from hammers. The raw materials of his art were the sounds of life.

When Rasoulis was young he used to chant in the Cretan churches, where he learned to sing. "Rempetiko” (greek folk music) is like a religious activity, it has a kind of depth and weight. When I write my lyrics following a rempetiko tempo I am urged to go deep, I feel like I've got burns in my heart".

He wrote his first song in 1972: "Into your warm embrace I slip and fall upstanding/ and by the time I drink your beauty I get drunk with lust". He said that he would like people to sing his songs when he won't be around anymore: "One plus one equals two/ but when it comes to me and you/ one plus one equals one".

When he was asked about the difference between poetry and versification, Rasoulis knew better than anyone else the answer. "Versification is related to the daily routine, while poetry on the other hand is related to darkness and timelessness. Odysseus Elytis was trying to write songs about the everyday life, but it was difficult for him. Lina Nikolakopoulos writes lyrics with very intense poetry in them, which refracts the song and makes it very atmospheric. "The Fatals" of Kostas Varnalis and the "Epitaph" of Giannis Ritsos are more close to versification, because they are metrical and strictly cliché. The poetry left behind the meters and the roots and surrendered to the tide". Sometimes Manolis was lost into the poetry, but the serenades brought him back to music. It was like being drawn to a magnet.

He was liked

Rasoulis was not unilaterally attached to tradition, he was open-minded to evolution. He had lived in London for many years, a place that he adored because of all the new trends. He passionately loved Crete, but he was also a wanderer. He often said that: "While in northern Crete there are many airline companies, in southern Crete everybody keeps talking about fried rabbits. The adherence to tradition has kind of been stretched and there must be some modernization to balance the situation".

Manolis was like a little child who sees the world for the first time and used to mix up with kids in order to see Jackie Chan films or climb on the pyramids of Cairo at night to study the constellations and sing traditional songs. He was friendly with everyone and at the same time he was unreachable and distant. Deep into his soul he used to be like a nuclear reactor but with lyrics.
He was overwhelmed by millions of chaotic stimuli and he transformed them into condensed wisdom. Many writers wrote about vanity and the temporary character of authority and many more about the power of love able to withstand everything. Rasoulis, without any chatter, condensed the above meanings in a single line, with his verse: "The governments fall, but love lasts forever".

As Rasoulis used to travel a lot his friends and relatives had stopped looking for him on a day-to-day basis and not worry if their calls were unanswered. The fact that he was alone during the last moments of his life was just a coincidence. When he flooded with inspiration he preferred to be alone. If he didn't do that he wouldn't be able to write a single line, and would be swallowed and destroyed by the daily routine.

His friend from Katerini

Apart from his beloved daughter and his brothers, Manolis had fraternal friends who were not related to his profession, like Costas Bouziotas, the trainer and school counsellor from Katerini. He used to stay at Costas' home for weeks, where the view of Olympus mountain is breathtaking. Costas rears and trains pigeons that make very impressive flights and splurges in the sky. One day a bird of prey killed a dove and Rasoulis wrote a song for Costas in order to console him: "Costas the pigeon trainer with his eighty doves/ has also a female dove always flying to the stars/ For that, the vulture that was lurking/ covered her with his black wings and she started purring/ Costas the pigeon man for the sake of his dove/ stands there and sings and cries day and night".

Costas Bouziotas got in the train from Katerini to go to Manolis Rasoulis's funeral in Athens. During the journey he used a piece of paper to describe his close friend: "He used to live on the edge of two worlds, the microcosm of everyday life and the macrocosm of wisdom. With the first he experienced the common fate of man and felt that he had to fight for social ideals. He mercilessly tha fakes, or as he used to call them “the bad ones who got disguised as good and obtained power”. In the vortex of wisdom into which Rasoulis used to sink into, there was no space for the ephemeral but only for absolute freedom, the inner vision to knowing oneself. Manolis swung like a pendulum between the two worlds, something which gave him immense spiritual, mental and physical intensity. Exhausted by this constant tension and worry, there came a time when he shut the microcosm door and was totally left in the macrocosm. He passed to the opposite side forever with pride, kindness and discretion".
 Aside from Bouziotas, there are hundreds of people who adore Rasoulis in Katerini and mourn for his loss. Antonis, Eftychis, Babis, Amalia, Vaggelis, Theodore, Haris, John, Zoe, Nick, Helen, Nopi, Koula, Maria, Anna and many others cried for him. The whole town grieves.

When he met Stelios Kazantzides

If there's life after death, Manolis Rasoulis must have already met Stelios Kazantzides, whom he loved dearly. During Stelios's burial, people were depositing musical instruments and other objects in his grave. Manolis stayed for a long time over his grave, until the grave digger asked him: "Will you deposit anything?". He looked for something to leave there, but he found nothing, so he threw his hat. He loved this hat very much; he used to wear it all the time. Now Kazantzides will be able to give it back to him so that he can wear it in the afterlife.
TEXT-PHOTOS: GEORGE ZAFEIROPOULOS
SOURCE: www.greecewithin.com

MORE PHOTOS

One of Rasoulis's favorite pictures, found in Monastiraki by his close friend and partner George Kontogiannes.

Rasoulis's concerts in Crete were different from those of the rest of Greece. They were more atmospheric and often much more emotional.

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