O los Años portugueses de Ithaka

El artista multidisciplinario greco-estadounidense Ithaka, también conocido como Ithaka Darin Pappas, vivió en Portugal de 1992 a 1998. Allí trabajó en diversos ámbitos de la expresión cultural. Durante sus seis años en el país, íthaka fotografió más de quince portadas de álbumes para artistas musicales portugueses y presentó cinco exposiciones individuales de su obra en galerías nacionales, incluyendo los proyectos fotográfico "Umbilicus" y el proyecto escultórico "Reincarnated Boards". Además, escribió y publicó una colección de relatos y poemas  Durante este período, Ithaka también compuso y grabó más de cuarenta canciones, tanto como artista invitado en álbumes de bandas portuguesas de rock y hip hop como para sus propios álbumes premiados: como "Flowers and the Color of Paint". Entre estas obras se encuentra la canción de hip hop "Escape From The City of Angels" (con Marta Dias), que formó parte de la banda sonora de la aclamada película "The Replacement Killers", del reconocido director de Hollywood Antoine Fuqua. Además, creó e interpretó el poema "So Get Up". La versión a capela de "So Get Up", escrita por primera vez el 13 de diciembre de 1992 y recitada en directo esa misma mañana en Rádio Comercial 97.4 FM Lisboa, es reconocida mundialmente como el artista plástico, escritor, poeta, vocalista, rapero, fotógrafo de la historia de la música. Las más de mil cien remezclas de esta obra literaria incluyen versiones de gigantes de la música electrónica como Armin Van Buuren, Dave Guetta, Carl Cox, Don Diablo, Fatboy Slim y otros, ¡lo que ha acumulado más de seiscientos millones de reproducciones en todo el mundo! En los artículos biográficos sobre la producción creativa del artista, el período de 1992 a 1998 se conoce colectivamente como “O los Años portugueses de Ithaka”.

ITHAKA DARIN PAPPAS: EL SURFISTA AZUL: UN PASAJE DE IDA PARA VIAJAR (extracto del libro "Belong" de Jennifer Morton

EL SURFISTA AZUL: 

UN BILLETE DE IDA PARA VIAJAR

QUIERO SALIR, TENGO QUE SALIR, SALÍ, 

ESCAPAR DE LA CIUDAD DE LOS ÁNGELES 

CINCO DÍAS DESPUÉS, ¿QUÉ TENGO? 

ESTOY EN OTRO LUGAR SOLEADO Y CALUROSO

LA DIFERENCIA AQUÍ ES QUE SOY LIBRE COMO UN PÁJARO

SIN PISTOLA EN LA CABEZA, SIN SANGRE EN LA CALLE

("Escape From The City Of Angels" del álbum de Ithaka, Flowers and the Color of Paint)

WANT TO GET OUT, GOT TO GET OUT, GOT OUT, 

ESCAPE FROM THE CITY OF ANGELS 

FIVE DAYS LATER, WHAT HAVE I GOT? 

I'M IN ANOTHER PLACE WHICH IS SUNNY AND HOT. 

THE DIFFERENCE HERE IS THAT I'M FREE AS A BIRD. 

NO GUN TO MY HEAD, NO BLOOD ON THE CURB. 

ITHAKA DARIN PAPPAS ERA EL SURFISTA AZUL. Era un tipo duro y empedernido de Los Ángeles que se mudó a Lisboa para empezar de nuevo su vida. Decía que las olas lo habían traído. Ithaka solo vestía de azul. Nunca de otro color. El mismo tono de azul, por todas partes. Era algo que lo cubría todo el cuerpo. Su apartamento: todo azul. Paredes, techos, nevera: todo del mismo azul. Sus obras de arte... el mismo tono de azul. Tenía una enorme "cruz" en la cocina hecha con dos tablas de surf azules. Zapatos pintados de azul, algunos con aletas, estaban en la puerta de su casa. Fotos azules de ombligos cubrían las paredes. Azul, decía, era el color de su sangre. Y un poco de su sangre cuelga en mi pared. Sin contactos en tierra, Ithaka compró un billete de ida para su vigésimo sexto cumpleaños y simplemente apareció. Me encantó su valentía. Allí estaba él, este surfista angelino que decidió hacer las maletas e irse a vivir a Portugal con un idioma completamente nuevo que aprender y una nueva pandilla que encontrar. No era el estereotipo del chico guapo, rubio y de ojos azules. Era un hombre de barrio. Un auténtico callejero. Deambulaba por las calles de Lisboa con sus amigos. Hablaba despacio. Vestía sudaderas con capucha y gorras de béisbol. Llevaba el pelo castaño oscuro recogido en una coleta y perilla. Con carisma y una especie de estilo urbano, proyectaba una confianza absoluta.

Ithaka se infiltró por completo en la comunidad artística lisboeta. Expuso su arte y consiguió que General D y Cool Hipnoise colaboraran en su CD Ithaka: Flowers and the Color of Paint. El sonido es una voz suave con un buen groove de fondo, con un toque de rap portugués. Es bueno. Ithaka era muy original, haciendo lo suyo. A la gente le gustaba. 

Se expresa con fluidez y tiene unos versos geniales.

He sido pobre y he sido rico

He trabajado en un escritorio y he cavado una zanja

He montado en patineta y en un avión privado

He sido un don nadie y he tenido un poco de fama

Le estoy muy agradecido al océano azul

Porque me ayudó muchísimo

Alejándome de los que tienen y los que no

Mi lealtad no se ve afectada por el alboroto callejero

Alabo el movimiento del océano

Me mantuvo alejado de los problemas

Me mantuvo con vida

Me mantuvo alejado de las calles, lejos de los cuchillos

"I've been poor and I've been rich, 

 I've sat behind a desk and I've dug a ditch. 

 Rode on a skateboard and in a private plane, 

 I've been nobody and I've had a little fame. 

I've got a lot of thanks for the ocean blue, 

because she helped me out more than a lot, 

 keeping my mind off the have and have-nots, 

my loyalty don't lle in street commotion, 

I give my praise to the motion of the ocean, 

 she kept me out of trouble she kept me alive, 

she kept me off the street away from knives." 

No diría que fue una compra impulsiva. Algo en tener una tabla de surf (aunque no practico surf) me atraía. Tenía que comprar una de sus piezas de la serie "La reencarnación de la tabla de surf". Ithaka tomó tablas de surf viejas con la parte trasera rota y las convirtió en esculturas. Claro que eran azules, y esta estaba cubierta de piel sintética azul. Medía unos dos metros de alto, con formas recortadas en el centro que la hacían parecer el ala de una mosca azul peluda. Me dijo que podía peinarla como quisiera, pero que necesitaría mucho "no más lágrimas" de Johnson antes de intentarlo. Y lo más importante, tenía que llevarla a casa entera. Así que allí estaba yo, caminando por las estrechas calles adoquinadas de Barrio Alto con una tabla de surf azul peluda que era más alta que yo. Riendo todo el camino, mi camarógrafo, Steve Gelder, me ayudó a cargarla hasta que vimos un taxi. Ese fue el comienzo de un interesante viaje de regreso a casa. Sin rechistar, el taxista nos permitió meterlo en el maletero con la aleta asomando por detrás. Supongo que ya estaba acostumbrado, pues era conductor en Lisboa. Llegamos al hotel, sorprendentemente sin un rasguño. Después, tuvimos que afrontar el aeropuerto. En la facturación me dieron un par de bolsas largas de plástico transparente y cinta adhesiva. Lo marqué como FRÁGIL y crucé los dedos. (¡Ni siquiera me cobraron por el equipaje extra!). Para entonces, se había convertido en mi nuevo amigo y habría sido un desastre si no hubiera sobrevivido. El Reencarnación cruzó el océano, el mismo océano que cruzó Ítaca, y ahora cuelga con orgullo en mi casa. Siempre me hace sonreír.

ITHAKA DARIN PAPPAS: THE BLUE SURFER: ONE-WAY TICKET TO RIDE (excerpt from the book "Belong" by Jennifer Morton)

THE BLUE SURFER: ONE-WAY TICKET TO RIDE

WANT TO GET OUT, GOT TO GET OUT, GOT OUT, 

ESCAPE FROM THE CITY OF ANGELS 

FIVE DAYS LATER, WHAT HAVE I GOT? 

I'M IN ANOTHER PLACE WHICH IS SUNNY AND HOT. 

THE DIFFERENCE HERE IS THAT I'M FREE AS A BIRD. 

NO GUN TO MY HEAD, NO BLOOD ON THE CURB. 

("Escape From The City Of Angels" from Ithaka's album, Flowers and the Color of Paint)

 ITHAKA DARIN PAPPAS WAS THE BLUE SURFER . He was a real, hardcore L.A. street dude who moved to Lisbon to start his life again. He said the waves brought him. Ithaka only wore blue. Never any other color. The same shade of blue, all over. It was a whole body thing. His apartment: all blue. Walls, ceilings, fridge: all the same blue. His artwork...same tone of blue. He had a huge "cross" in the kitchen made from two blue surfboards. Shoes painted blue, some with fins, sat at his front door. Blue photos of belly buttons covered the walls. Blue, he said, was the colour of his blood. And a little bit of his blood hangs on my wall. 

With no contacts on the ground, Ithaka bought a one-way ticket for his twenty-sixth birthday and just sort of showed up. I loved his bravery. There he was, this total L.A. surfer who chose to pack up and leave to live in Portugal with a whole new language to deal with and a whole new posse to find.

He wasn't a blond-haired, blue-eyed, pretty-boy stereotype. He was inner city. Real street. He hung out on the streets of Lisbon with his boys. He spoke slowly. He wore hoodies and baseball caps. His dark brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and he sported a goatee. With charisma and a kind of street cool, he projected pure confidence. 

Ithaka totally infiltrated the Lisbon art community. He had his art exhibited and managed to get General D and Cool Hipnoise to contribute to his CD Ithaka: Flowers and the Color of Paint. The sound is smooth vocals with nice background groove, and a little Portuguese rap dropped in. It's good. Ithaka was so out there, doing his own thing. People liked him. 

He speaks his lyrics and has some great lines:

"I've been poor and I've been rich, 

 I've sat behind a desk and I've dug a ditch. 

 Rode on a skateboard and in a private plane, 

 I've been nobody and I've had a little fame. 

I've got a lot of thanks for the ocean blue, 

because she helped me out more than a lot, 

 keeping my mind off the have and have-nots, 

my loyalty don't lle in street commotion, 

I give my praise to the motion of the ocean, 

 she kept me out of trouble she kept me alive, 

she kept me off the street away from knives." 

I wouldn't say it was an impulse buy. Something about owning a surfboard (even though I don't surf) appealed to me. I had to buy one of his pieces from the series The Reincarnation of the Surfboard. Ithaka took old surfboards with broken backs and then made them into sculptures. Of course they were blue and this one was covered in blue fake fur. It was about six feet tall with shapes cut out from the middle that made it look like the wing of a furry blue fly. He told me I could comb it anyway I wanted but it would need a serious amount of Johnson's "no more tears" before I attempted that. More important, I had to get it home in one piece. 

So there I was, walking down the narrow cobblestone streets of Barrio Alto with a furry blue surfboard that was taller than me. Laughing all the way, my cameraman, Steve Gelder, helped to carry it until we saw a cab. This was the start of an interesting journey home. 

 Without a fuss the cabbie allowed us to stick it in the trunk with the fin part shooting out the back. I guess he was used to this, being a driver in Lisbon. We made it to the hotel, surprisingly without a scratch. Next we had to tackle the airport. At the check-in I was handed a couple of long clear plastic bags and some tape. I marked it FRAGILE and crossed my fingers. (Didn't even get charged for extra baggage!) At that point it had become my new friend and it would have been a disaster if it didn't survive. 

The Reincarnation made it across the ocean, the same ocean Ithaka crossed, and now hangs proudly in my house. It never fails to make me smile. 

 _________________________________________ 

 Excerpt from by Jennifer Morton's 2004 book 

Belong: A TV Journalist's Search for Urban Culture 

from Beirut to Bamako, from Havana to Ho Chi Minh City 

 Purchasable at this link: 

https://www.amazon.com/Belong-Journalists-Search-Culture-Beirut/dp/B008SLYBPI 

 Title Belong: A TV Journalist's Search for Urban Culture from Beirut to Bamako, from Havana to Ho Chi Minh City 

Author Jennifer Morton 

Publisher Insomniac Press, 

2004 ISBN 1897415702, 9781897415702 

Length 193 pages 

Subjects SOCIAL SCIENCE › Sociology › Urban 

About the Author Jennifer Morton's background in the entertainment industry spans a lifetime. While working as a reporter/producer on The NewMusic, Jennifer envisioned the concept for tvframes, an edgy, internationally syndicated show about art, music and culture in cities around the world. As producer/director, photographer and host, she received three Gemini nominations. Her photographs have been exhibited in galleries throughout the country and sold to private collectors.

https://books.google.com/books?id=gYmgrNYVCFAC&pg=PA39&dq=so+get+up,+ithaka+darin+pappas&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiXusTS_9iRAxUvJ0QIHV7UIGcQ6AF6BAgEEAE#v=onepage&q=so%20get%20up%2C%20ithaka%20darin%20pappas&f=false

"Agora Recorded In Rio" (Público) Ithaka Darin Pappas

 

Excerpt from article by Vanessa Rato (Jornal Público, June 2004) 

It was 1982 in Los Angeles, three high school classmates in their teens were trying their hand at a minor specialty of petty crime: Dine 'n' Dash.

They started by chance. One day, after a particularly long surfing session, they ended up eating together at a Chinese buffet where, in the end, no one seemed interested in receiving the bill. Twenty minutes later, they decided to leave without paying. Unexpectedly, no one followed them.
It could have been the beginning of a spiral toward the abyss of a juvenile detention center. And indeed it was, but only for one of them. Turns out, that would be another story. The point: three weeks after the Chinese buffet, always shaking sand from their feet and with water roaring in their ears, the group was repeating the feat of eating out for free daily and with honed technique. Until, at Bob's Big Boy, they crossed paths with a girl named "Rita." On the run. It's not easy to escape a waitress who's a former long-distance runner, especially when she's the kind of woman a teenager would actually prefer to be caught by—for the one whose trail is important here, it was the end of a career in crime, but, in compensation, the beginning of a love-until-something-does-us-part story and a step toward a career in the arts.

More than two decades have passed. It's with this snapshot of memory (in the first person and with plenty of what the British would call "guillotine humor") that "Recorded in Rio" begins, the fourth album by Ithaka (Ithaka Darin Pappas)—15 tracks of old-school hip-hop with forays into soul and an all-flavor mix of electro, blues, jazz, reggae, and Latin ambiances (Brazil and also Mexico) with a soundtrack echoing spoken word. Apparently, there's nothing to hide—it's the motto "live it, write it, rap it": "The artists I admire aren't even, perhaps, the ones with the best results. I'm interested in the process, so I like people who aren't afraid to expose themselves. The average person is so afraid to show themselves that we can know them for years without really knowing who they are," says "Fish Daddy" Ithaka Darin Pappas himself.

To illustrate the idea, he doesn't give an example, he mentions a true idol: "Look at Bukowski. You might think: that's shit! But it's his shit. It's absolutely honest work. That's the most important thing." (Absolutely reliable aside: in 1996 someone gave the writer's widow the song "Umbilibus" from the album "Flowers and the Color of Paint"; she liked it so much that when she learned Ithaka was a fan, she sent him a package with several books and a precious blue shirt still covered in wine stains - he never washed it, "so as not to lose his soul" and still wears it from time to time). in Portugal. It's 9:45 a.m. in mainland Portugal, eight hours earlier in California, meaning 2:45 a.m.—late for those who wake up at 7 a.m. to catch the empty beaches and the best waves. But that's not why, on the other end of the line, Ithaka drawls and slurs his words. He speaks like this, inwardly, as if mulling over what he's saying, with a coolness tempered by West Hollywood, Korea Town, the beaches of South Bay, and basically any hidden corner of the planet that comes to mind.

The term "globe-trotter" would be a good shortcut to describe his global wanderings, if it weren't for the fact that it suits him so poorly. Because, unlike those who allow themselves to be catapulted from place to place, with self-propelled engines on the verge of implosion, Ithaka likes to linger in the places he passes through. That's how he ended up staying in Lisbon for almost six years. For those who have forgotten: he arrived in 1992 and left only in 1998. In between, he released two albums, "Flowers and the Color of Paint" (1995) and "Stellafly" (1997), considered by some to be "the most powerful and consistent" national recordings of those years. Musically, among many other collaborations, he is also the lyricist & vocalist of the highly internationalized "So Get Up". 

Track List:
0:01 - Same Room Blues
1:49 - Dine n Dash
5:39 - Who's Your Daddy?
9:14 - The Bus Song 2004 (feat. BNegão)
13:44 - Technically A Failure
18:09 - Who's The Enemy? (feat. Gabriel O Pensador)
23:16 - Work Related
26:46 - I Ride (Original Mix)
31:34 - Marta De La Vallarta
35:58 - Brother Barstow
38:46 - Like A Bottle Of Baccardi
42:50 - Muerto Escondido (feat. Thalma de Freitas)
47:44 - Stingray Shuffle
49:59 - Sleeping In The Shade
54:59 - In Portugal (feat. Thalma de Freitas)

Trecho do artigo "Agora Recorded In Rio"

Vanessa Rato (Jornal Público, Junho 2004) __________________________________________________ Estava-se em 1982. Entretanto, em Los Angeles, três colegas de liceu em plena adolescência testavam a mão numa especialidade menor do pequeno crime, o "Dine'n'Dash". Começaram por acaso. Um dia, depois de uma sessão particularmente longa de "surf", acabaram a comer juntos num "buffet" chinês onde, no fim, ninguém parecia interessado em receber a conta. Vinte minutos de espera mais tarde, a opção foi sair sem pagar. Inesperadamente, ninguém os seguiu. Poderia ter sido o princípio de uma espiral em direcção ao abismo de uma casa de correcção juvenil. E na verdade foi, mas apenas para um deles. Acontece que isso seria outra história. O que interessa: três semanas depois do "buffet" chinês, sempre a sacudir areia dos pés e com água a estalar nos ouvidos, o grupo estava a repetir a proeza de almoçar fora de graça a ritmo diário e com técnica apurada. Até que no Bob's Big Boy se cruzaram com uma rapariga chamada "Rita". em fuga. Não é fácil escapar a uma empregada de mesa que é ex-corredora de fundo, sobretudo quando ela é do tipo de mulher por quem, na verdade, um adolescente prefere mesmo deixar-se apanhar - para aquele a quem importa aqui seguir o rasto, foi o fim de uma carreira no crime, mas, em compensação, o princípio de uma história de amor-até-que-qualquer-coisa-nos-separe e um passo na direcção de um percurso nas artes. Passaram-se mais de duas décadas. É com este recorte de memória (na primeira pessoa e com muito daquilo a que os britânicos chamariam "humor de guilhotina") que arranca "Recorded in Rio", o quarto álbum do Ithaka (Ithaka Darin Pappas) - 15 faixas de hip-hop "old school" com incursões pela soul e um "todos-sabores" electro, blues, jazz, reggae e ambiências latinas (Brasil em fantasma, mas também México) com eco de banda sonora sobre "spoken word". Aparentemente, não há nada a esconder - é o lema "live it, write it, rap it": "Os artistas que eu admiro não são sequer, se calhar, os que têm melhores resultados. Interessam-me os processos, por isso gosto de pessoas que não têm medo de se expor. A pessoa média tem tanto medo de se mostrar que a podemos conhecer durante anos sem realmente saber quem é", diz o próprio "Fish Daddy" Ithaka Darin Pappas. Para ilustrar a ideia, não dá um exemplo, faz menção a um verdadeiro ídolo: "Veja-se o Bukowski. Pode-se pensar: é uma merda! Mas é a merda dele. É um trabalho absolutamente honesto. Isso é o mais importante." (Aparte absolutamente fiável: em 1996 alguém deu a ouvir o tema "Umbilibus" de "Flowers and the Color of Paint" à viúva do escritor; ela gostou tanto que ao saber que Ithaka era um fã lhe mandou um pacote com vários livros e uma preciosa camisa azul ainda cheia de nódoas de vinho - ele nunca a lavou, "para não perder a alma" e continua a vesti-la de vez em quando). in Portugal. São 9h45 em Portugal continental, oito horas menos na California, ou seja, 2h45 - tarde para quem acorda às 7h para apanhar as praias vazias e as melhores ondas. Mas não é por isso que, do outro lado da linha, Ithaka arrasta a voz e enrola as palavras. Ele fala assim, para dentro, como quem rumina o que diz, numa "coolness" temperada entre West Hollywood, Korea Town, as praias de South Bay e, basicamente, qualquer canto recôndito do planeta que venha à memória. O termo "globe-trotter" seria um bom atalho para falar das suas deambulações mundiais, não fosse dar-se o caso de lhe ficar tão mal. É que, contrariamente àqueles que se deixam catapultar de lugar em lugar, com motor de auto-propulsão à beira da implosão, Pappas gosta de se demorar nos sítios por onde passa. Foi assim que acabou por ficar por Lisboa quase seis anos. Para os mais esquecidos: a chegada foi em 1992 e a partida só em 98, pelo meio ficaram dois álbuns, "Flowers and the Color of Paint" (1995) e "Stellafly" (97), considerado por alguns como "o mais poderoso e consistente" registo nacional desse ano. Em termos musicais, entre muitas outras colaborações, ficou ainda a letra e vocalista do internacionalizadíssimo "So Get Up" para os USL.

Excerpt from article by Vanessa Rato (Público, June 2004) 

It was 1982 in Los Angeles, three high school classmates in their teens were trying their hand at a minor specialty of petty crime: Dine 'n' Dash.

They started by chance. One day, after a particularly long surfing session, they ended up eating together at a Chinese buffet where, in the end, no one seemed interested in receiving the bill. Twenty minutes later, they decided to leave without paying. Unexpectedly, no one followed them.
It could have been the beginning of a spiral toward the abyss of a juvenile detention center. And indeed it was, but only for one of them. Turns out, that would be another story. The point: three weeks after the Chinese buffet, always shaking sand from their feet and with water roaring in their ears, the group was repeating the feat of eating out for free daily and with honed technique. Until, at Bob's Big Boy, they crossed paths with a girl named "Rita." On the run. It's not easy to escape a waitress who's a former long-distance runner, especially when she's the kind of woman a teenager would actually prefer to be caught by—for the one whose trail is important here, it was the end of a career in crime, but, in compensation, the beginning of a love-until-something-does-us-part story and a step toward a career in the arts.

More than two decades have passed. It's with this snapshot of memory (in the first person and with plenty of what the British would call "guillotine humor") that "Recorded in Rio" begins, the fourth album by Ithaka (Ithaka Darin Pappas)—15 tracks of old-school hip-hop with forays into soul and an all-flavor mix of electro, blues, jazz, reggae, and Latin ambiances (Brazil and also Mexico) with a soundtrack echoing spoken word. Apparently, there's nothing to hide—it's the motto "live it, write it, rap it": "The artists I admire aren't even, perhaps, the ones with the best results. I'm interested in the process, so I like people who aren't afraid to expose themselves. The average person is so afraid to show themselves that we can know them for years without really knowing who they are," says "Fish Daddy" Ithaka Darin Pappas himself.

To illustrate the idea, he doesn't give an example, he mentions a true idol: "Look at Bukowski. You might think: that's shit! But it's his shit. It's absolutely honest work. That's the most important thing." (Absolutely reliable aside: in 1996 someone gave the writer's widow the song "Umbilibus" from the album "Flowers and the Color of Paint"; she liked it so much that when she learned Ithaka was a fan, she sent him a package with several books and a precious blue shirt still covered in wine stains - he never washed it, "so as not to lose his soul" and still wears it from time to time). in Portugal. It's 9:45 a.m. in mainland Portugal, eight hours earlier in California, meaning 2:45 a.m.—late for those who wake up at 7 a.m. to catch the empty beaches and the best waves. But that's not why, on the other end of the line, Ithaka drawls and slurs his words. He speaks like this, inwardly, as if mulling over what he's saying, with a coolness tempered by West Hollywood, Korea Town, the beaches of South Bay, and basically any hidden corner of the planet that comes to mind.

The term "globe-trotter" would be a good shortcut to describe his global wanderings, if it weren't for the fact that it suits him so poorly. Because, unlike those who allow themselves to be catapulted from place to place, with self-propelled engines on the verge of implosion, Ithaka likes to linger in the places he passes through. That's how he ended up staying in Lisbon for almost six years. For those who have forgotten: he arrived in 1992 and left only in 1998. In between, he released two albums, "Flowers and the Color of Paint" (1995) and "Stellafly" (1997), considered by some to be "the most powerful and consistent" national recordings of those years. Musically, among many other collaborations, he is also the lyricist & vocalist of the highly internationalized "So Get Up". 

Ithaka "Flowers And The Color Of Paint" 30th Anniversary (1995-2025)

Released on June 15th 1995, this week Ithaka's album Flowers And The Color Of Paint celebrates it's 30th Anniversary.

Flowers And The Color Of Paint was recorded in early 1995 at Namouche Studios in Lisbon, Portugal

The album was nominated for three Premios Blitz (the Portuguese equivalent of the Grammy) in the categories of: Best Album, Best New Project and Best Male Vocalist. In an end-of-decade retrospective of national music, the prestigious newspaper Público considered Flowers And The Color Of Paint to be one of the ten most influential 'Portuguese' albums of the 1990's.

In 1995 two songs were used in the surfing documentary G-Land Pro produced by Quiksilver. In 1997, acclaimed Hollywood director Antoine Fuqua used the song Escape From The City Of Angels (featuring Marta Dias) in the soundtrack for his feature film The Replacement Killers [released by Columbia Pictures] starring; Mira Sorvino (academy award winner), Chow Yun-fat (academy award nominee) and several other known actors such as Clifton Collins Jr. and Michael Rooker.

Escape From The City Of Angels also appeared in the television series Good Girls Don’t (which was shown on Oprah Winfrey’s Oxygen Channel) during its June 18, 2004 episode entitled, ”Addicted to Love”. All licensing inquiries for "Escape From The City Of Angels" by Ithaka should be directed to North Music Group [USA]

Flowers And The Color Of Paint Album Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6SQM0XuCzlWduBwDu5LM05

”Escape From The City Of Angels” is a hip hop song recorded in 1995 by Californian-born lyricist and vocalist, Ithaka (featuring Marta Dias) which, in 1997, appeared in Columbia Pictures’ feature film release The Replacement Killers starring Mira Sorvino, Chow Yun-fat, Clifton Collins Jr. and was directed by Antoine Fuqua, recipient of the Black Reel Award for Outstanding Director. The song has also appeared in the television series Good Girls Don’t (which was shown on Oprah Winfrey’s Oxygen Channel) during its June 18, 2004 episode entitled, ”Addicted to Love”.

The song was first included on Ithaka’s debut album, Flowers And The Color Of Paint in 1995.
Although Ithaka is from Southern California, the track and entire album were recorded at Namouche Studios in Lisbon, Portugal where the artist had lived from 1992 until 1998 and both song and album are often included in a genre of music known as Hip hop tuga, or Portuguese hip hop.

Most of the self-reflective lyrics for Escape From the City Of Angels were written by Ithaka Darin Pappas over the flight required to arrive from Los Angeles to Lisbon. A destination where, it is said, he arrived with a one-way ticket and less than a hundred dollars to his name, yet remained over six years.

Produced by Joe Fossard (engineer) and DJ Grez, the song included backing vocals by São Tomean Portuguese singer Marta Dias – and also featured bass guitar by Francisco Rebelo, tenor saxophone by Paulo Muiños and trumpet by Nuno Reis (all members of the Portuguese band, Cool Hipnoise.

The original pressing of Flowers And The Color Of Paint was fifteen-hundred copies and although Escape from The City Of Angels appeared in a main stream Hollywood movie scene with three Oscar-nominated actors, (resulting in upwards of 600,000 downloads in China alone) there was never an official soundtrack released other than the classical score by Gregory Harrison which excluded Escape From The City Of Angels and also other film tracks by The Crystal Method, Talvin Singh, Tricky,
Death In Vegas, Hed PE and Brad.

ithaka - Butterfly Boogie (new instrumental single)

ithaka - Butterfly Boogie (new instrumental single)

Thirty years after his first full alternative hip hop album, Flowers and the Color of Paint (and subsequent seven records), Ithaka is pre-releasing a solitary instrumental track this month from his upcoming project Voiceless Blue Raven: Volume II

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Flowers and the Color of Paint é um álbum de hip hop, downtempo e spoken word de 1995, voltado para viagens, do letrista, vocalista e artista visual californiano, Ithaka (também conhecido como Ithaka Darin Pappas). 

Ithaka criou o conteúdo lírico narrativo de suas músicas esporadicamente nos dois anos que antecederam as gravações de estúdio. Elas geralmente são baseadas em suas próprias aventuras pessoais na Europa Ocidental, Norte da África e sua cidade natal, Los Angeles. Elas cobrem diversos assuntos, como astrologia, violência nas ruas e viagens de surfe (como retratado na música "Somewhere South of Gibraltar")

eminem,daft punk,so get up,dj vibe,Gorillaz,escape from the city of angels,stay strong little brother,the plot,get up i'm free,siba giba,mos def,andre 3000,FKA Twigs,hip hop,alternative hip hop,golden age hip hop,Cibo Matto,Sam The Kid,hip hop tuga,barber,DJ Vadim,Massive Attack,Tricky,DJ Shadow,UNKLE,RJD2,DJ Krush,Smith & Mighty,Peace Orchestra,instrumental hip hop,chill hop,trip hop acid jazz,Kruder & Dorfmeister,Sofa Surfers,Marsmobil

 

Haircut in AkahtiLândia

Far from a barber, in the jungles of AkahtiLândia...I resorted to giving myself a caveman haircut. Song "Butterfly Boogie" I am planning on releasing in the near future.

Ithaka, Jack Johnson and Fat Beat Squad at the Belly Up (San Diego) April 26th, 2000

 Event Flyer: Ithaka, Jack Johnson and Fat Beat Squad together at the Belly Up in Solana Beach, California - April 26th, 2000

Ithaka Darin Pappas at 2024 Emmy party at Hotel Mondrian, Los Angeles

Greek-American multi-disciplinary artist Ithaka Darin Pappas at 2024 Emmy party at Mondrian Los Angeles hosted by We Audition and Sky Bar.

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 blastGo a thousand miles in a jet airplane

Go out of your mind go insane

To a place you never been before

Eat ice cream our you’ll lick the floor

Because, 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

DJ Vibe, Underground Sound Of Lisbon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yZhWfdSEwshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yZhWfdSEws

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5225987/

"Sleepdriver" by Ithaka Darin Pappas - 1991 poem book reissued

Sleepdriver consists of eleven 1991 poems by artist-songwriter Ithaka Darin Pappas written in a car during a road trip from Los Angeles to Phoenix with his older brother to visit the grave of their recently deceased father. The highly personal poems in the Sleepdriver collection delve into the world of the Southwestern United States and Pappas' interaction with the region throughout his young adulthood. The works include themes such as; life and death, love, loneliness, freedom and ambition. In 1995, Ithaka utilized three poems from this early collection as lyrics for songs on his debut alternative hip hop album, Flowers and the Color of Paint (Sleepdriver, She Makes Good Cookies, Flowers and the Color of Paint). In 1996, renowned Portuguese vocalist, Marta Dias, used the poem Look To The Blue as lyrics for a song of the same title for her album, Yué (the song also featured Ithaka as a guest vocalist). Dias also recorded a song using the poem Look To The Blue, but this song was not included on her album. In 1997, Ithaka used The Plot as the lyrical base for a song featuring artist-vocalist Mimi Tavares that appeared on his album, Stellafly. In 2004, a musical version of Brother Barstow was released on Ithaka’s album, Recorded in Rio. In 2017, a remastered 1992 a cappella version of Who? (entitled Who Made The Grass Green?) was included on Ithaka’s album, So Get Up & The Lost Acapellas. When first released independently in 1991, this series of poems was original entitled Brother Barstow. 1. Brother Barstow 2. Tonapah Joe’s 3. Sleepdriver 4. The Plot 5. Who? 6. Look For The Blue 7. Learn To Fly 8. She Makes Good Cookies 9. Santa Fe Roulette 10. Oasis Of Love 11. Flowers And The Color Of Paint written while driving from Los Angeles to Phoenix in a rented Dodge Caravan with my brother Stuart, April 27th 1991

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_and_the_Color_of_Paint