A minute with Stelios Bekios Professional bouzouki player

Where do you live?
For the past, two years I’ve been living in Nicosia, Cyprus. I was born and raised in Thessaloniki, Greece.

What did you have for breakfast?
Coffee for sure.

Describe your perfect day
A perfect day would be, spending quality time with my friends and colleagues.

Best book ever read?
I am not really a books person, to be honest; however a book that I really enjoyed was The History of Music.

Best childhood memory?
My best childhood memory was when I was a kid and I used to play football with my friends in the streets. Those were lovely times that I really do feel nostalgic about.

What is always in your fridge?
Coca-Cola cans, a bottle of gin, different other soft drinks. But I need to say that outside the fridge I keep my chocolates. My house always needs to have a dessert.

What music are you listening to in the car at the moment?
Well, that really depends on my mood and the destination. There would be times that I want I hear something specific over and over again although Greek music is always in the playlist.

What’s your spirit animal?
My spirit animal is the dog. I grew up to appreciate and love dogs. I admire their loyalty and their unconditional love. These are very important characteristics for me and I try to be like this myself.

What are you most proud of?
There are a lot of things I am proud of. I am very proud of myself for all the hard work I put in to reach the place I am right now. Throughout my career both in Greece and in Cyprus, I grew up as a person, as a musician and as a professional. I am also very proud of the artists I have played with all these years that I have been in the industry.

What movie scene has really stayed with you?
I cannot really say that I have a specific scene that really stayed with me but I really do enjoy action movies. I really liked the Prison Break series. I find these kind of movies/series very entertaining.

If you could pick anyone at all (alive or dead) to go out for the evening with, who would it be?
If I could go out with someone who is not with us anymore, it would be Yiannis Paleologou and Manolis Chiotis.
On the other hand, if I could go out with someone who is alive, I would say Manolis Karantinis and George Theophanous.

If you could time travel when/where would you go?
If I could time travel I would like to go back to the 60s and 70s. that was a time where a lot of great Greek singers and composers were playing songs that are loved by people until today. I would love to be in one of those old Greek movies that music was always part of.

What is your greatest fear?
My greatest fears are snakes, tarantulas and scorpions.

What would you say to your 18-year-old self?
Well, back when I was 18, I used to be a very shy child so, one thing I would say to my 18-year-old self would be to be brave and fearless, not to be ashamed of anything and that everything would be okay.

Name the one thing that would stop you dating someone
For me, in order to go out with someone it needs to be a girl who attracts me physically and mentally from the beginning. Also, I don’t like girls who curse too much.

If the world is ending in 24 hours what would you do?
That is a very scary scenario that I would rather not have to go through. However, if I had to do something in those 24 hours it would be, spending time with people that I love, family and friends.