There is a crisp fall breeze in the air as George Sapounidis sits down on a bench at Britannia Beach. He pulls out his guitar and hooks it up to a speaker. The leaves are starting to turn a bright orange and the water of the Ottawa River is deep blue and calm. It’s Thanksgiving Monday and families are out for a post-turkey evening stroll.
Then suddenly, a couple walks by. “Where are you from?” Sapounidis, 67, asks. They reply from Ukraine. “I can sing for you in your native language,” he says.
The peculiar performer is not shy with his words.
Sapounidis — better known by his stage name Chairman George — is a Britannia Village resident who can sing in 21 different languages. While he’s known vaguely in the Ottawa music scene, he’s a superstar in China with over 50 million viewers on their state broadcasted television networks.
Born in Montreal, Sapounidis began playing guitar at the age of six after his mom signed him up for lessons. The interest came after hearing the Beatles play. It was the 1960s and they were all the rage.
Sapounidis couldn’t put the guitar strings down.
“A year later, we all moved to Greece and my mother found me a wonderful classical guitar teacher in Athens. I got into classical guitar, which is the ballet of playing guitar. It’s very technical,” he said.
“In 1974-75 I followed my sister and mother to a Greek island where we made friends with some wonderful artist expats — several of whom were musicians. One of them, Alex McAdam, was both a painter and a troubadour guitar player from Scotland. He became like a mentor to me about how to perform for people,” Sapounidis added. “It was eye opening and wonderful. That was the rocket that inspired me and blasted me off into outer space.”
Becoming a Chinese sensation
Sapounidis technically hasn’t been to outerspace, but he’s traveled to many parts of the world — Including China 40 times to perform. His love for the East Asian country began in the 1990s after having a lady friend from Beijing.
Her persuasion led Sapounidis to learn how to play a song from Northwest China. On New Year’s Eve in 2000, he was performing at the National Library of Canada when the troubadour caught the eye of the Chinese embassy which was present among the 400 people in attendance.
They liked his style and a month later called up the former Statistics Canada employee and asked him to perform at two major international Chinese music festivals. By October. Sapounidis was on a plane for the almost 11,000 kilometre journey.
He made an impression. Sapounidis realized it too and decided to aim big. He wanted to perform at the Athens Olympics in 2004 as the torch was given to the next host city, Beijing, organizer of the 2008 Summer Olympics.
”That was my dream. I began contacting the ministries of culture in Athens and Beijing. I began phoning all these embassies in Ottawa, trying to persuade them to help me contact the Olympic Organizing Committee, but no real answer came,” said Sapounidis. “I tried so hard. I’m the only Greek in the world who is Canadian and can perform in Chinese.”
While his Olympic dreams were dashed, a documentary film which premiered on CTV’s W5 showcased the Ottawa guitarist’s quest for glory at the games. He was also able to run with the torch in Montreal and participated in the Athens closing ceremony as a volunteer.
The Olympics came calling again In 2008 when Beijing asked the ‘Chairman’ to be a torch bearer for a second time in China. Sapounidis also had an opportunity to perform at the Olympic Village for athletes.
“You shoot for the stars and a ton of other things happen,” he said.
Sapounidis is fluent in Chinese. He’s recorded over six albums and has collected two nominations for Best World Music from the Canadian Folk Music Awards.
Getting discovered at home
It was a beautiful summer’s day in June 2021 when Sapounidis decided to drive up to Britannia Beach with his guitar to catch some rays and perform for others. It was the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and people were flocking outdoors for any sense of normalcy.
Sapounidis didn’t feel out of place away from international eyes; in fact, he felt right at home. In the late 80s, he busked in the Greece Islands, and was a performer at a Greek Restaurant on Bank Street in the 90s.
“Right away on the beach, I met these people strolling from all over the world and I began to sing in their language. In 2022 when the war in Ukraine started, I began meeting people from there. I sang in Russian but didn’t know Ukrainian so I went online and learned,” said Sapounidis. “Then gentlemen in turbans were walking by and I could sing in Hindi but they said how about Punjabi? So I learned a couple of songs.”
Britannia became his new world stage. His roster of languages kept growing. It’s almost doubled since he started. In addition to helping others cope, it’s also been a lifeline for Sapounidis.
“I’m single and I have no family. When I come back home, I’m completely alone. It’s part of my life. I regret having never married or having a family. Being with different people for three hours is a proxy family,” Chairman George said with tears in his eyes. “I have performed all over China and I’ve met so many different people and I’ve had romantic relationships, but I could never commit.”
When asked why, he replied, ”I’m not sure. I’m just compelled by physical attraction I guess. If I had a relationship with somebody in Ottawa, I was always about to travel to China. I was being compelled by other women I’d met on the road.”
But Sapounidis is looking to put that part of his lifestyle behind. Today he’s learning comedy, doing magic, and teaching mathematics for Nipissing University through Algonquin College. He still has hopes of meeting a woman who he could stay committed to. Sapounidis is currently talking to a woman in China named Sue. They met over WhatsApp and talk regularly, but they’ve never met.
“I’m not sure what could or couldn’t develop. We’ve had some long audio conversations. But we’ve never had a video phone call where we are actually seeing each other. I don’t want to impose,” said Sapounidis.
