The song first appeared as Genethlia (Γενέθλια) in 2001 on an album called H Fygi, released by Cretan singer and lyra player Stelios Bikakis.
Not long after the circulation of his previous album, Bikakis’ son Giorgos contracted a rare disease, which is believed to befall only every one millionth person.
Everyone likes it – youngsters, adults, even grandmothers, which encourages me even more.” Four years after its original release, the song was covered by the popular and critically acclaimed Notis Sfakianakis.
Many claim that the passion that Bikakis presents in his version tips the scales in his favor; that, as the creator of the song, it is closer to his heart and that the meaning is more apparent in his voice.
The argument tends to go more often than not to the Sfakianakis camp, but mainly on account of the imbalance of profiles: even after the release of the song Bikakis remained a relative unknown to the majority of Greeks, enjoying fame only amongst a select few listeners of refined taste, and he generally shuns the limelight.
It is unclear why the spelling was changed, two years after the release, but is most likely due to a desire by Sfakianakis to allow listeners to properly differentiate between his version and Bikakis’.