Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
International singer from Greece, known for her prolific recording career spanning multiple languages and genres.
On the island
Eight records
She was not a good singer, she was not uh at all the sort, you know, of of singing that I would do, but I I liked the the exuberance and the nature. I in my feeling she was a very natural person.
I think I chose this song, it's not because uh of the the music, but it's it's the sentiment of the of the lyric. And it is it's such a good idea and I really like it.
he used to write the songs and call me up in the middle of the night to tell me, Come, I have written the song, let's try to hear how it sounds and he couldn't think of anybody else trying the song but me
Jacques Brel is one of of the artists that would be unforgettable for me. I mean there are a lot of artists that I have heard as singers and every time I heard them sing I felt like never to sing again.
I remember when uh I heard Maria Callas singing uh La Castadiva, I was in tears and I think it's one of the most wonderful acts that I ever heard.
I have chosen Blow the Wind Southerly, but I it was very difficult for me to choose because one of her most wonderful recordings she she has made was the kinderdotted leader.
Girl from the North CountryFavourite
It was about the time I was going over to Europe and building my career that I first heard his writing and his songs and I was really very deeply influenced by him.
I was crying all the way through because the emotion I got from this lady, it was so strong that I, you know, I I was very m moved by her.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:22Did you find it difficult to choose just eight records to take on this island?
It it was very difficult. I but I think it it would have been difficult even if I if I had to choose fifty or a hundred or two hundred. It's it's like if you had, uh, I don't know, uh, ten children and they will ask you, you get eight with you. I mean, you want... You won't be able to do that. It's impossible.
Presenter asks
3:06What was it like growing up in Athens during the war?
Yes. Oh, I think they were rough for for all the the young people of my age. It was not uh worse. But I mean, um it's a sort of thing that brought you up uh to grow up in a different way and uh l let's say to start your life in a hard way. Yeah.
Presenter asks
4:09What sort of films did you like best?
Well, um, I was very fond of musical films because there there was a lot of music, uh, singing and dancing and that was one of my, you know, the the high points watching films. But also I was very fond of of dramatical things, very sad stories. I I I was a very good audience. I was crying when I had to cry. Ha ha ha ha ha. And laugh when it was, you know, the right time to laugh. I'm still a very good audience. I'm sure you are.
The keepsakes
Presenter asks
7:23Tell me about the blow-up with your professor over jazz.
Yes, I think there is not a good or bad music. It's it's a well done, well sung music. That depends how you sing it and uh so I was interested in learning around singing... Even nowadays when I sing a song, I I don't care whether it is a popular song or if it's a classical, if I can sing it and if I feel like singing, that's the most important thing. ... So at the time of course I was a young girl of uh fifteen or sixteen years old and jazz was there because of the beat and the fascination of this uh skating around or so. So I d I did do some of it and um My professor he realized that I was doing that and I was very uh badly punished and he did not let me go for a for uh final examinations.
Presenter asks
10:58What was the big breakthrough for you? What was your first big success?
My first big success in Greece was a Greek song called Kapuipatia Gapimu which was a Greek festival, the first was done in nineteen fifty-nine. And um I sang a song which h became popular in one evening and w this song won the prize. So um the next day I I was the singer of of you know, of of the whole country.
Presenter asks
20:38Does that mean that you sometimes regret having given up your classical career?
Oh, I I don't r regret because I I don't think that I really had that big voice to be an opera singer. But nevertheless I I was trained to the classical music and I'm a I'm very fond of uh of good music. ... Speaking about it, that it is true that I I have two friends, a composer, a writer, that they have adapted uh La Castadiva for me. They made it as a song for me. But uh still I I can tell you that I I remember when uh I heard Maria Callas singing uh La Castadiva, I was in tears and I think it's one of the most wonderful acts that I ever heard.
“It it was very difficult. I but I think it it would have been difficult even if I if I had to choose fifty or a hundred or two hundred. It's it's like if you had, uh, I don't know, uh, ten children and they will ask you, you get eight with you. I mean, you want... You won't be able to do that. It's impossible.”
“Yes. Oh, I think they were rough for for all the the young people of my age. It was not uh worse. But I mean, um it's a sort of thing that brought you up uh to grow up in a different way and uh l let's say to start your life in a hard way.”
“And I grew up thinking that uh my looks i are not so important. The most important thing is what I feel and what I give. And honesty and sincerity was much more important than what you look like. So I I wanted to keep my glasses, and it was a sort of somehow protection for me against concessions, which I I hated.”
“I think that the voice mostly reflects like like I was saying before, the face and the heart uh reflects what you have inside. That's the most important thing. But it is true that I have a problem in my voice. I have one chord which is thicker than the other and that makes my voice be really, very ugly and husky when I speak, but when I sing it vibes differently. That's the most important thing.”
“I was crying all the way through because the emotion I got from this lady, it was so strong that I, you know, I I was very m moved by her. And I I still had it. I just saw her later on when she was not well and sh still like I used to get this sort of of m magic, um Feeling on somebody who was so close to you and so heartbreaking.”