On Your Balcony / Στο μπαλκονάκι σου (single)

Argyris Argyropoulos & Helen Sinis (vocals)

Music by Pavlos Andronikos
Lyrics by Ekaterini Mpalouka
Saz: John Norton
Baglamas, violin: Hector Cosmas
Synths, programming: Pavlos Andronikos
Clarinet: Ken Schroder
Steel-string Guitar: Michael Teo
Bass: Pavlos Andronikos
Percussion: Denis Close & Argyris Argyropoulos
Recorded at C’est Ca, Collingwood & elsewhere
Recording Engineers: Genevieve Coath & Pavlos Andronikos
Mixed by Stephen Stelios Adam

This recording was made for the album In a Strange Land / Επί Γης Αλλοτρίας: an anthology of Greek-Australian songs and music produced by Pavlos Andronikos & Stephen Stelios Adam.

“On Your Balcony” was first heard in public at the “White, Red, Yellow, Blue Concert” organized and produced for the Greek Australian Cultural League of Victoria by Pavlos Andronikos (October 1994). It was sung by Christella Demetriou, who was accompanied by Michael Teo (keyboard), Tracey Tan (violin), and Pavlos Andronikos (classical guitar). At the end of the song, one can hear, amidst the applause, someone shouting enthusiastically «Μπράβο, Παύλο!» ("Bravo, Pavlos!”) It was Kyriakos Amanatidis who, on hearing the song for the first time, jumped to his feet to show his appreciation.

Prior to that performance there was a demo recording made with synths and MIDI which was sung by myself, Pavlos Andronikos. It was from that recording that the performers learnt their parts.

The big question for the In a Strange Land version was who should sing? Christella was very keen that it be her, and she did do a very nice vocal, which I’m afraid I have misplaced. However it is really a lyric for a male voice, and so I asked Argyris to have a go. I will never forget that recording session. There were three of us in the back office (my home studio), for Helen Sinis was there too. Argyris listened to the song, then sat down in the corner and studied the words for some minutes. That was it! We did the take, and it was perfect. No second take was necessary. Both Helen and I knew that that was the vocal to use.

Only one thing remained—I got the idea of getting Helen to sing in the final verse, to create a call-and-response effect, and thus imply a happy ending. With that, we turned a song of frustration into its opposite.

The single is distributed by LANDR, and is available on most platforms (e.g. Spotify, YouTube, Apple, Amazon).