Michalis Thomakos

Available information on Michalis Thomakos is surprisingly scarce – surprisingly, because he was quite popular in Greece and made about 250 recordings, almost exclusively tangos and other pop songs and just one single operatic selection. He was the featured artist on the very first 78rpm disc ever manufactured in Greece, a December 1930 Columbia. Columbia was the label that issued most of Thomakos' recordings; he had forged his relation with that company in Italy, where he had spent the years 1928 and 1929, singing opera on a handful of records as well as on stage (for instance in Parma, Meran and Pistoia), as Michele Tomaco or Tomako. His Greek operatic career is completely undocumented, all we know is that he made his debut as early as 1922, at 18 years old. Later on, however, he appeared in vaudeville in Athens. He also shot at least one film in Greece (1933).

His career, at least on records, was long: he later had a contract with Standard/Colonial, a New York based Greek record company active primarily after World War II.

Reference 1, reference 2, reference 3, reference 4: Roberto Marcocci, reference 5
Picture source: Forgotten Opera Singers

I would like to thank Anton Bieber for the recordings and label scans.