Happy new year Sakis

If Sakis was knocking on your door you would open for him. Even if he was a complete stranger, you would forgive him if he woke you up and you probably wouldn't be annoyed at all. If he came to sing Christmas carols, you would give him a tip and a treat and you would invite him to come back whenever he wanted. If you found him available on New Year's Day you would give him onions and pomegranates and you would have him take the first step into your house (traditional greek customs), being certain that photogenic people can only bring luck...

No-one has ever doubted his physical superiority - a friend of mine who interviewed him lately called it "fine DNA". In fact it is the kind of DNA that defines the importance of a human being.

"Sakis would have made it one way or the other. When you have such good looks you can't "not make it". He may have earned some time due to good management but that's all." People who have worked with Sakis are comfortable when they are credited with whatever they believe is their share.

It's Saturday afternoon and amidst the holidays I was sent into Sakis' shooting, but I'm not complaining. I'm right on time, or to be exact, I must have arrived early. I'm sitting on a hard chair and taking notes while we wait for him.

"He hasn't been lucky. He works very hard." they assure me and I'm thinking that maybe I've come across some superstitious people, the kind that use severe judgement and modesty as a natural repellent for the "evil eye".

Dinos Diamantopoulos (photographer) is retouching a smiling Dalara (famous greek singer) and says to me: "I remember the first time I took photos of Sakis. The record company had told me that a gorgeous boy would come. I remember his enthusiasm, but he still has that. Sakis hasn't changed a bit. That is not the case with many others. Rouvas, maybe Sfakianakis (famous greek singer) too, are the two people who haven't changed through the years. At the first shooting, Sakis had come with a smile up to his ears.."

We take a break because the phone is ringing and I'm going to pour some coffee. Sakis has just arrived, unaccompanied - loaded with clothing and followed by a fan that bumped into him in the few centimetres he had to walk uncovered and incognito from the car to the door. If he wasn't famous he could be her older brother who went to pick her up from some party. They both wear jeans and sweaters without a jacket, they're cold, but only she trembles slightly. She addresses him in polite plural. "Come inside because they have a lot of photos here", he explains to her slowly. "Mr. Diamantopoulos is the photographer who has taken them, he is very famous."

We all gather around the young fan with our most child-friendly smiles, so as not to scare her. Sakis finds some photos and brings them to her to choose. The kid gets bolder, "I also want one for my friend, but it shouldn't be prettier than mine". The darkest side of women’s friendship gets uncovered when you have in front of you a handsome man you have just met for the first time. Sakis introduces himself with a tight handshake.

"Have we worked together before?" he asks me and I catch myself trying to avoid his eyes.

"No, I'd remember it. Please don't talk to me in the polite plural."

"Where are you from? Where do you live?"

I realise that Sakis has an "old fashioned" politeness that makes him even more captivating. During the latest years of his life he surely has never got introduced to a person who didn’t spend the rest of the day describing how he met Rouvas. He is prone to smiling, we're talking about the basic concept and he interrupts to take the baby in his arms, dressed in pink. "One step at a time, so she can get used to me". Sakis probably isn't aware of the saying "Never pose next to animals or children because they'll steal the show". Perhaps because it doesn't apply in his case. The baby's mother makes the best introduction "It is her first shooting but I think she will cooperate".

I don't know if I have gone foolish due to age, profession or season, but I've never seen a person in my life getting along so well with an unknown baby. Sakis is equipped with a complete baby-code besides his other communicative skills. He makes tender faces and communicates by charming little syllables, he's looking for the soother clip, he offers the safest hug, he's worried that maybe the studio is a bit cold for the little girl.

I've run out of cliches and I utter the naive "Sakis, you get along well with babies".

"Other people's. I'm too young to have babies of my own."

Except for that baby-code he seems also equipped with major male reflexes. He's leading us to imagine shootings with daddy Rouvas, which would presume a mummy Rouvas, pretty and enduring. Rebecca Wang, in her short relationship with Sakis, has been exposed to the worst comments by Sakis' frenzied fans.

They broke up recently, which he has confirmed. It's not the fans' fault. Rebecca didn't understand greek abusive words, she never read a paper referring to their "secret engagement". People who have met her doubt that she ever realised what a big star Sakis was in Greece. Rebecca moves with the international "jet set" - the highest there is -, her only knowledge of the life of a rock star came probably from the mouth of Mick Jagger. After their break-up Rebecca talked to Elli Stai (famous newscaster and host of talk-shows, mainly political) and not Tatiana Stefanidou (former newscaster, currently hosts a gossip show). To be exact, whoever watched Sakis on her talk-show commented only on the part regarding Rebecca. A few days after the interview the smart objective TV columns rushed to say: "Sakis didn't have much to say". There are people who believe - like implacable and solemn Judges of the Supreme Court -that they ought to restore the universal order - in the logic of "just because you're cute doesn't mean I'll be cuddling you" - certainly motivated by their noble sense of justice.

In addition, the world may be full of stars - no shortage of pretty faces - yet Sakis manages to be the ultimate star in a market so small that you can bump into any celebrity at the lottery shop of your neighbourhood.

Sakis lives away - outside of Athens - and every day he travels during the hours when there's not much traffic. He has a tendency for isolation, he wants his peace, his friends, he doesn't like giving interviews, he rarely gets photographed and he is a Capricorn.

While Sakis is having a haircut, I chat with careful Ilias Psinakis who has just come in. He is impressively polite, such good manners are rare among people in the music business. He answers to some informative questions and cell phones that never stop ringing, with "Ola kala" as a ring tone. Ilias Psinakis is able to include in a sentence greetings from a publisher, gossip from a premiere, and a kind invitation from the wife of a former politician for a formal dinner. We talk during the pauses between two phone-calls. "This is what's happening all day long" he assures me, "don't get bothered, you tell me, are you a Taurus?"

- No, a Virgo.

- With "ascendant"?

- Sagittarius.

- That's good.

He is discreet, exceptionally professional, brief and slightly brusque to those who regard excessive intimacy as politeness. He doesn't want to be quoted. He is standing beside Sakis and they have the similarities found in people who spend a lot of time together. According to the widespread myth, stars are surrounded by tyrannical managers. Psinakis is, proportionately, one of the most famous of his kind. Who knows who Madonna's manager is? Those who know them better assure that Psinakis is O.K. "Sakis doesn't give interviews easily. He's very low profile because he is a Capricorn. That's the key."

I'm standing over his boots, which he just took off. His white athletic socks are left there to wait until he finishes. I could just steal them and sell them at gold price to his most avid fan. I observe him, while he's drying his hair on his own, trying to process the contradictory information. Sakis does a lot of things on his own. He's not surrounded by assistants and he often drives himself. On one hand his simplicity is touching, on the other any slip of his would be comforting - because it would prove that another "shiny star" is made of the same ingredients as the rest of us.

However, Rouvas hasn't showed any signs of decadence - and, above all, he doesn't get uglier. He has been an athlete. "He can do a triple flip and land excellently. He doesn't smoke and he will ask you politely to take your smoke away from his face". Sakis is a very positive being - in the vague "new age" sense of the word - and maybe this makes him even more extraordinary.

He is exceptional among the exceptionals because he's not like them. Sakis is not some talented but indolent man. On the contrary, he has the kind of consistency that helped him advance, he listens because he is intelligent.

In France he is already recognisable. Monica Bellucci had come to Greece for a reception and she spoke to him because she recognised him.

Sakis is enjoying an affection many singers would kill for. People are kind to him, perhaps because Sakis in his flourishing youth is potentially rising, very promising, and successful all the same.

He is walking and his freshly cut hair is bouncing softly. He wears his jacket and takes the baby in his arms. Diamantopoulos' begins flashing and the rest of us are watching the photos on the monitor. Sakis has only good profiles and flattering angles. He looks good every time and he knows it. He steals some glimpses on the mirror. He seems to have two or three favourite expressions.

The cooperative baby is not used to flashes. Mummy rushes with a pink bottle and Sakis comes near the monitor to see the results. He is pressing some keys, playing with the photos, turning them around to see them better, and at the same time he's softly singing Christmas carols. I turn my ear unconsciously as if I have the special privilege of listening to Rouvas in a rare private performance.

He asks for our opinion about the new digital camera he has just bought. I'm trying to think if I know anything about digital photography to say. "A new model is coming out with a resolution of 8.5", I tell him and I'll be damned if I understood what I uttered. I shut up so as not to make a fool of myself.

I'm inspecting the shots. In one of them he touches the baby with his cheek. I'm showing it to him in excitement. "Nice look you have here!" I tell him. Sakis presses the magnification button while he is softly singing an unknown tune. If I entered the studio right now and saw him without any make-up I'd think that he was a child playing with someone’s computer.

The specialists bend over our heads and agree that the outcome is impressive. He goes on to pose again, he stops the melodious humming, and I can see him touching his face with his hands. I guess he is concentrating. For a few seconds his stretched fingers are trembling, his fingernails are childish, short-trimmed, without a manicure, making a funny contrast to his tuxedo. He lowers his hands and he's ready again.

I'm looking once more at the photos where he's holding the baby and I put aside the most tender. "He's good, but there's an odd wrinkle on his cheek as he touches it", observe the more demanding judges. "That's probably why I like it. Rouvas with a wrinkle is a rare spectacle!". Nobody is laughing so I'm lowering my eyes on the monitor again. "By the way, how old is Sakis now?", I ask the two people next to me and I receive the same response twice, like a confirmation you can't doubt. "He's thirty now". "At thirty a wrinkle makes Sakis look better" I'm thinking - but I decide not to say it out loud.

I'm waiting for the shooting to end. I ask for a special wish but we both agree that all wishes are always common. I wish him for a happy holiday and he replies: "Same to you too. Glad to have met you!".

On my way out I'm thinking that when you meet Sakis it's probably best to ask for an autograph at once. At least on Christmas no girl is looking for a Sakis to talk to her in polite plural. Happy New Year, Sakis.

Magazine: Symbol December 2003