This short video, shared by his long-time partner Laura Metaxa on Elsewhere, captures a previously unreleased synth jam by the late composer and synthesist Vangelis.
Vangelis died four years ago at the age of 79 from complications of Covid-19.
Metaxa shared this message:
“It’s been 4 years now without Vangelis.
It took me time to understand deep down that he was no longer here to direct me or to pass on his light, which was always shining so bright. He was and still is such a strong presence and all those years I was intensely observing him sharing his convictions and values. Now it certainly is among my duties to protect and to preserve his personal archive for posterity and to rearrange things dear to him.”
No information was shared about the location or date of the recording. If you’ve got any insight on this, share it in the comments!
via Shawn
Awesome!
Vangelis will always be my all time favorite.
Is this not a portion of the ‘Nemo studio’ videos that have been out there forever? Maybe it is the same setup moved to another room, if not. My favourite unofficial Vangelis release is the 1979 London UK bootleg but those old jam videos were great too.
This is an unknown video, you are probably recalling the Nemo Studios’ videos from TV, a profile on Vangelis called “Man and His Music”, they were two episodes broadcast on TV in the 80s, and you can easily find them on YouTube
There are lots of clips where he seems to be in this room with similar length of hair/beard that I’m referencing. So it is an early 80s maybe mid-80s piece of footage. Perhaps multiple people brought a videocamera in to capture the setup around that time. Either that or he moved some of the gear to another place and arranged it the same way. Perhaps another friend or promotion or studio person captured a session from which this is taken, or it is a clip from the same footage, so that was my guess.
Aaah, only 27 seconds!
Only problem: that needs to be an hour longer! If you really want the best overall picture, look up the documentary “Vangelis and the Journey To Ithaka.” Its a bit long, but it answers most of the questions you’d want to ask. It includes some good synth-spotting, too.
Exactly.
It’s surprising how little video there is of Vangelis at work or in performance, especially for someone of his fame.
I’m always amazed at how Vangelis improvised completely arranged works throughout his career, regardless of the sophistication of his equipment.