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Photos by Sarah Finnegan.
Local DJ Chris Sarris works a neighborhood block party in Crestline Village on October 23, 2016.
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Photos by Sarah Finnegan.
Local DJ Chris Sarris works a neighborhood block party in Crestline Village on October 23, 2016.
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Photos by Sarah Finnegan.
Chris Sarris turned hobbies of mixing music and studying Greek language and culture into a career that takes him all over the country.
Not long ago, Greek DJ and Homewood native Chris Sarris was working for summer weddings in the ancient city of Olympia on the island of Kythnos, Greece — one of his favorite places.
“One of the brides from the U.S. just found me through word of mouth because I’ve DJed at a bunch of Greek events all over the U.S.,” Sarris said. “I think I’m one of the largest [known] young Greek American DJs in the United States.”
Traveling between Birmingham and Greece to DJ is just a typical part of his life, he said.
Sarris, born and raised in Homewood, began his professional career as a Greek DJ about 17 years ago. Since then, he has come to be known as an international DJ who can play music from a variety of cultures, including Latin, Arabic and Balkan. Sarris is also a regular DJ for Greek festivals in the Southeast.
But for the last 12 years, locals who flock to the Birmingham Greek Festival know Sarris as the DJ who keeps the atmosphere alive between the band sets. Now he makes a career out of being a DJ at Greek nights anywhere from Alaska to California to Florida.
But he always comes back home to Birmingham to DJ local Greek events.
“It keeps the Greek culture alive in the community,” Sarris said.
He said what started as a hobby mixing music and learning about Greek culture in high school turned into a paying job for him. Even though he didn’t know a lot about Greek music then, Sarris knew how to speak, read and write the language and with that, he started to gain insight on the culture of Greek music as he attended more and more events.
The first party Sarris did was a Greek New Year’s party for a group of Greek families and friends from the Vestavia and Homewood area.
“The Greeks in Birmingham have a close tie together,” he said. “A lot of Greeks came to Birmingham for a better life.”
In the late 1800s and the early 1900s, he said, the first wave of Greeks moved to America and started working in the railroad and coal industries, as well as for fruit companies and specialty Greek restaurants.
His parents were in the second wave of people who moved from Greece. They came in the late 1960s, he said, and bought a house in Homewood in the early 1970s. Although his parents were hesitant about him being a DJ at first, they’re happy to see his local cultural involvement and international success as a DJ.
“Over the years, my name started getting out that I could DJ and do those kinds of parties. At the same time, I was starting to work at some of the bars around town doing American music, so slowly I started to get a reputation, get a good name,” Sarris said.
Someone at a gig eventually gave Sarris the name Disco Hristo, which stuck as his DJ name for all his events. (C)hristo is the Greek form of his name, Chris, so he thought it was fitting.
“And catchy,” he laughed.
After a trip to Greece in 2004, Sarris’ cousin offered him the opportunity to work at his beach bar, which led to his first experience mixing music in Greece. Every year after that, Sarris was offered a DJ residency at a Greek tourist bar for the summer. While he’s there, he also makes guest appearances at other bars and books weddings.
“You’ll have a celebrity pop in sometimes,” Sarris said. “I couldn’t even tell you everyone I’ve seen. It’s crazy.”
He said part of his job as a DJ in Greece and other countries is to play for tourists who come into town on yachts. He has to figure out what country they come from and what music they’re interested in listening to.
“It’s all about keeping the mood at the bar, so I have to see what kind of music to play, what’s hot in their countries,” Sarris said. “The fact that I’ve learned so many different cultures from being there, I’m able to bring that when I play in Birmingham. I’m able to give a different sound to this community that they’re not used to hearing.”
As far as the music goes, Sarris said it can vary from more traditional, soulful Greek music to a more modern type that he said people play at clubs. At Greek festivals, he usually plays a strategic mix of both.
“It depends on how close their ties are to Greek culture,” he said. “Let’s say a bride is getting married, and she doesn’t know a lot of the modern Greek music. Then I’ll be playing more of the traditional stuff.”
Every night he spends in Greece is a unique experience, he said.
“I love it [Greece] when I go there in the summer; the weather is awesome,” Sarris said. “Plus, there’s the water, the ocean.”
Despite the love of being by the water in Greece, Sarris said he enjoys keeping the Greek culture alive and thriving in Birmingham and plans to continue as a DJ for locals for years to come.
