Mario Frangoulis

[Libby]

I have a question. How do you pronounce his last name?

Is it: fran-GOUL-is

or

FRAN-goulis

I'm just wondering in case I ever have need of pronouncing it to anyone who wants to know what kind of music I like. Probably won't happen, but if it does, I have to know.

[Richard]

Hello Libby!

I'm fairly certain he pronounces it "Fran-GOUL-is".

Another name that few people ever get right is "Vittorio Gri-GO-lo". All the presenters at Classic FM say "GRI-go-lo", which is incorrect.

Richard

[Paddy]

Jan 8, 2014 9:16:03 GMT Richard said:

Hello Libby!

I'm fairly certain he pronounces it "Fran-GOUL-is".

Another name that few people ever get right is "Vittorio Gri-GO-lo". All the presenters at Classic FM say "GRI-go-lo", which is incorrect.

Richard

Hi Richard,
I think you're (nearly) right.
As I mentioned (after my trip to the Athens Concert), Mario's surname in Greek has no 'n' but the 'g' is pronounced in Greek a bit like 'ng'.
(In Athens, I was very interested in the modern Greek pronunciations, as I studied Ancient Greek many years ago!)
Hope that helps.

Paddy

[Richard]

Thanks Paddy!

So the correct pronunciation is probably "Frang-OOL-is".

It now appears that "Mario" is pronounced "Marios", if this short video is correct.



Edit: According to Wikipedia, his birth name is Μάριος Φραγκούλης (Marios Frangoulis):

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Frangoulis

Richard

[Paddy]

Jan 8, 2014 15:06:49 GMT Richard said:

Thanks Paddy!

So the correct pronunciation is probably "Frang-OOL-is".

It now appears that "Mario" is pronounced "Marios", if this short video is correct.



Richard

Sounds like what I heard I think.
Notice that the 'n' is not fully heard - more like a nasal 'twang' stuck before the 'g'.

Oh for the blue moon in Athens .....

Paddy

[Libby]

Thanks everybody. That's what I thought... Well, at least, I was right on where the emphasis is.

[Richard]

Hello Libby!

Yes, this is a very useful website:

www.pronouncenames.com/

Richard

[Libby]

Hey, everybody, check out Mario's #TBT (throwback thursday) FB post (not sure if he posts himself or not, though)! All positive responses from his fans, of course! Including me!

[Richard]

Thanks for that, Libby!

I see the video was uploaded to YouTube by Taylor, but now Mario's posted it I can share it on our Facebook page. The DVD is practically impossible to buy anyway.

Richard

[Libby]

Jul 26, 2014 7:08:59 GMT Richard said:

Thanks for that, Libby!

I see the video was uploaded to YouTube by Taylor, but now Mario's posted it I can share it on our Facebook page. The DVD is practically impossible to buy anyway.

Richard

You're welcome!

I remember Taylor saying he was posting them, I think, so I figured it was his. And not only impossible to buy, it was rather expensive. I believe that's what put other people off when we first saw it advertised on KVCR (a California-based PBS network), for $46 USD. But having learned my lesson by not ordering the Northern Ireland documentary when I could have, I immediately jumped at the first chance to buy the DVD, and I do not regret one single penny! Besides seeing Hayley, it helped make me a fan of Mario himself. Though it was the Nights in White Satin video that officially sold me on Mario.

[Richard]

Hello Libby!

Here's Mario singing "Nights in White Satin" with Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues back in 2002:



That's magnificent!

Richard

[comet]

I still remember the first time I heard Nights in White Satin and how moving and dramatic it was,
even though I heard it on a tiny transistor radio.

Great to see the reaction of the young woman in the audience, Hayward still has the magic.
A great song is one of the things that can truly can last forever.

Oh by the way, this was Decca's first attempt at "Classical Crossover" this is the zero point or the big bang of where we are today. They set up the Deram label for Days of future passed the album that the longer version of this song is on.

[martindn]

Yes, I have been listening to the "magnificent 7", the series of 7 albums by the Moody Blues that started with "Days of Future Passed". I actually think that their follow up to "Nights in White Satin" which is called "watching and waiting" and which was on album no 4 "To our Children's Children's Children" is a better song - but for some reason it didn't sell nearly so well as a single. The Moodies themselves thought it was the best song they ever wrote, and I find it hard to disagree. Perhaps it made the mistake of not being about sex.

Martin D

[Libby]

Jul 27, 2014 13:45:23 GMT comet said:

I still remember the first time I heard Nights in White Satin and how moving and dramatic it was,
even though I heard it on a tiny transistor radio.

Great to see the reaction of the young woman in the audience, Hayward still has the magic.
A great song is one of the things that can truly can last forever.

Yes, whenever I watch my DVD, Richard i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif , I get chills throughout the whole song, especially when that girl also reacts so emotionally. It makes my reaction stronger as well.

Whenever I get those chills while listening to music, I'm not cold the whole time. I go back and forth between feeling cold and warm. It's really strange, but I absolutely love music that can do that to me, and especially if they do that to me everytime. That song is one that does, as well as Mario's live version of Music of the Night (on a live CD/DVD album of the same title). In the big notes he just blows me away. His version is most definitely my favorite version of that song. I bought the album especially for that song, as well as Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, even though I can't play the DVD on my TV, I had to have it anyway. His version of the song from Tosca (Lucevan something) is wonderful, too. I have watched it on my computer, of course, and watching him is partly what brings out the chills because he expresses emotions so vividly on his face. I had to be able to at least listen to the songs, too. So despite being PAL it was totally worth my money. Maybe someday I'll buy a DVD player that can play both NTSC and PAL.

I used to get really emotional listening to Sonny by Hayley, as well. Also, I still do with Songbird and I Know You By Heart. But the rest I've heard so many times that I've become a bit immune to it. I just need new Hayley songs to blow me away.

[martindn]

Well Libby, in the meantime you could explore the Moody Blues. They wrote literally hundreds of wonderful songs. Everyone considers the Beatles the finest popular songwriters of the 1960s, but sometimes I wonder. I don't think the Moodies were noticed in the States until about their fifth of the "Magnificent 7".

Martin D