Vangelis History - The Last Decades

The last decades

Vangelis was on the move again. Due to city permits, Ypsilon had to be demolished and Vangelis moved to Rome. Blade Runner, the famous soundtrack for the sci-fi film by Ridley Scott, came out in 1994. Twelve years after the worldwide release of the movie. Since 1982, many bootlegs came out to fill the gap of a missing soundtrack.

In 1995 "Foros Timis Ston Greko" was sold at the Greek museum for Culture in Athens. Initially, it was pressed in a small amount of 3000 copies for sale at the Athens National Gallery. The money was used to buy paintings for Greece. There are two editions of this release: a red box with informationsheets, a book and CD and a blue box with one sheet, a book with painitngs by El Greko. One month after this release, the album "Voices" on the East West Label. was released.Together with the world famous vocalists Stina Nordenstam, Paul Young and Caroline Lavelle he made this album wich was again released worldwide. Caroline Lavelle worked together with Massive Attack, Peter Gabriel, Radiohead, Loreena McKennitt and The Chieftains.

And, finally, in 2001 it was time for another big surprise. Back in his hometown, Athens, Vangelis gave a huge concert called Mythodea, staged at the temple of Zeus. It was dedicated to the NASA missions to Mars in search for water and proofs for ancient life on the Red Planet. The music itself was not new, but recorded back in 1993. In Athens, while Vangelis played the music live, the stage was built impressively with huge images of Hellenic helmets, the planet Mars named after the Greek god of war from ancient times and the choir was dressed as ancient Greeks. The concert was recorded for televisionbroadcast and is widely released on DVD, CD and VHS. Mythodea was performed by opera divas Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle, the London Metropolitan Orchestra and the 120-member chorus from Greece's National Opera.

The concert was criticised for risking the safety of the ancient ruins at the temple. The project had been heavily criticised for its $2.8m (Ł1.9m) budget, funded by the company behind the 2004 Olympics, as well as being accused of being inappropriate. Panaghiotis Marinis, head of the Greek Society of the Friends of the Ancients:

"It is an improper use of these places ... they may be archaeological sites but they are also holy places for our religion."

At the pressconference, held just before the concert, Vangelis said:

"Science and mythology were the topics which fascinated me since my early childhood."

Jim Garvin, NASA's chief scientist, said:

"The saga of Martian exploration continues, now enhanced vividly by the music of Vangelis, which captures part of the spirit."

Scaffolding, seating and a giant screen were erected in the ancient grounds to accommodate the performers and the 2,000 spectators. Others were able to watch on a big screen at the nearby Panathenian Stadium - the home of the first modern Olympic games. After the performance, French Education Minister Jack Lang was due to award Vangelis the French Academy's medal of the Legion of Honour.

In 2002, a year after the concert, Vangelis said about the conncetion between his music and the space theme:

"I do not try to discribe space, I'm functional working with space. Trying to discribe is a different thing, like science fiction is trying to discribe... you know... space impresses."

Vangelis at the Mythodea pressconference

In 2004, Oliver Stone movie "Alexander", about Alexander the Great (356 b.C. - 323 b.C.) was released. A worldwide release in cinemas In an interview Oliver Stone said about the film:

" I always liked the Greek outfits. They were sexier than the Romans', you've got to admit. And they didn't wear sandals. They wore boots. So don't call it a sword-and-sandal movie, for Christ's sake! It's sword-and-boot, OK?"

Making the film was a hard job. The title role was given to actor Colin Farrell. November 2004 he told BBC reporters :

"It was tough. It was a hard shoot physically and emotionally. All the boys involved put themselves on the line, and it was a blast."

Vangelis's opinion about making music for films is made clear by himself in 2004:

"Writing for a movie is not more than to try to help the movie and to bring the movie to the best possible result. Alexander is a special case. I'm trying to remember how it is to be there and to live at the time. At the same time I must speak through a language, a musical language, which is understandable today."

Two productionphotos from Alexander

Filmposters from all over the world. Here you see a Polish poster, one from the USA, a Dutch one, one from China, Turkey...

... one from Thailand, Russia, Malaisia and France...

...Germany and another one from Thailand

Just before Alexander hit the cinemas in Europe, the film caused trouble between believers and disbelievers of Alexander the Great's homosexuality . The movie itself emphasizes the major battles of the leader and sheds some light on his sexuality. A group of Greek lawyers said to sue the filmmakers saying that the film shows Alexander as bisexual in stead of him being gay. The group demanded a credit that the film is purely fiction and is not based on facts. Oliver Stone defended the film saying there was a historian to ensure accuracy. Colin Farrell, the actor in the title role said about he accusations:

"Ambivalent sexuality was something of the times and part of the character"".

The Greek lawyers have put the idea to sue the filmmakers on ice. In the maintime, the Alexander theme was voted as best flmscore by the public of WSA.

A big surprise it was. After the rumours started in 2003, Vangelis and the well-known actor Sean Connery put their talents together. In2005 a big blue box came out with a book with drawings of Connery's wife, Jacqueline Roquebrune Connery and a one track CD called Ithaca. Sean recites this poem written by C.P. Kavafis with music by Vangelis. This poem is about life, a very intense poem.

Late 2008, Vangelis was invited to yet another filmproject. The Polish filmdirector Pawel Pitera and producer Przemyslaw Hauser put their efforts together to realise a film about pope John Paul II, based upon a book that was published 2007. Swiadectwo, or Testimony, will hit the cinema's 17 October 2008. The scores used in the movie will be made by Robert Janson, a well-known Polish compser. The begin- and endtitles will be by Vangelis. The book where the film is based upon was written by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, who will be the narrative. He was the Pope's long-live secrectary and friend. They have been through many ups and downs during Karol Woytila's (Pope John Paul II's name before he became Pope) Pontificate. The film uses documentry footage as well as dramatized material. The first scenes of the film were shot autumn 2007. It took almost a year to produce the whole film. The film was shot in the Vatican, Cracow and Wadowice, as well as several locations throughout Europe. The running time is 90 minutes. Dramatised documentary is quite new in the world of filmmaking. Although some examples exist already, not many films are made in this genre. The filmmakers had to film dramatised footage because many of the most exiting themes of the Pope's life were never been photographed or filmed. The Cardinal revealed many of these themes, used in the movie.

On the question why the filmmakers choose Vangelis as the score composer, mr. Hauser answered:

"The idea to ask Vangelis to compose the film score came from Marek Szpendowski, a legendary figure, the organizer of the biggest concerts in Poland. He suggested two composers: Vangelis and Ennio Morricone. Morricone composed the score for the movie "Karol: A Man Who Became The Pope", so I didn't want to go down a trodden path and from the very beginning, opted for Vangelis. There are two composers in Testimony, apart fron Vangelis, we also have Robert Janson, whose contribusion to the score will be quite considerable. Janson is best known for Varius Manx (the Polish popgroup he is founder of) but he also composes symphonic music".

The Polish filmposter of Swiadectwo