News, info and works of Greek-American artist, Ithaka (Ithaka Darin Pappas); visual artist, music-maker, writer, photog, citizen biologist & saltwater nomad (surfer). Lives between LA, CDMX and AkahtiLândia, Brasil. Ithaka official instagram: @_ithaka_
SO GET UP - lyrics and vocals by Ithaka.
Publishing: Ravenshark Music/Scion Four Music/ASCAP
See his new vocal-only album entitled
"So Get Up & The Lost Acapellas"
released by Sweatlodge Records. https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ithaka2
___________________________________________
Also titled,
Ithaka's
"So Get Up" vocals and lyrics have been used on tracks mixed by:
Underground Sound Of Lisbon, Junior Vasquez, Danny Tenaglia, Orion's
Voice, Sarasite, Committee, Public Domain, Stretch & Verne,
Marcel, Fatboy Slim, Atlantis ITA, Ce Ce Lee, PC, Miss Kittin, K-Trax,
High Voltage, Dyla, Mert Yücel, Eric Kupper, King-Size, Dan Robbins, Low
End Specialists, Architect, Meat Katie, Phobia, Lexicon Avenue, Dave
Seaman, Mowree, Sharp & Smooth, Alex Bass, David Mimram, Phunk
Investigation, DJ Zorneus, Lochness DJ Team, Maziano, Dantim, Seikos,
Pathfinder, Andrea Doria & Dino Lenny, Philippe Rochard, Bart
Skils, Hakan Sarigul, Derek Mari, Danny Garlick, Black Force, Armin Van
Buuren, Hardwell, Cosmic Gate, Heartbeat, Bob Ray & Van Dyuk,
Furio Levant, Koozah, Ben Gold, Pelari, Igor Carmo, Swing Kings, JJ
Mullor, Dani Sbert, Micromakine, Atmozfears, Acti & Antolini,
TNT, Technoboy, Razat, Joseph LP, Alex Page, Feed, Lee Burridge,
FuturePlays, Samir Kuliev, Armin Van Buuren, Rui Flip, Geometric Dark,
Alex Di Stefano, Nell Silva, etc, etc, etc.
Thru
the years, So Get Up Has been released by the labels: Armada Music
[Netherlands], Wake Your Mind [Germany], Nervous Records [USA], Kaos
Records [Portugal], Tribal Records [USA], Tribal Records [UK}, Twisted Records (U.S.), Twisted Records (UK), Plastic City
[Germany], Sweatlodge Records [USA], Absolutely Records [Italy], Kontor
records, 24 Records [Italy], Skint, Bosphorus Underground Recordings
[Turkey], Chuvstvo Ritma Records [Russia], Black Hole Recordings
[Netherlands], Elektrobeats Records [Italy], Forensic Records [UK],
Mental Madness Records [Germany], Groove Records [Switzerland], Hymen
Records [Germany], Trance Corporation Recordings [Spain], Titanic
Records [Italy], Hardcore Maniacs [Spain], Party Label Unique Records
[Netherlands], Desire Records [Portugal], Black Habitat Records, People
Tech Records [Venzuela], HARDwithSTYLE Records [Netherlands], Subground
Records [Italy], Memory Stick Records [Netherlands], Union Recordings
[Poland], Supermarket Records, Orange Groove Recordings, Doctors Of
Chaos Records [Italy], Next Cyclone Records [Italy], Elektrobeats
Records [Italy], Digital+ Records [Spain], Bliss Point Records [Turkey],
Activa Records [Italy], Afterglow Records [Germany], Sector Beatz
[Switzerland], Re-Fuel Records [Netherlands], Fabric Records [UK],
Dogmain Records [Portugal], PTP Records [Germany], Bit Music [Spain],
Sys-X Records [Netherlands], Spot On Records [UK], Overodose Records
[Germany], Lost Paradise Records, BZRK Records [Netherlands], Kontor
Records, 24 Records [Italy], Skint, Renegade Hardware [UK], Melody Maker
Records [Italy], Tronic [Sweden], Mole Listening Pearls [Germany],
Refreshed [Germany], etc, etc, etc.
So Get Up and its
derivitives have been written about by: Ariya Beitollahi, Ryan Farber,
Steph Evans, Hugh Lurcott, Hannah DeuPree, etc.
For publications such as: Mix Max, Daily Beat, Insomniac, Earmilk, DJ Maj, Mix Mag, etc
SO GET UP - lyrics and vocals by Ithaka.
Publishing: Ravenshark Music/Scion Four Music/ASCAP
See his new vocal-only album entitled
"So Get Up & The Lost Acapellas"
released by Sweatlodge Records. https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ithaka2
___________________________________________
Also titled,
Ithaka's
"So Get Up" vocals and lyrics have been used on tracks mixed by:
Underground Sound Of Lisbon, Junior Vasquez, Danny Tenaglia, Orion's
Voice, Sarasite, Committee, Public Domain, Stretch & Verne,
Marcel, Fatboy Slim, Atlantis ITA, Ce Ce Lee, PC, Miss Kittin, K-Trax,
High Voltage, Dyla, Mert Yücel, Eric Kupper, King-Size, Dan Robbins, Low
End Specialists, Architect, Meat Katie, Phobia, Lexicon Avenue, Dave
Seaman, Mowree, Sharp & Smooth, Alex Bass, David Mimram, Phunk
Investigation, DJ Zorneus, Lochness DJ Team, Maziano, Dantim, Seikos,
Pathfinder, Andrea Doria & Dino Lenny, Philippe Rochard, Bart
Skils, Hakan Sarigul, Derek Mari, Danny Garlick, Black Force, Armin Van
Buuren, Hardwell, Cosmic Gate, Heartbeat, Bob Ray & Van Dyuk,
Furio Levant, Koozah, Ben Gold, Pelari, Igor Carmo, Swing Kings, JJ
Mullor, Dani Sbert, Micromakine, Atmozfears, Acti & Antolini,
TNT, Technoboy, Razat, Joseph LP, Alex Page, Feed, Lee Burridge,
FuturePlays, Samir Kuliev, Armin Van Buuren, Rui Flip, Geometric Dark,
Alex Di Stefano, Nell Silva, etc, etc, etc.
Thru
the years, So Get Up Has been released by the labels: Armada Music
[Netherlands], Wake Your Mind [Germany], Nervous Records [USA], Kaos
Records [Portugal], Tribal Records [USA], Tribal Records [UK}, Twisted Records (U.S.), Twisted Records (UK), Plastic City
[Germany], Sweatlodge Records [USA], Absolutely Records [Italy], Kontor
records, 24 Records [Italy], Skint, Bosphorus Underground Recordings
[Turkey], Chuvstvo Ritma Records [Russia], Black Hole Recordings
[Netherlands], Elektrobeats Records [Italy], Forensic Records [UK],
Mental Madness Records [Germany], Groove Records [Switzerland], Hymen
Records [Germany], Trance Corporation Recordings [Spain], Titanic
Records [Italy], Hardcore Maniacs [Spain], Party Label Unique Records
[Netherlands], Desire Records [Portugal], Black Habitat Records, People
Tech Records [Venzuela], HARDwithSTYLE Records [Netherlands], Subground
Records [Italy], Memory Stick Records [Netherlands], Union Recordings
[Poland], Supermarket Records, Orange Groove Recordings, Doctors Of
Chaos Records [Italy], Next Cyclone Records [Italy], Elektrobeats
Records [Italy], Digital+ Records [Spain], Bliss Point Records [Turkey],
Activa Records [Italy], Afterglow Records [Germany], Sector Beatz
[Switzerland], Re-Fuel Records [Netherlands], Fabric Records [UK],
Dogmain Records [Portugal], PTP Records [Germany], Bit Music [Spain],
Sys-X Records [Netherlands], Spot On Records [UK], Overodose Records
[Germany], Lost Paradise Records, BZRK Records [Netherlands], Kontor
Records, 24 Records [Italy], Skint, Renegade Hardware [UK], Melody Maker
Records [Italy], Tronic [Sweden], Mole Listening Pearls [Germany],
Refreshed [Germany], etc, etc, etc.
So Get Up and its
derivitives have been written about by: Ariya Beitollahi, Ryan Farber,
Steph Evans, Hugh Lurcott, Hannah DeuPree, etc.
For publications such as: Mix Max, Daily Beat, Insomniac, Earmilk, DJ Maj, Mix Mag, etc
Are you doing in life what you was meant to?
Are you doing in life what you was sent to?
Are you living the life that you wanna live?
Are you living your life in a way to win?
--Ithaka from "The Life You Wanna Live?" (Saltwater Nomad)
The Chinese philosopher, Confucius once said that a wise man doesn't
feel the need to differentiate between work or hobby. And more
importantly he doesn't feel the need to reveal to others whether or not
he is working or playing.
Observing from distance at the effortless way the multi-artistic Ithaka
(aka Darin Pappas) traverses at ease between all of his chosen mediums
of expression; [music, sculpture, writing and photography] it appears
his life's journey is a soulful balancing act somewhere between the
worlds of euphoric creation and aquatic diversion. But on closer
inspection, looking at the expertise and attention to detail of any
Ithaka project, it becomes evident the man is getting down to
first-degree serious business, even if he himself isn't aware of it.
Born in southern California, the hip hop visionary and visual
expressionist spent his early youth surfing LA and Orange Counties, but
soon began his global wanderings - not only in pursuit of higher quality
waves but of profound cultural experiences, both shore side and deep in
the cities. For Ithaka, marriage of surf and street comes naturally.
Listen to a track from Ithaka's Album, Saltwater Nomad.
After long blocks of time in Greece, Japan and other
exotic locales, Ith arrived in Portugal in July of 1992 with a
surfboard, wetsuit, Nikon FE camera and very little else. In addition to
sampling the region's wealth of epic surf and making friends, he
started exhibiting his photographs, creating new sculptures, publishing
his short stories, and even began working as a radio host on a national
music program. He left the region six years later with two studio albums
under his belt and nine Portuguese Grammy nominations. An unlikely
place to start an international music career, but Ithaka has not only
been influenced by his many Siddharthian journeys, he has become a
product of them. And he doesn't exactly reinvent himself at each
intercontinental stop along the path, he merely keeps adding layers,
carpet-bagging along the way newly learned skills and infinite wealth of
mental archeology, the bases for most of his songs, stories and
visuals. But even though global as they come as a human being, artist
and surfer, he'll be the first to tell you it's not necessary to go far
away to get away. He says,
It's all about perception.
How you look at things.
How you absorb things.
Some of the wisest
and most interesting people
I've ever met have barely even
left their home state.
It¹s about breaking routine
And breaking routine is what Ithaka and his bag of tricks is all about. In contrast to his last audio work, Recorded in Rio (a melodic, mostly live-instrument hip hop album released in 2004), the new cd, SALTWATER NOMAD,
his fifth full-length, goes to the polar opposite and is largely an
electronic production. Recorded in Brazil with producer Tito Gomes, the
two serve up twelve clean, bumping, minimalist hip hop story-songs.
Vocal-wise, Ithaka's fluid punctuality can be considered in outstanding
company like Everlast, Michael Franti and the late Tupac. And although
sonically, Saltwater Nomad will be considered a pop/rap record,
lyrically don't expect generic Pimp & Ho/22"-rim/gansta-stylin'
references. Ith successfully personalizes the genre, using it as a
soundtrack for his straight-up, no bullshit, autobiographical
story-telling, walking new ground across subjects like spirituality,
global politics, nostalgia, lust, immigration, positive thinking,
diabolic roommates (comedy), the intricate complexities of long lasting
boy/girl unity and his passion of choice, wave-riding. All scribed with the Ithman's patented crafty, post-Beat Generation urban lyricism.
Breaking routine is what Ithaka and his bag of tricks is all about.
I ride since I was a small fry
Sine the day mammy multiplied
I ride to keep my soul alive
I'll ride until the day, the day that I die
I ride 'cuz I like the view from the tube
I ride 'cuz I like the color blue
I ride to keep my mojo intact
So I got the goods to deliver
When my baby gets back
Ithaka's music has been featured in several surfing films (including the
award winning, Timmy Turner's Second Thoughts), and the hit basketball
video game NBA 2K7. His hip-hop classic, "Escape From The City Of
Angels"? appeared in Columbia Picture's feature film, The Replacement Killers.
A major retrospective from Ithaka's body of sculpture work entitled, The
Reincarnation Of A Surfboard (1989 until present) is currently being
shown at the prestigious WOA gallery in Lisbon, Portugal.
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"Fascinating lyricist, vocalist, and producer
who doesn't seem to restrict himself to any specific genres. His 1993
acapella masterpiece, "So Get Up", (which was first remixed by
Underground Sound Of Lisbon in 1994), has gone on to become one of the
most mixed and memorable EDM vocals of the last two-and-a-half decades.
It was most recently popularized by trance superstars, Cosmic Gate.
Ithaka's
original "So Get Up" lyric and vocal have appeared in more than a
thousand (yes, A Thousand !) tracks around the globe - in a wide range
of sonic styles including; House, Progressive House, Electro House, Deep
House, Tech House, UK Garage, Trance, Uplifting Trance, Techno,
Hardcore, Dutch Hardcore, Gabber, Drum and Bass, Breakbeat, Dubstep,
Synthpop, Trip hop, Hip hop, Downtempo, Nu jazz , Ambient, Rock and Art
Rock.
His eight solo albums have, for the most part, a
chilled-out story-telling kind of hip hop/trip hop vibe. One of the
records, Voiceless Blue Raven, is all instrumental. And another, So Get
Up & The Lost Acapellas, is almost entirely vocal...returning once
again to his roots as a spoken-word poet.
His song "Escape from
the City of Angels" from the album, Fishdaddy Flashbacks was used in the
soundtrack to Antoine Fuqua's feature film, The Replacement Killers,
starring Chow Yun Fat and Mira Sorvino (released by Columbia Pictures)."
SO GET UP - lyrics and vocals by Ithaka.
Publishing: Ravenshark Music/Scion Four Music/ASCAP
See his new vocal-only album entitled
"So Get Up & The Lost Acapellas"
released by Sweatlodge Records. https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ithaka2
___________________________________________
Also titled,
Ithaka's
"So Get Up" vocals and lyrics have been used on tracks mixed by:
Underground Sound Of Lisbon, Junior Vasquez, Danny Tenaglia, Orion's
Voice, Sarasite, Committee, Public Domain, Stretch & Verne,
Marcel, Fatboy Slim, Atlantis ITA, Ce Ce Lee, PC, Miss Kittin, K-Trax,
High Voltage, Dyla, Mert Yücel, Eric Kupper, King-Size, Dan Robbins, Low
End Specialists, Architect, Meat Katie, Phobia, Lexicon Avenue, Dave
Seaman, Mowree, Sharp & Smooth, Alex Bass, David Mimram, Phunk
Investigation, DJ Zorneus, Lochness DJ Team, Maziano, Dantim, Seikos,
Pathfinder, Andrea Doria & Dino Lenny, Philippe Rochard, Bart
Skils, Hakan Sarigul, Derek Mari, Danny Garlick, Black Force, Armin Van
Buuren, Hardwell, Cosmic Gate, Heartbeat, Bob Ray & Van Dyuk,
Furio Levant, Koozah, Ben Gold, Pelari, Igor Carmo, Swing Kings, JJ
Mullor, Dani Sbert, Micromakine, Atmozfears, Acti & Antolini,
TNT, Technoboy, Razat, Joseph LP, Alex Page, Feed, Lee Burridge,
FuturePlays, Samir Kuliev, Armin Van Buuren, Rui Flip, Geometric Dark,
Alex Di Stefano, Nell Silva, etc, etc, etc.
Thru
the years, So Get Up Has been released by the labels: Armada Music
[Netherlands], Wake Your Mind [Germany], Nervous Records [USA], Kaos
Records [Portugal], Tribal Records [USA], Tribal Records [UK}, Twisted Records (U.S.), Twisted Records (UK), Plastic City
[Germany], Sweatlodge Records [USA], Absolutely Records [Italy], Kontor
records, 24 Records [Italy], Skint, Bosphorus Underground Recordings
[Turkey], Chuvstvo Ritma Records [Russia], Black Hole Recordings
[Netherlands], Elektrobeats Records [Italy], Forensic Records [UK],
Mental Madness Records [Germany], Groove Records [Switzerland], Hymen
Records [Germany], Trance Corporation Recordings [Spain], Titanic
Records [Italy], Hardcore Maniacs [Spain], Party Label Unique Records
[Netherlands], Desire Records [Portugal], Black Habitat Records, People
Tech Records [Venzuela], HARDwithSTYLE Records [Netherlands], Subground
Records [Italy], Memory Stick Records [Netherlands], Union Recordings
[Poland], Supermarket Records, Orange Groove Recordings, Doctors Of
Chaos Records [Italy], Next Cyclone Records [Italy], Elektrobeats
Records [Italy], Digital+ Records [Spain], Bliss Point Records [Turkey],
Activa Records [Italy], Afterglow Records [Germany], Sector Beatz
[Switzerland], Re-Fuel Records [Netherlands], Fabric Records [UK],
Dogmain Records [Portugal], PTP Records [Germany], Bit Music [Spain],
Sys-X Records [Netherlands], Spot On Records [UK], Overodose Records
[Germany], Lost Paradise Records, BZRK Records [Netherlands], Kontor
Records, 24 Records [Italy], Skint, Renegade Hardware [UK], Melody Maker
Records [Italy], Tronic [Sweden], Mole Listening Pearls [Germany],
Refreshed [Germany], etc, etc, etc.
So Get Up and its
derivitives have been written about by: Ariya Beitollahi, Ryan Farber,
Steph Evans, Hugh Lurcott, Hannah DeuPree, etc.
For publications such as: Mix Max, Daily Beat, Insomniac, Earmilk, DJ Maj, Mix Mag, etc
In
early, 2017, Los Angeles-based independent music label, Sweatlodge
Records will release the seventh album by the Californian songwriter,
Ithaka, entitled, So Get Up & The Lost Acapellas. The record will
include thirteen of Ithaka's vocalized poems (without music), many of
which were written during 1992 and 1993, two of the six years that the
artist lived in Lisbon. Also, as a bonus track, the original 1993
demo-version of So Get Up will appear.
There
in Portugal, Ithaka was regularly recited his texts and rhymes for the
daily radio program, Quatro Bairro on the national station, Rádio
Comerical. Ten of the poems offered on the Lost Acapellas release were
written and recorded specifically for the radio program and later (in
mid-1993) were rerecorded as voice-over and musical demos on a visit to
England. These recordings, were missing for 23 years until recently
being discovered in a Los Angeles storage unit on a antiquated cassette
tape.
Among these early acapella poems is So
Get Up, most recently re-popularized by Armin Van Buuren and Cosmic
Gate, which today (twenty-four years and more than a thousand releases
and adaptions later) is considered The Most Remixed Vocal Acapella In
Musical History (by Guinness World Records - 2016, 2017).
Ithaka
first wrote So Get Up in a small cafe in Amoeira near Rádio Comerical
about an hour before going on air with it for his slot on Quatro Bairro,
unfortunately this very first recording has never been recovered. He
did however, as mentioned, record it a second time in the U.K - to
present to radio producers and possibly record companies.
There
working at Rádio Comerical, Ithaka met DJ Vibe (Portugal's most
prominent DJ), who played an hour of progressive house music immediately
following Ithaka's segments. There Vibe usually heard the end of
Ithaka's vocal sequences and was intrigued by the poems. Some months
later, he invited him to participate as a guest vocalist on the first
release by Underground Sound Of Lisbon (a progressive house duo
consisting of Vibe and Rui Da Silva) for Kaos Records.
They
recorded Ithaka's vocal in the early hours of a rainy winter night at
the garage studio, 1 Só Céu, owned by the Portuguese rock band called,
Os Delfins.
Ithaka was told by Kaos (a micro label at
the time) that they would make 200 white-labels vinyls for distribution
within Portugal only. They paid him $70 dollars for his participation,
with a verbal promise to discuss any future distributions and
manufacturing that would possibly follow. And weeks later, from just
that single white-label distribution, the song exploded into an almost
instantaneous national dance floor classic.
Although
open-minded musically, Ithaka was more associated with hip hop, surfing
and contemporary art more than dance music and only infrequently
appeared at the clubs his apocalyptic poem had literally become an
anthem for an entire generation of club goers, inspiring even people who
never liked dance music to get involved.
Ironically,
Kaos Records and Underground Sound Of Lisbon themselves never made a
point of explaining who the mystery prophet was and nobody seemed to
ask, the press included - even though Ithaka was indeed the actual
performer and owned 50% of the publishing.
"I
remember specifically on a couple of occasions trying to get into
Lisbon-area night clubs, which was always a chore because of the wait to
get in, and there in line, two different times during height of the
song's first wave of popularity, I could hear So Get Up playing on the
dance floor...The first was at Frágil in Bairro Alto - and I said to the
snob at the door, hey man, that's me, my voice...let me in. And the
doorman said, if that was you...I would know who you are AND I DON'T! -
And the other time, a few months later, was at ALCÂNTARA, when I again
declared that that was my voice with hundreds of people shouting the
lyrics on top of it muffled behind the thick curtains out the dance
floor..and that doorman said, Yes, my friend, and Elvis is still alive
too!
In late 1994, Ithaka left Portugal for
four months back to Los Angeles for an art exhibit - and during that
short amount of time, Kaos Records had licensed So Get Up, without
consulting him, to several international parties most notably Tribal
Records -USA, a sub-subsidiary of Miles Copeland's I.R.S. Records (EMI).
Although
Rob Di Stefano, the managing director of Tribal Records had met Ithaka
on a previous trip to Portugal, and obviously understood he was from
California and only temporarily residing in Portugal, he realized the
marketing potential of an exotic 100% Portuguese house music product
arriving in the U.S. for the first time and made no attempt to publicize
the vocalist's true origins. No featuring Ithaka credit was ever
included on any of the releases, even though he is both the author and
the vocalist. Yes, this is dance music, but no matter how good or bad
the production is, no one can deny that the vocal-poem and adjoining
hooks are the primal guts of the entire So Get Up experience. How else
could it possibly appeal to such a large musical spectrum of DJs and
producers?
The first 1994 release of So Get
Up on Tribal was a double-vinyl set with ten-mixes, including several
versions by New York superstars Junior Vasquez and Danny Tenaglia. The
early international popularity of So Get Up was undoubtfully manifested
by these interpretations by Vasquez and Tenaglia. Two New York all-stars
creating music around the words of a California hip hop wordsmith. To
call So Get Up, even at that point, a 100% Portuguese release, was
inaccurate at best. The first release by Tribal, which sold upwards of
50,000 copies, also included an uncredited acapella of Ithaka's raw poem
- which paved the way for a vast multitude of remixes and samplings
over a huge cross-section of electronic musical genres.
With
the exception of Stretch & Verne's legally licensed rerecord "Get
Up, Go Insane!" in 1997 (and subsequently Fatboy Slim's remix of that),
every other international release of So Get Up has essentially been
unauthorized. It is fair to say that every (of the more than a thousand
mixes released) house, trance, techno, electro, drum & bass, big
beat, dub step, and art rock versions - under their varying titles of
"So Get Up", "Get Up", "Forget The Past", "the End Of The Earth", "Have A
Blast", "Headcharge", "Hardaventure", etc. have been issued illegally.
No record royalties or performance royalties have ever been paid to the
vocalist/lyricist although all have been made using Ithaka's 1994
recording - made that late night way back when in Cascais, Portugal. By
the most recent estimates of Ithaka's publisher attempting to recoup his
writing shares, So Get Up in it's many incarnations has been either
sold or downloaded more than 30,000,000 times and approximately
250,000,000 have at least heard the poem. Whether payment ever falls
into the right hands, time will only tell.
Ithaka
himself has had an unusual career (and life) to say the least. He came
to recording not thru music itself, but via music photography, visual
arts....and reading books. For nearly three years, among his many other
sporadic occupations, Ithaka was the principal photographer for Priority
Records gangster rap icons, NWA and Eazy E , but that's a story for
another day.
In 1992, attempting to expand his
boundaries outside of the Southern California area, the half-Greek,
Ithaka Darin Pappas, set off soul-searching. He first relocated to
Athens for six months and then spent a year in Tokyo, finally landing in
Lisbon where he spent more than six years.
During this
six-year period in Portugal, Ithaka was hyper-productive. He recorded
So Get Up (and many other poems), made two award-winning hip hop albums,
published translated poems and short stories in Portuguese magazines -
and had several large scale sculpture exhibits of his work. He also
photographically documented much of the early and mid-nineties
Portuguese music scene, shooting record covers for rock, hip hop and EDM
projects.
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