“Changing The Game” (JGard’s Biography - Written by Abz Davenport)
Yannis Gardelis, Sr., (JGard’s father) was once a well known Greek singer. Then one day, he quit, shedding his old life in the pursuit of a new one; a life with Jesus. For Yannis, secular music is a symbol of a life without Christ, the music scene too full of temptations to attempt navigating. So when his son and namesake, known to friends and fans as JGard, told his dad about his dream of becoming a hip-hop singer, there was an expected tension.
Yannis had raised his son without any kind of encouragement in that direction; pushing him to get involved in sports from a young age. However, nothing really clicked for JGard like hip-hop did. Not even soccer, Greece’s most popular sport by far. At the age of six, a friend from church brought a T-Bone CD. T-Bone was a popular Christian rapper and hip-hop artist at a time when modern Christian music was even more of a rarity than it is today. JGard was hooked.
When I met JGard and his band, The Blancos, this summer, one of the first things he told me about the band’s goal with their music was to change the game.
“I want to be on the streets with people and show that I am apart of this culture- that Jesus is a part of this culture. And that’s how I think that culture should be.” He isn’t interested in telling people who listen to hip-hop to fine press their shirts and wear shiny shoes in pursuit of a life with Jesus; he wants to meet them where they’re at. He wants to change the game of hip-hop music- a genre riddled by it’s demoralizing and rebellious lyrics.
The Blancos
JGard’s goal in having a band was primarily to have a group of covenant guys who could talk to each other about Jesus and their struggles. “After that,” he said, “Comes music.”
JGard had already ventured into making music when Haris approached him with the idea to start a band. Haris had been taking bass lessons from a Sunday school teacher who, to this day, still keeps the group of boys accountable and encouraged. After praying about it, they got together with two other friends from church, Franko and Giorgos, and formed The Blancos.
JGard, Haris, Franko, and Giorgos make up a boy band of true diversity… and slight controversy. Franko and Giorgos are Albanian-Greek cousins, considered by many Greeks as lesser because of their race. While I was in the country, I recognized the wide racial rift. Within The Blancos, however, there is no such segregation, not even subconsciously.
JGard, as the lead singer and frontman, speaks in common Greek fashion about the issue- directly, without much beating around the bush or concern for feelings. “I feel like what is hard to realize is… the grace of God. That even when people don’t like you, God does, no matter your skin color. And you can make a difference, too, whether you’re Greek or whatever.”
The Syrian Refugee Crisis // Making An Impact
This isn’t just something he’s saying to sound spiritual, either. The day after my birthday, The Blancos gathered some friends and a youth leader to go to Victoria Square and hand out all the food, water, and clothes they could come up with between them. I got a text from Haris and another close friend of ours, Theo, talking about what an amazing experience it had been. We’d had many conversations during my time in Athens about how to help the refugees flooding Greece’s capital, so to hear that this was something that had happened was beyond exhilarating for me.
Fast forward about two weeks, and JGard and I are messaging back and forth about how to even make a small impact on the refugee community in Athens. They had gotten a taste of helping, and it had fueled a hunger to do more. Thus, in true American style, I suggested a benefit concert. It was an offhand idea, but The Blancos ran with it.
December 4th will mark the date of their first benefit concert. JGard’s schoolmates- many of them not Christians- will be joining church people and kids from other schools in the area with food, blankets, and clothing, which will be handed out to the refugees around the city by The Blancos.
JGard and The Blancos aren’t just changing the game in hip-hop music; they’re changing the game in how the church and the Greek people approach the crisis filling their city. They’re stepping outside of the cultural norm and crossing musical, racial, and religious lines to show the love of Jesus and make a difference.