Nikolas Asimos

Greek composer and singer

Nikolas Asimos (Νικόλας Άσιμος; 20 August 1949 – 17 March 1988) was a Greek composer, singer and performance artist. His real surname was Asimopoulos (Ασημόπουλος).

In 1973, he moved to Athens from Thessaloniki; there he continued to be involved in theatre studies and graduated from a private theatre school. After being released, he never managed to overcome his bitterness over this charge. The outstanding trial along with other personal problems affected his psychological state profoundly. After two failed attempts, he committed suicide by hanging on 17 March 1988 in his house which he used to call the "preparation area". It is rumored that he kept a diary during the last 15 days of his life in which he describes his efforts to find something worth living for in his life. He marked the pages with an "X" which meant that he had not found anything worth living for. The 15th day was also marked with an "X" which is the day he hanged himself.

His Paranomes Kassetes (illegal tapes), as Asimos liked to call his early work due to its lyrical content, were recorded in friends' houses and other more or less inappropriate (concerning a recording session) locations, with several musicians accompanying him. The tapes had an underground distribution by Asimos himself or his friends because he wanted to avoid his work being exploited by Record Labels. Apart from the tapes, he produced during his lifetime a 45rpm single with two songs and a full length LP, as well as five compositions for a Vasilis Papakonstantinou record. The rest of his work was released after he died.

1997 – The Greek rock band Magic de Spell released a cover version of Mpataria (Μπαταρία) in their CD single O Fovos Ehi Onoma (Ο Φόβος Έχει Όνομα). 1997 – Vasilis Papakonstantinou used five Asimos songs in his album Pes mou Ena Psema n' Apokoimitho (Πες μου Ένα Ψέμα ν' Αποκοιμηθώ). 2000 – The Greek rock band Endelecheia released a cover version of Mpagasas (Μπαγάσας) in their CD single Kathreftis (Καθρέφτης).