duminică, 4 iulie 2010

Yani - Biography


Yanni
In Kalamata, on the shores of the Mediterranean, Yanni was born in 1954 to Sotiri and Felitsa Chryssomallis.  The second of three children, Yanni has an older brother and a younger sister. Sharing a deep-rooted love of music, the family spent much of their time playing and singing together.

Yanni's parents provided a typical Greek life for the young boy. He grew up fishing, swimming, and going to school like every other boy in his town, with one exception. Yanni was born to compose music. He began to play the piano at age six, but he refused formal piano lessons.  As a child, Yanni heard music in his head and he simply wanted to hear it come out of the piano too, so he needed to learn how to play to make that happen. He felt a certain freedom with the keys that might have been crushed under the weight of structured learning.

Music was not Yanni's only talent.  In 1969, at the age of 14, Yanni broke the Greek National swimming record for the men's 50-meter freestyle event.  Although he could have pursued this skill, he chose to travel a different path; one which eventually led him to share his musical gift with the world.

His childhood in Greece and his love for his native country gave Yanni his inspiration to compose such songs as "Santorini," "Nostalgia," and "Acroyali." (http://www.yanni.com/bio/)