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PS & SC would like to express our sadness at the death of our friend Babis Argyriou.
Babis was a key figure in the Greek music scene, especially in his
hometown Thessaloniki. In spite of long-term health problems, Babis was
energized by his passionate love of music. He managed to transcend, or
at least work around, these challenges to his health. In the early
1980s he started a pirate radio station (Radio Free), which gave
exposure to Punk and New Wave, as well as to independent American and
Australian bands. These included Wipers and Husker Du (two of his
favorites), Sunnyboys and New Christs. Later, he started the legendary
Greek fanzine Rollin’ Under, which promoted local Greek bands, as well as American and Australian acts. |
Babis and Rollin’ Under also put together cassette collections, which were released by Lazy Dog. Lazy Dog Records
later became an established and influential label. Babis was involved
in the release of a series of seven inch vinyl singles and re-issued
albums by bands such as Mecano, Zounds and The Mob. At the same time,
he was running a small record store and was a key member of the Thessaloniki DIY
(Do It Yourself) scene. This included a network of independent record
labels and music stores, distribution services, pirate radio stations,
rehearsal spaces and recording studios. The common denominator was the
DIY ethos, a sense of shared musical values, community and cooperation,
rather than competition:
In
the 1990s Babis supported the music of Phil Shoenfelt & Southern
Cross, as well as Fatal Shore and Dim Locator. At the start of the new
millennium, he founded the music site mic.gr. Without his
support, our music would not have reached such a wide audience of
independent music fans in Greece. Last year he put together a brilliant
collection of our music for Mixcloud.
In
the words of his long-time friend Hristos Peltekis, Babis was “a unique
man, honest, humble, unselfish, with a great sense of humour.” He
leaves behind a legacy of love, community spirit, influence and music –
as well as three music-related books – and will be sorely missed by
everyone he interacted with.
Αντίο, αγαπητέ φίλε, αφήστε το σώμα σας ας αναπαυθεί εν ειρήνη και το πνεύμα σας ας έχει ένα ασφαλές ταξίδι στην άλλη άκρη.
Babis
Argyriou, born 1959, died Thessaloniki January 15th 2022. Our
condolences to his friends and family. Thanks to Hristos Peltekis for
the biographical info, and to Anastis Lazaridis for the photo.
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