Alkinoos Ioannidis is a Greek Cypriot composer, lyricist, singer, and orchestrator. He was born in Nicosia on 19 September 1969. His artistic family, with a painter father and poet brother was a source of inspiration for him. He first wanted to study drums, but couldn't due to the lack of a drum teacher in Nicosia. Instead, he studied guitar. For the first 20 years of his life, he lived in a Nicosia suburb. After his military service, he went off to Greece to study theatre. He also entered the School of Philosophy, University of Athens, which he later gave up. He was more successful in his theatre studies where he played some major roles in well known Greek tragedies such as Alcestis. At the age of 23 he recorded his first album called Stin Agora Tou Kosmou with lyrics and music written by Nikos Zoudiaris. This demo tape eventually reached the hands of a well known singer, Dimitra Galani. She instantly became fond of their music and Alkinoos' voice and helped them get a record deal. Alkinoos and Zoudiaris followed with another album called Opos Mistika Kai Isicha. Both albums turned gold. From 1993 to 1997 he toured frequently in support of other artists, including one of the most important female figures of Greek music, Eleftheria Arvanitaki. In 1997 his first self-penned album, O Dromos, O Hronos Kai O Ponos, was released to critical praise. The cover to was painted by his father. His subsequent albums have also had their covers painted by his father. In 1999 he released another self-penned album, Anemodiktis. In 2000 he released a double-disc live albumEktos Topou kai Xronou. In 2003, he released Oi Peripeties enos Proskiniti. It was a popular and critical hit. In April 2006, he released an album of Cypriot folk songs titled Pou Disin Os Anatolin with his longtime violinist Miltiadis Papastamou. On 9 March 2009, he released the albumNeroponti. Released in March 2012, Local Stranger is his 12th solo album and examines the “political and economic whirlwind” that has hit Greece in recent months. In 2014 he released Mikri Valitsa dedicated to people who have been forced to leave their homeland and to those who feel their homeland has deserted them and the hardships that refugees face. Ioannidis rarely appears to give interviews or take part in television shows.
Concerts
Alkinoos regularly performs in Greece and Cyprus. In the last 30 years he has also toured across Europe and around the world including North America, Australia, Brazil, Russia and Egypt. He has toured as a soloist, with cellist and cretan lyra player Yiorgos Kaloudis or as a band supported by other notable Greek musicians.
Alkinoos Ioannidis performed at Celtic Connections Glasgow’s annual folk, roots and world music festival in 2018 and 2014, where he collaborated with Scottish singer-songwriter Karine Polwart to perform The Slaves Lament / St. Marina’s Lullaby. They also performed together in Athens in 2013 and with the Cyprus Youth Chorus as part of Pafos European Capital of Culture in September 2017. In January 2016 Alkinoos Ioannidis was the headline act of the 2016 Lonsdale Street Festival, Melbourne. In 2020 Alkinoos Ioannidis planned concerts in the USA, in New York, Boston, Atlanta and Austin, were postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak
