Viev with Vangelis

When did you first start making music?
Early on, I was only four years old. We had a piano at home, and I was fascinated by it. I started tickling the keys, then really playing, then composing without quite realizing where I was going. It seemed like the natural thing to do, it was spontaneous.
It is true that when you were six, you’re to have started giving concerts?
Certainly. And I was playing my own compositions too. But I never had music lessons. I didn't want them.
When did you first take up electronic musical instruments?
That would have been around the end of the Sixties.
What instruments do you use in the studio?
All the instruments you can imagine. And that includes percussion instruments from all over the world.
How do you work?
Spontaneously, I follow the inspiration of the moment. I record everything that I compose, and I always keep the first tracks.
Where do you get your inspiration?
I was born in Greece, and I carry within me its climate, its spirit, its traditions, and its music. And yet it's not the folk music that really attracts me. I see a fusion between East and West. To me music is all one, it's indivisible. Only the language changes.
Let's talk about your record, China, which was, in l979, your first disc on Polygram. Why China?
I tried to capture on the record China as I fell it. I find certain resemblances between the music of China and the music of Greece. Of course I find a lot of musical similarities all around the world.
And you've also done the sound tracks of Blade Runner and Missing. Are you happy with them?
I did what I wanted with them. For the rest, I'll just wait and see.