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_
The end of the earth is upon us.
Pretty soon it'll all turn to dust.
So get up. Forget the past. Go outside and have a blast.
Go a thousand miles in a jet airplane. Go out of your mind go insane.
To a place you never been before. Eat ice cream or you'll lick the floor.
'Cause, the end of the earth is upon us.
Pretty soon it'll all turn to dust.
Goodbye my friends. Goodbye world.
I'll see you in the next life.
c. Ithaka Darin Pappas 1992
In 1999, as a member of the short-lived project Atlantis ITA, Dino Lenny and musical partner Michele Guidi released "In The Next Life" a remix of So Get Up, a 1992 vocal-poem song by Californian songwriter Ithaka (or Ithaka Darin Pappas). The track, which utilized Ithaka's original 1992 vocal, was included in the soundtrack of the 2000 British thriller film Sorted directed by Alexander Jovy along with renowned musical acts such as; Leftfield, Morcheeba, Public Enemy, Elvis Presley and Depeche Mode.
The song was played during the closing titles sequence of the film, ending the entire film with Ithaka Darin Pappas' acapella line, "I'll See You In The Next Life". Although other mixes of "So Get Up" had previously charted in the United Kingdom, once in 1995 (at #84 as "So Get Up" remixed by Underground Sound Of Lisbon) and again in 1997 (at #17 as "Get Up! Go Insane" as reworked by Stretch N Vern), however after appearing in the film, Atlantis ITA's In The Next Life modern trance interpretation charted the song a third time in the UK at #96 in May of 2001.
Ithaka Darin Pappas, vocalist/lyricst of "See You In The Next Life (So Get Up).
In September of 2019, world-renowned electronic music journalist and editor Lauren Martin interviewed DJ Vibe (António Pereira), the iconic Portuguese DJ, for the Red Bull Music Academy lecture series. During the course of the one-hour long conversation the two spoke five full minutes specifically about the song “So Get Up” which undoubtedly transformed DJ Vibe’s personal career and in fact the entire electronic music economy of Portugal in the 1990’s.
When asked about the recording and the distribution of the song “So Get Up” and how it ‘changed everything’, Vibe spoke at length about now-deceased Kaos Records label owner/promotor António Cunha, co-member of Underground Sound of Lisbon, Rui da Silva and Rob Di Stefano manager of Tribal U.S.A. records which distributed the initial international release of “So Get Up” selling 80,000 copies).
He also speaks of DJ Junior Vasquez who had the recorded exclusively for a full year at the NY’s Sound Factory and created a buzz around the recording, but Dj Vibe fails to even mention the lyricist/vocalist, Greek-Californian Ithaka (Ithaka Darin Pappas), whose rerecording of his 1992 English-language vocal poem, So Get Up, The End Of The Earth Is Upon Us for Underground Sound Of Lisbon, certainly aided in the globalization of Underground Sound of Lisbon, Kaos Records, DJ Vibe, Rui da Silva and Portuguese electronic music in general.
Ithaka had originally written and recorded “So Get Up” on December 13th 1992 for Rádio Comercial – Lisbon, then in Februrary of 1993 recorded an electro version in Manchester for demo of his album project, So Get Up & The Lost Acapellas which was not immediately released.
Underground Sound of lisbon’s “So Get Up” enjoyed wide international success (#83 on the U.K. pop charts in 1994). But apparently, for marketing reasons, So Get Up was presented as a 100% Portuguese creation – even though the lyricist and vocalist was a Californian, briefly living in Portugal, and the song was written and recorded in English.
Ithaka Darin Pappas was largely not credited with his contribution on the new version of his own song.
Furthermore, both Underground Sound Of Lisbon’s label, (Kaos Records, Portugal) and their international distributor Tribal USA (EMI), headed by Rob Di Stefano, released several acapellas of Ithaka’s voice and lyrics without a visible credit, causing a snowball of anonymous bootleg versions and remixes.
In 1997, Stretch n Vern released “Get Up! Go Insane!”, principally using the hook lines of Ithaka’s “So Get Up”, becoming a #17 pop hit in the United Kingdom. “Get Up! Go Insane!”, was also used in a highly-visible Samsung printer commercial in Korea starring movie actress Jun Ji-Hyun. According to all of her biographic accounts, the commercial turned her into a “popular sensation”. The dancing around to “Get Up! Go Insane!” and the attitude expressed in the commercial’s footage made her into an icon for Koreans in their late teens and early twenties.
In 2013, German trance super stars Cosmic Gate, licensed Ithaka’s entire So Get Up vocal for their track coincidentally entitled “So Get Up” (again without a featured lyric/vocal credit to Ithaka). So Get Up became known as one of their best tracks, a ‘stadium banger’ as it was called by DJ MAG. They even manufactured a line of shirts with Ithaka’s lyrics printed on them, with no mention of the author.
By 2020, there have possibly been more than one-thousand remixes of Ithaka’s 1993 vocal acapella recording of So Get Up, becoming one of the most remixed acapellas in musical history. It appears under many alternative titles such as “Get Up”, “Insane”, “Get Up, Go Insane!”, “Next Life”, “See You In The Next Life” “The End Of The Earth”, “Hardventure”, “Headcharge”, “Belther”, “Last Resurrection”, “PPF (Past Present Future)”, “Intensity”, “Forget The Past”, “Trance Line”, “Viginti Etduo”, “Have A Blast”, “Turn To Dust”, “Alien Life Forms, Goodbye My Friends”, “Jet Airplane”, “Speed O.J.”, “Zombie”, etc..
“So Get Up” remix artists include: Armin Van Buuren, Fatboy Slim, Danny Tenaglia, Junior Vasquez, Dj Vibe, Oxia, Peter Bailey, Orion’s Voice, JJ Mullor, Dani Sbert, Lexington Avenue, Dylan, Derek Marin, Public Domain, K-Traxx, Technoboy, Bob Ray & Van Dyuk, Ben Gold, Pelari, Miss Kittin, Dave Seaman, Dade (ITA), Carlos Walker, Alien Project, Second Nature, Pomella, John Neiland, Br1an, DJ Healer, Traumprinz, Joseph LP, Rab-Beat , Pirro, Matheu, Neanderthal Phonogram, Omar Lopez, Liquid Viking, MotivBreaks, Chaka & Marty, Jay Dahbi, Hu Bee, Frankyeffe, Township Rebellion, Rui Flip, Dani Villa, Rodri Vegas, Dr. Funk, ZRG, Swing Kings, Acti, Antolini, DANTEE, Alternative Journey, Nell Silva, Geometric Dark, Pepo, Pacho, Club Atlas, Branko, Buraka Som Sistema, Alex Di Stefano, TNT, Zatox, Marc Hartman, Meat Katie, DJ Dũng Tí , Future Plays, Manu Kenton, Dejay D, Ozy & Ash, Derk Marin, Marcel, Doppeldosen, Maik Ibane, Cubik, Checo Zak, Fuelo Ruedo, Paradigm X, Samir Kuliev, Lee Burridge, Razat, Alex Page, DJ Kryst-Off, Breaker, Micromakine, Gu’Brian, Trolley Snatcha, Mr. Argenis, Let’s Try, Audio Noir, Peace Maker, Ninja, Cab Thomas, Loose Effects, JJ Mullor, Dani Sbert, Atmozfears, Igor Carmo, Pelari, Ben Gold, Koozah, Slow Panpot, Furio Levant, Bob Ray, Van Dyuk, Morgana DJ, Damien Blaze, Audio Noir, Hardwell, Agustin Servente, Matias Chavez, HeatBeat, Danny Garlick, Hakan Sarugil, Cassien Jean, Marco Calanni, Bageera, Black Force, Horizon, DJ Pibert, Outworld, Plusculaar, Mike Steventon & Tone, Bart Skils, Peace Maker, Philippe Rochard, Andrea Doria & Dino Lenny, 2 DJs In A Room, Steve Hill & Technikal, Seikos, Dantime, Maziano, Lochness DJ Team, DJ Zorneus, Phunk Investigation, Sharp & Smooth, Mowree, Lexicon Avenue, Architect, Committee, Low End Specialists, Dan Robbins, King-Size, Eric Kupper, Mert Yucel, Dylan, K-Traxx, High Voltage, K-Traxx, PCP, Ce Ce Lee, Atlantis ITA, Pathfinder, Jason “Jinx” Zambito, Tecmania Rebel, Patrick van der Hart, Public Domain, Sarasite, etc.
Ithaka Darin Pappas - vocalist/lyricist of all versions of the song, "So Get Up"
Greek-American lyricist/vocalist Ithaka (Ithaka Darin Pappas). Ithaka lived in Lisbon from 1992-1996. He originally wrote the vocal-poem So Get Up, The End Of The Earth Is Upon Us for one of his daily appearances on the program Quarto Bairro for Rádio Comercial, Portugal. A New Compilation Series Recaptures the ’90s Heyday of House Music in Portugal These were also crucial years for recorded dance music. Kaos Records, the country’s first electronic label founded by Portuguese producers Rui da Silva and DJ Vibe with promoter António Cunha, released essential records from The Ozone and Urban Dreams; the single “So Get Up” by the Underground Sound of Lisbon -with vocals and lyrics by Californian songwriter Ithaka (Ithaka Darin Pappas)- became an anthem, and New York legend Junior Vasquez was the first U.S. DJ to play the single during his night at Sound Factory. (It was later licensed to the label Tribal America, backed with remixes by Vasquez and Danny Tenaglia.) That moment marked the beginning of a long-lasting alliance between New York house and Portuguese dance music, one that continues to influence contemporary producers like Violet and Photonz.
So Get Up was Portugal's home-grown club anthem and a track that instigated the country’s move away from just rock and fado music. Initially released as the B-side to their 1994 Chapter One track it features a doom-forecasting monologue – “The end of the world is upon us, pretty soon it will all turn to dust” – from Californian-Greek artist IthakaDarin Pappas. A hard-thumping and squelchy acid monster in the same continuum lineage as music by Joey Beltram and Hardfloor, So Get Up took on the world when the Tribal America label licensed it and gave it to Junior Vasquez and Danny Tenaglia to remix.
"UMBILICUS" by Ithaka Darin Pappas (Japanese belly-button project - 1992)
@photographer_ithaka.d.pappas
*To schedule this exhibit at a museum or gallery - or for merchandising inquiries,
please contact ithaka.official@gmail.com
Although originally conceived in 1988, it wasn’t until the summer of 1992, while briefly living in Japan, that Ithaka Darin Pappas began and completed his photographic project UMBILICUS, a collection of one-hundred and twenty-seven black and white navel portraits.
During a period of two months, Ithaka combed the streets of Tokyo is search of willing belly-button subjects.
However, photographing in the light of day, sometimes in the middle of public squares and parks filled with thousands of people, did not prove to be an easy task.
Japanese people were quite shy when asked to show their navels in public to a stranger, further complicated by the fact that the photographer was a Gaijin (foreigner).
For this reason some sessions were held in the subjects’ homes or offices after first meeting them in public.
Regardless, because of the high rejection rate
(10-20 refusals for every one acceptance), sometimes it would take an entire day just to complete the belly-button portrait of only one or two subjects.
In addition to the Japanese majority of navels photographed, a percentage of outsiders were also included.
These individuals were from Brazil, China, Denmark, England, Germany, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United States.
Subject ages ranged from three to ninety-six.
In addition to the Japanese majority of navels, a percentage of outsiders were also included. People from Brasil, China, Denmark, England, Germany, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden and the United States.
Says Ithaka,
“I didn’t photograph tourists for the project, but only actual residents of Tokyo.The foreigners who participated, mostly in their 20s-40s, were all living full-time in Tokyo and held a diverse spectrum of jobs from dishwasher to scientist.
Among the Japanese subjects - I photographed the navels of children as young as three (as well as those of their parents) and elderly people too, one in his late 90's.
The end result of UMBILICUS wasn’t only a study of human anatomy, but in actuality, concluded in becoming an anthropological observation of Tokyo’s population in 1992."
UMBILICUS was published for the first time in January 1993 in the Japanese edition of the world-renowned fine art photography quarterly called Déja-Vu (Issue #11), the same issue that photographic legends Inose Kou, Frederick Sommer and Nobuyoshi Araki appeared.
Other international magazine appearances of UMBILICUS soon followed.
In 1995, the rock group Flood (signed to the Portuguese label, União Lisboa) chose images from UMBILICUS to appear on the front and back cover of their debut album, Despertar.
In 1996, the San Francisco culture magazine Speak featured Ithaka’s UMBILICUS as their cover-story. The cover itself (designed by world-famous graphic artist Martin Venesky) was considered controversial, causing the magazine to be returned by many of their distributors. It was the worst-selling issue in the magazine’s history.
Also in 1996, UMBLILICUS was exhibited at Lisbon’s Instituto Português do Juventude, with selected images printed as large as two-meters wide and toned with Ithaka’s trademark deep blues.
Later in 1998, UMBILICUS was shown at Galeria Zé dos Bois (ZDB) in Lisbon, as part of Ithaka's larger photographic exhibit entitled, Quality Time.
#bellybuttons#photography#ithakadarinpappas
________________________________________________________________
Ithaka is represented by WOA-Way Of Arts (Portugal) and Coffin Alley Gallery (US)
Note: These images are not Public Domain, it is Necessary to acquire authorization
thru my myself ithaka.official@gmail.com or my representatives at the Tack Artist Agency Group in Los Angeles before reproducing in print, online or merchandising ... thank you.
Fall 1996Another relaunch, another controversial cover, another bad issue. The infamous belly button, the work of photographer Ithaka Darin Pappas, caused the issue to be immediately returned by hundreds of distributors and newsstands. The image was most commonly called "disturbing," which is exactly why we chose it. To date, this is Speak's worst-selling issue. ______________________ In 1996 my project Umbilicus was featured on the cover of the cutting edge culture magazine called Speak, with graphic design by the brilliant Martin Venesky.
Takashi Murakami with "Polyrhythm" (1992) Photographed by Ithaka Darin Pappas at Galerie Mars in Shibuya-Ku
At the beginning of his career, Murakami appeared to be content with the lot of most successful contemporary artists: to create work that is admired by critics and desired by wealthy collectors but leaves the general public baffled or hostile. He was constructing conceptual pieces similar to the art being made in the West. Among those early works, which began attracting attention in the early 90's, was "Polyrhythm", a seven-foot-high slab of yellow resin, minimalist in form, on which many toy United States infantry soldiers climb. Read Full article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/magazine/the-murakami-method.html
World-renowned contemporary artist #TakashiMurakami @takashipom photographed at Mars Gallery in Shibuya-Ku, Japan, Tokyo (1992) by Greek-Californian artist/photographer #IthakaDarinPappas @_Ithaka_ @photographer_ithaka.d.pappas
For licensing inquiries regarding these rare images of
The end of the earth is upon us.
Pretty soon it'll all turn to dust.
So get up. Forget the past. Go outside and have a blast.
Go a thousand miles in a jet airplane. Go out of your mind go insane.
To a place you never been before. Eat ice cream or you'll lick the floor.
'Cause, the end of the earth is upon us.
Pretty soon it'll all turn to dust.
Goodbye my friends. Goodbye world.
I'll see you in the next life.
c. Ithaka Darin Pappas 1992
Ithaka Darin Pappas - vocalist/lyricist of all versions of the song, "So Get Up"
However, photographing in the light of day, sometimes in the middle of public squares and parks filled with thousands of people, did not prove to be an easy task.
Japanese people were quite shy when asked to show their navels in public to a stranger, further complicated by the fact that the photographer was a Gaijin (foreigner). 
For this reason some sessions were held in the subjects’ homes or offices after first meeting them in public.
Regardless, because of the high rejection rate
(10-20 refusals for every one acceptance), sometimes it would take an entire day just to complete the belly-button portrait of only one or two subjects.
In addition to the Japanese majority of navels photographed, a percentage of outsiders were also included.
These individuals were from Brazil, China, Denmark, England, Germany, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United States.
Subject ages ranged from three to ninety-six.
In addition to the Japanese majority of navels, a percentage of outsiders were also included. People from Brasil, China, Denmark, England, Germany, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden and the United States.
Says Ithaka,
“I didn’t photograph tourists for the project, but only actual residents of Tokyo.The foreigners who participated, mostly in their 20s-40s, were all living full-time in Tokyo and held a diverse spectrum of jobs from dishwasher to scientist.
Among the Japanese subjects - I photographed the navels of children as young as three (as well as those of their parents) and elderly people too, one in his late 90's.
The end result of UMBILICUS wasn’t only a study of human anatomy, but in actuality, concluded in becoming an anthropological observation of Tokyo’s population in 1992."
UMBILICUS was published for the first time in January 1993 in the Japanese edition of the world-renowned fine art photography quarterly called Déja-Vu (Issue #11), the same issue that photographic legends Inose Kou, Frederick Sommer and Nobuyoshi Araki appeared.
Other international magazine appearances of UMBILICUS soon followed.
In 1995, the rock group Flood (signed to the Portuguese label, União Lisboa) chose images from UMBILICUS to appear on the front and back cover of their debut album, Despertar.
