Apostolos Nikolaidis: The Authentic Laïká Singer Who Was Never Censored

Τhis bilingual volume (508 pages, in Greek and English) is a comprehensive visual monograph on the career and artistic contribution of Apostolos Nikolaidis (1938–1999), a singer of Greek laïká (urban folk) music whose career spanned four decades. He was the first Greek artist to record “prohibited” rebétika songs with their original lyrics in the early 1970s during a time when this musical genre was banned in Greece, his vocal interpretations causing a sensation and captivating Greek music audiences worldwide.

The book, entitled Apostolos Nikolaidis: The Authentic Laïká Singer Who Was Never Censored, was researched, written and designed by the late recording artist’s daughter, Maria. It contains over 700 rare photographs, illustrations, and historical objects painting a visual portrait of Apostolos Nikolaidis’ life and musical career as well as a detailed chronology of events, appearances, and collaborations spanning five decades. In addition to serving as a visual history of Nikolaidis’ contribution to Greek music, the publication combines first-hand accounts with historical detail and rare artifacts to highlight unknown facets of Greek nightlife and laïká entertainment in North America at their peak during the back half of the 20th century.

The typographical considerations carried particular weight for the designer, not least because one of the book’s key goals was to be fully bilingual. Fedra was strongly considered from the outset, with a few other families evaluated as possible choices before the original selection was finalized. Apart from its versatility, expansive stylistic sets and readability at small sizes, Fedra’s visual temperament suited the content of the book well, ably accompanying the many photographs and artifacts while also holding its own in text-only sections such as historical timelines and first-hand accounts.

Fedra Serif A was used for the Greek body text and Fedra Sans was used for the English. Fedra Sans was also used for the many captions in the book (both Greek and English), while Fedra Serif Display was used for elements of the cover title.

Though the book is entirely bilingual, Greek is the visually dominant language. The designer opted for bold weights where needed as well as a 70% black tint for the English in order to make it easy for Greek readers to skim content while still keeping it accessible to English readers.

The book was designed and published in the United States and printed in Greece by Future Format.

In his June 6, 2022 Greek-language review on LiFO.gr, one of Greece’s leading content websites, veteran music critic Phontas Troussas called the book “a unique, even insurmountable measure of comparison in terms of how a popular Greek music artist can be presented in printed literature.”