Concert program on white paper. The main portion of the cover page is a black-and-white photo of the group. There are four men in suits (left to right: white suit, black suit, white suit, white suit). They are each wearing a black bowtie, black pants, and black shoes. They each have a drink in their right hand and look as if they are toasting. There are two guitars crossed on the ground right underneath them. The text reads: "In concert, Nick Gounaris and Trio Belcanto Sunday, October 20 - 7:30 p.m. Medinah Temple 600 North Wabash Avenue Sponsored by the Kentrikon Music Store Anthony Koclanakis, Proprietor 806 West Jackson" The inside pages contain the program details, and ads from the Hippocrates Monument Fund, The Athenian Corner, Kentrikon Store, Ted Vickas, Tom Tom Bakery, The Hellas Cafe, and Central National Bank.

From Athens to Australia, from Africa to America, both Nick Gounaris and the Trio Belcanto have been acclaimed as among the greatest Greek entertainers. All too often their separate tours have kept them apart in far-flung centers of the world. It is therefore with great pride that they are presented together for the first time on this exclusive album. Never before have their great voices and tremendous musical abilities been recorded on any LP album.

In selecting the songs for this album, only one criterion was considered -- popular acclaim! The twelve songs chosen are those that audiences continuously request wherever and whenever Nick and the Trio appear. To further preserve the beauty of their songs, no orchestral background is employed. Only the piano accompaniment of the talented George Stratis and the bass of Gounaris himself (a unique experience that makes for a first in itself) -- is used on this record.

NICK GOUNARIS

Nick Gounaris is a legend in his own time. From Athens to Australia, from Africa to America, wherever he appears, people argue whether Gounaris is greater as a singer or guitarist . . . as a composer or a lyricist. For he possesses all four talents . . . and each to such a degree as to bring fame and recognition in itself.

No matter, if Gounaris is singing folk songs, taught him by his father when he first started playing the mandolin at the age of four . . . or playing classical numbers which he learned while studying violin at the Conservatory of Music in Athens . . . Gounaris is always the same -- full of warmth, affection, rhythm and at times, even of poetry.

Once he found the guitar -- and fell in love with it -- the affair never ended. "He does not hold the guitar and play it as a musical instrument," a music critic recently wrote, "he caresses it as Paris must have Helen and extracts from it music that is sheer beauty. Few contemporary guitarists are his equal -- none are his peers."

Probably the most singular factor that makes Gounaris a living legend is that he is a paradox. A typical example occurred a few years ago while en route between concerts in Carnegie Hall and the War Memorial Theatre in San Francisco . . . he composed both the music and lyrics to a number which today is one of the most popular of the modern "Greek Rock 'n Roll" songs.

At times Gounaris reminds one of the carefree 16th-century troubadour, who, armed with a guitar, a lust for life and romantic adventure, and a keen observer of the contemporary scene, sings his songs of love -- sometimes fulfilled, often unrequited -- but always with the fullness of the beauty of people and things and life around him.

Among the four hundred songs Gounaris has composed -- for many of which he also wrote the lyrics -- can be found the entire spectrum of native rhythms, capturing the culture and lore of each country he visits, translating them into his compositions. His songs range from the seemingly discordant harmony of oriental strings to the vibrant beat of African drums. The influence of modern music from Europe and America can also be found in many of his more recent ballads.

To "Mr. Greece -- as Gounaris has been called -- Athens is his home, but the world is his heritage.

TRIO BELCANTO

As sung in the original Greek version of NEVER ON SUNDAY -- "Give me one, two three boys from Piraeus" -- you might almost think it was extolling the Trio Belcanto, for Evangelos Metaxas, Michaelle Mathaios, and Ioannis Papamakariou are "Three Boys from Piraeus."

From humble beginnings in this most volatile seaport town, three young boys -- two playing guitars and one a native Greek "Bazouki" -- started their career by singing at local taverns and Sunday picnics.

The perfect blending of their voices, coupled with their great natural ability as instrumentalists -- (none of the trio has received formal music instruction) -- skyrocketed them in five short years to become the leading recording artists of Greece.

Before recently arriving in America, the Trio Belcanto captivated audiences in the Near East, headlining the better supper clubs and theatres in Tel-Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem, Beirut, and Istanbul.

In addition to the new and exciting type of music the Trio Belcanto brings from Greece, they are fortunate in being three young and very handsome Continentals -- a combination that has fluttered the hearts of women everywhere.

All in all, the soft, haunting voice of Evangelos, the electric fingers of Michaelle, and the pixie personality of Ioannis make a most enjoyable and memorable moment of music.

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