1/12 🎸 A 17-year-old Greek kid follows a girl to Israel. She's engaged. He stays anyway—and accidentally invents Israeli rock music.
This is the wild true story of Aris San.
This is the wild true story of Aris San.
2/12 1957. Aristidis Saïsanás is busking in Turkish tavernas when he meets an Israeli girl—and falls hard. She sails home. He follows on the next boat. No plan. No Hebrew. Just love.
3/12 Plot twist: She's engaged. Most people would turn around. Not Aris. He changes his name to Aris San, learns Hebrew, and opens Ariana—Israel's first Greek nightclub.
4/12 Ariana becomes THE place to be. Soldiers, celebrities—even Defense Minister Moshe Dayan—show up. Aris charms his way into Israeli society. The government fast-tracks his citizenship.
5/12 The real breakthrough comes when he starts singing in Hebrew. His first hit: "Bachayim Hakol Over"—"In Life, Everything Passes."
6/12 What made Aris unique? He played electric guitar like a bouzouki. Greek melodies + Mizrahi rhythms + Israeli pop = something totally new. Eastern guitar was born.
7/12 In 1968, his album "Aris" sells over 100,000 copies. The first Israeli album to EVER do so.
8/12 Then he conquers America. Opens Sirocco in Manhattan, plays Carnegie Hall, parties with Hollywood stars. Life is golden.
9/12 Until Joey Gallo shows up. The mob takes over his club. Cocaine floods in. Aris gets hooked.
10/12 1985: FBI raids Sirocco. They want him to testify against the mob. He refuses—gets two years in prison. When he's out, he's broken. The club owner is now selling chicken on street corners.
11/12 1992: He flees to Budapest. Local thugs beat him up and break his hand. A few days later, he dies of a heart attack at just 52.
12/12 He's buried in New York—right next to Louis Armstrong. He came for love. Stayed for reinvention. Left behind the soundtrack of a nation. Even in death, Aris San rests beside musical royalty. 🎵
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
