Haralambos Tsertos (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

: Μπάμπης Τσέρτος) was born in Tropea

Tropaia

Tropaia is a village and a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Gortynia, of which it is a municipal unit. Population 4,660 ....

 of Arcadia

Arcadia

Arcadia is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the central and eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas. In Greek mythology, it was the home of the god Pan...

, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 on October 27, 1956. He is brother of the singer Nadia Karagianni. His father was a musician too, and he was playing the Mandolin

Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...

. At the age of 17 he is settled permanently in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 and in 1974 he entered the Faculty of Physics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens , usually referred to simply as the University of Athens, is the oldest university in Southeast Europe and has been in continuous operation since its establishment in 1837. Today, it is the second-largest institution of higher learning in Greece,...

.

Early years

As a student he learns playing the Bouzouki

Bouzouki

The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...

 and he participates in the University music band singing entexno, rebetiko

Rebetiko

Rebetiko, plural rebetika, , occasionally transliterated as Rembetiko, is a term used today to designate originally disparate kinds of urban Greek folk music which have come to be grouped together since the so-called rebetika revival, which started in the 1960s and developed further from the early...

 and folk

Greek folk music

Greek folk music includes a variety of Greek styles played by ethnic Greeks in Greece, Cyprus, Australia, the United States and elsewhere. Apart from the common music found all-around Greece, there are distinct types of folk music, sometimes related to the history or simply the taste of the...

 songs.
In 1980 he started to work as a professional student, singing at the tavern "Oi filoi" ("The Friends") at Kypseli, Athens

Kypseli, Athens

Kypseli is a neighbourhood which forms much of the 6th municipal department in the centre of Athens, the capital of Greece. The population of the area is 147,500.-Boundaries:...

.

Collaborations

Since then, he has worked with great Greek artists, such as Sotiria Bellou

Sotiria Bellou

Sotiria Bellou was a famous Greek singer and performer of the Greek rebetiko style of music. She was one of the most famous rebetisas of all, mentioned in many music guides, and a contributor to the 1984 British Documentary entitled Music of the Outsiders...

, Takis Binis, Anna Chrysafi, Keti Gray, Kostas Kaplanis, Theodoros Polykandriotis, Koulis Skarpelis, Hondronakos, as well as with recent years singers such as Babis Goles, Giorgos Xindaris, Stelios Vamvakaris, Mario, Agathonas Iakovidis, Glykeria

Glykeria

Glykeria is a Greek singer active in Greece and Cyprus, while also gaining fame in Israel, France, Turkey and England. Her career has spanned over 30 years and is marked by several multi-platinum releases...

, Manolis Mitsias, Vicky Moscholiou

Vicky Moscholiou

Vicky Moscholiou , born in Metaxourgeio in Athens, was a Greek singer. On 14 March 2010, Alpha TV ranked Moscholiou the 13th top-certified female artist in the nation's phonographic era ....

, Lakis Halkias, Petros Vagiopoulos, Eleni Vitali, George Dalaras

George Dalaras

George Dalaras , also possibly spelled as Yorgos or Giorgos Dalaras, is a Greek singer. He is of international fame and has recently been selected as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. He was born in Nea Kokinia, Piraeus. His father was Loukas Daralas, a singer of rebetiko.-Early...

, Pantelis Thalassinos, Nadia Karagianni, Chronis Aidonidis, Theodosia Stiga, Sotiria Leonardou, and others.

In the recent years he is also cooperating with the Mandolin Orchestra of Exarchia

Exarcheia

Exarcheia, alternatively spelled as Exarchia, Exarheia and Exarhia , is the name of a neighborhood in downtown Athens, Greece close to the historical building of the National Technical University of Athens. The Exarcheia region is famous as a stomping ground for Greek anarchists...

 "Dionisios Lavragas", which has given a series of concerts in many theaters and at the National Opera of Greece

Greek National Opera

The Greek National Opera is the country's state lyric opera company, located at 59 Akadimias Street in centralAthens. It is a public corporation under the supervision of the Greek Ministry of Culture and administered by the Board of Trustees and its Artistic Director.The organization is responsible...

, with great lyrical artists. The culmination of this cooperation was his participation at the album "Diadromes" (music by Christos Nikolopoulos, lyrics by Fontas Ladis), that refers at the neighborhoods of Athens and is a live recording from the concert of the Mandolin Orchestra in the National Opera.

Awards

In 2002 he won the award for the best singer of rebetiko at the "Corfu Awards" and in 2003 the award for the best folk album for "Anaglifa mias tehnis tapinis" at the "Arion Awards".
He has also cooperated with the orchestra "Estudiantina" of Nea Ionia (Volos

Volos

Volos is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about 326 km north of Athens and 215 km south of Thessaloniki...

, Geeece), presenting the great musical richness of the folk songs from Smyrne

Smyrna

Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...

. He also participated in the album "Smyrne" of Estudiantina, that was released in 2003 as a production of George Dalaras with the participation of many great singers, that won the award for the best traditional album at the "Arion Awards".

Discography

Babis Tsertos has 9 personal albums as well as several participations in other albums.

Personal Albums

• 1993 - Atimi tihi
• 1996 - Erotopoulion
• 1998 - Ta niata ta berbandika
• 1999 - To meraklidiko pouli
• 2000 - Tis ligeris apenanti
• 2002 - Anaglifa mias tehnis tapinis
• 2006 - To monopati
• 2008 - O Babis Tsertos tragouda Mihali Souyioul (Babis Tsertos sings Mihalis Souyioul)
• 2010 - I girologi (Book + CD)
• 2010 - Stou paradisou to vitho

Participations

• 1988 - Babis Goles 6
• 1992 - Ellada stin iyia sou
• 1993 - I veterani tou rempetikou (The veterans of Rebetiko)
• 1995 - Tragoudopiion i orea Ellas
• 1995 - Me mia ombrela tripia
• 1996 - I rimes tis agapis
• 1996 - Me ti fora tou anemou
• 1997 - Gia sou kir-isagelea
• 1999 - I topi tis kardias mou
• 1999 - Drosostalida
• 2001 - Ta fantaristika
• 2001 - Saranta hronia tragoudia ke moussikes(Forty years of songs and music)
• 2002 - Ta Arkadika
• 2002 - Diadromes
• 2003 - Paravasis
• 2003 - Egeo
• 2003 - Smyrne
• 2003 - Xigimena ke parexigimena
• 2005 - Isovia
• 2006 - I Estudiadina parousiazi tin orhistra laikon organon "Odissos"
• 2006 - Spai to rodi
• 2007 - Laika fegaria
• 2007 - To telefteo mou tsigaro
• 2008 - Tragoudia me ousies
• 2008 - Attik - Tribute
• 2008 - Handra-Handra tragoudo
• 2009 - Panigiri sto Pertouli
• 2009 - Sta monopatia tis paradosis
• 2009 - Me ton Obama adama
• 2009 - Na ta poume?
• 2011 - Gerapetros - Traditional Songs & Carols from Crete
• 2011 - Carmina Graeca
• 2011 - Stou hronou tis katapaktes
• 2011 - Dose mou mia spitha ap' to fili sou
• 2011 - Osa hronia ki an perasoun

Collections

Personal Collections

• 2005 - Deka hronia tragoudia (10 years songs)
• 2007 - Glenti me ton Tserto

Collections of the "Rebetiki Tetras" (Glykeria, Agathonas Iakovidis, Babis Tsertos, Babis Goles)

• 1997 - Pino ke metho
• 1998 - Me paresire to rema
• 2003 - Tis gerakinas gios
• 2004 - Arhisan ta organa

Sources

• www.babistsertos.gr - Official website of Babis Tsertos

"Guide of Hellenic Discography", by Petros Dragoumanos