Michalis Hatzigiannis

Michalis Hatzigiannis was born in Nicosia on 5 November 1978; his family comes from Kyrenia, on the northern coast of Cyprus. In a 2022 interview he said that he grew up in a family that loved music and that his career developed step by step. He studied piano, guitar and music theory; biographies connect these studies with a London music academy but name it in different ways. While still a teenager he was recording in Cyprus, where his early albums included Σενάριο (Scenario, 1995) and Επαφή (Contact).

In May 1998 he represented Cyprus at the Eurovision Song Contest in Birmingham with Γένεσις (Genesis). He composed the music himself, with lyrics by Zenon Zindilis, and finished 11th. In Athens the composer Giorgos Hatzinasios chose him to sing on Άγγιγμα ψυχής (Touch of the Soul), an album of songs from a television series, released in December 1998. His first personal album in Greece, Παράξενη γιορτή, appeared on BMG Greece in March 2000, and new albums followed every one or two years.

In 2007, after the album Φίλοι και εχθροί (Friends and Enemies), he won several Arion Music Awards. On 1 March 2023 he became Deputy Minister of Culture of Cyprus; he resigned in July 2023 and returned to music. His album Terra Incognita came out in June 2024.

Hatzigiannis works as a composer as well as a singer. He has said that he loves composing songs and that this is one side of his love for music. His style is Greek pop: clear melodies, ballads and dance songs, often built around piano or guitar with modern production. Early hits such as Μόνο στα όνειρα (Only in Dreams), from Παράξενη γιορτή, made him a familiar voice on Greek radio, and the albums Κρυφό φιλί (Secret Kiss, 2002) and Ακατάλληλη σκηνή (Unsuitable Scene, 2004) extended that success.

He has also tried other directions. Κολάζ (Collage, 2009) gathered songs by established Greek composers such as Mimis Plessas and Giorgos Hatzinasios. In 2010 he released Mihalis, an album in English for European markets, and in December of the same year Το καλύτερο ψέμα (The Best Lie), with nine songs he wrote himself. Duets are an important part of his catalogue: he has recorded with Dimitra Galani and Tamta, and in 2023 a new version of Το καλύτερο ψέμα appeared with the duo Stavento and the singer Ivi Adamou. Terra Incognita (2024), a long album of 23 tracks, brings new songs together with singles from the previous years.

For more than two decades Hatzigiannis has linked Cyprus and Greece through popular song, with a catalogue that runs from Παράξενη γιορτή in 2000 to Terra Incognita in 2024. He has described music as a journey of soul and memory. Try a small comparison with two official recordings of Το καλύτερο ψέμα (The Best Lie): the 2010 album version and the 2023 version with Stavento and Ivi Adamou. Listen to the opening minute of each without reading the lyrics. Then write three Greek sentences of your own about voice, tempo and instruments, for example: Η δεύτερη εκδοχή ηχογραφήθηκε με περισσότερες φωνές (The second version was recorded with more voices). Finish with one sentence in reported speech: Η φίλη μου είπε ότι προτιμά την πρώτη (My friend said that she prefers the first one). These practice sentences are our own, not lyrics.

• At Eurovision 1998 he appeared under the spelling Michael Hajiyanni.
• In 2007 he recorded Tonight, also called Σήμερα (Today), with the German band Reamonn.
• His English-language album Mihalis was released in several European countries in 2010.
• Terra Incognita, the Latin title of his 2024 album, means unknown land.