Nikos Kokkinos

Nikolaos Kokkinos was a composer of popular choir songs (serenades) and one of the greatest Hellenes songwriters of all times. Original troubadour and guitarist, almost self-taught, he approached all kinds of popular music, with skill and variety while creating a special kind of Athenian canzonetta, sometimes playful and sometimes emotional. He was born in Athens, in 1861. He composed more than 300 songs. Some of these are arrangements or transcriptions. Almost all of them are original and all became "property" of the Hellenic people. His first composition Xanthoula dates back to 1895. But his most creative period was between 1900 and 1910 during which he visited Constantinople at least three times. By the end of 1919, he was economically and morally weary. At that time, he was asked to visit Constantinople on highly favorable terms but he did not want to go because he had a feeling that something bad would happen to him. Indeed, after a few months in Constantinople, he died on 06/01/1920, due to heart attack.