After having taken piano lessons, Vangelis began his professional musical career working with several popular bands of the 1960s such as the Forminx and Aphrodite's Child, with the latter's album 666 going on to be recognized as a psychedelic classic. Throughout the 1970s, Vangelis composed music scores for several animal documentaries, including L'Apocalypse des Animaux, La Fête sauvage and Opéra sauvage; the success of these scores brought him into the film scoring mainstream. In the early 1980s, Vangelis formed a musical partnership with Jon Anderson, the lead singer of progressive rock band Yes, and the duo went on to release several albums together as Jon & Vangelis.
In 1981, he composed the score for the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Score. The soundtrack's single, the film's "Titles" theme, also reached the top of the American Billboard Hot 100 chart and was used as the background music at the London 2012 Olympics winners' medal presentation ceremonies. Vangelis also received acclaim for his synthesizer-based soundtrack for the 1982 film Blade Runner.
Having had a career in music spanning over 70 years and having composed and performed more than 50 albums, Vangelis is considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of electronic music.
Vangelis was born 29 March 1943, in Agria, near Volos, Greece. Largely a self-taught musician, he reportedly began composing at the age of three. His earliest memory is "playing piano, some percussion and whatever else that was available that made a noise. Right from the start, I was only interested in playing my own music". He refused to take traditional piano lessons, and throughout his career did not have substantial knowledge of reading or writing musical notation. When he was six, Vangelis's parents enrolled him at a specialist music school in Athens. He recalls "I was lucky not to go because music schools close doors rather than open them". He studied painting, an art he still practices, at the Athens School of Fine Arts.
In 1989 received Max Steiner Award. France made Vangelis a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in 1992 and promoted to Commander in 2017, as well Chevalier de la Legion d’ Honneur in 2001. In 1993 received music award Apollo by Friends of the Athens National Opera Society. In 1995, Vangelis had a minor planet named after him (6354 Vangelis) by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center (MPC) at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; the name was proposed by the MPC's co-director, Gareth V. Williams, rather than by the object's original discoverer, Eugène Joseph Delporte, who died in 1955, long before the 1934 discovery could be confirmed by observations made in 1990. In 1996 and 1997 was awarded at World Music Awards.
NASA conferred their Public Service Medal to Vangelis in 2003. The award is the highest honour the space agency presents to an individual not involved with the American government. Five years later, in 2008, the board of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens voted to make Vangelis an Honorary Doctor, making him Professor Emeritus at their Faculty of Primary Education. In June 2008, the American Hellenic Institute honoured Vangelis with an AHI Hellenic Heritage Achievement Award for his "exceptional artistic achievements" as a pioneer in electronic music and for his lifelong dedication to the promotion of Hellenism through the arts. On 16 September 2013, he received the honour of appearing on the Greek 80 cent postage stamp, as part of a series of six distinguished living personalities of the Greek Diaspora.
We Were All Uprooted
Vangelis Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The earth was stolen from beneath our feet
We became a Diaspora
An unnamed nation of bastards
We channeled our roots to the pulse of light
deep within the galaxies of our mind
Our breath was the sky
We claimed the wilderness
We recognized each other
The lyrics to Vangelis's song "We Were All Uprooted" paint an image of displacement, loss, and persecution. The first two lines indicate that the singer and those they address were pulled from their homes and that their land was seized without their consent. The use of the word "uprooted" suggests a sense of forcible expulsion from a place that was once familiar and comfortable. The following line "We became a Diaspora" suggests that the singer and those they refer to may have been exiled or dispersed, no longer able to identify with a specific place or culture. The term "Diaspora" refers to a scattered population with a common origin, often used to describe the Jewish diaspora. The use of the term in this context implies a shared identity of displacement and disconnection from one's roots.
The final line, "An unnamed nation of bastards," is a powerful and provocative statement. The singer uses the phrase "unnamed nation" to suggest that despite being uprooted, dispersed, and scattered, they are still a cohesive group with a shared identity. The word "bastards" is used to describe people who are born out of wedlock, often in negative or derogatory contexts. Here, it is used as a kind of self-identification, a way for the singer and those they address to assert themselves against those who may have tried to marginalize or isolate them.
The remainder of the lyrics suggest a kind of spiritual journey, as the singer and those they address find meaning and purpose in a world where they may no longer have a physical home. The lines "We channeled our roots to the pulse of light/Deep within the galaxies of our mind" suggest a kind of transformation or enlightenment. The use of cosmic imagery, such as galaxies and light, suggests a connection to something greater than oneself.
Finally, the lines "We claimed the wilderness/We recognized each other" suggest a kind of empowerment - that despite being uprooted and marginalized, the singer and those they address have found strength and community. The word "wilderness" suggests a kind of untamed, unexplored space, and the act of claiming it suggests a kind of ownership or control over one's own destiny.
Line by Line Meaning
We were all uprooted
We were all forcibly removed from our homes and communities
The earth was stolen from beneath our feet
Our connection to our land and roots was taken away from us
We became a Diaspora
We became a scattered community without a true homeland
An unnamed nation of bastards
We were seen as outcasts and unwanted, with no proper identity or recognition
We channeled our roots to the pulse of light
We found solace in our inner selves and the greater universe beyond us
deep within the galaxies of our mind
Inside our consciousness and imagination
Our breath was the sky
We felt connected to the vastness of the world and its atmosphere
Our dreams were water
We longed for the essence of life and purification through it
We claimed the wilderness
We took ownership of what little we had left and made the most of it
We recognized each other
We found commonality in our struggles and pain, and supported one another in our plight
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Sofia Louka
We were all uprooted
The earth was stolen from beneath our feet
We became a Diaspora
An unnamed nation of bastards
We channeled our roots to the pulse of light
Deep within the galaxies of our mind
Our breath was the sky
Our dreams were water
We claimed the wilderness
We recognized each other
Daniel Lapierre
The best album,masterpiece...share with every one
Ninoslav Djordjevic
You are the best among the best I have all your albums, your tunes go as far into the depths of the human soul. To me the best albums (that's my opinion are: 666 and Earth).
I wish you long life and success in their future work.
You're the best!
Henry
Pppppppppp00ppp00p0p00ppp0
Armin Hummler
My friend, ever listened to the album "The Dragon" from 1978? I recommend and am sure, you will love it! ;-)
Ninoslav Djordjevic
I have everything from him including his group Children of Aphrodite
Robert
Not a studio album obv but Blade Runner for me, all the way!
MothershipOracle
+Ninoslav Djordjevic i agree totaly! 666 and earth- his best works!
Mariano Carucci
QUE hermoso tema!!!!!
andreitaaa_rblx
Magnífico tema, muy de la época
Mylittlestudio
It s so wonderfull .... Hypnotik....great musical piece of the greek master :-) :-)