What a period it was! Here can read some of our Corona Updates from Greece, written between 202o and 2022 and listen to a Greek Song About… Staying At Home!

In the meantime, 2022 started with some sunny days here in Greece, as well as some snow as well…
Our daily walks in the Athens streets and parks continued, just like in 2020 and 2021. However, since now there is no corona curfew anymore and we are allowed to go further than our municipality, we can also go for daily trips towards the snowy mountains again…something which was not possible last winter.

In the meantime, the world news seems once again taken over by ‘corona’,  or “omikron”. The positive news; we are honored Greek letters are used for a pandemic :-), and the entire world gets the chance to learn the Greek alphabet. We realized many non-Greeks have no clue that the viruses are named after letters of the Greek alphabet, but fortunately, our dear students are very well aware 🙂 .
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Greek Rembetika music is closely connected to the name of Markos Vamvakaris, whose great significance for this genre is also reflected in his nickname: “the patriarch of the rebetiko.”

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Greek Singer Yannis Charoulis is a known Greek singer, songwriter, and musician whose music brings together elements from entekhno (orchestral music with elements from folk songs and lyrics often based on the work of famous Greek poets), rock, and traditional Cretan music.
Continue reading to learn more about his career and Greek music, and listen to one of his songs. It is accompanied by a transcript of the lyrics as well the English translation for easier comprehension.

His story 

Yannis Charoulis was born and raised in Crete. His first encounter with music was at the tender age of 6, when his father taught him to play the mandolin. A bit later he got his first laouto (gr. λαούτο), which is a long-neck fretted instrument of the lute family, most commonly encountered in Greece and Cyprus and bearing similarities to the oud. Starting at 15, he was playing professionally at local fests and celebrations and studying traditional Cretan music more closely.

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 In 2021 Greece celebrated a special anniversary on March 25th – Its 200 Υears Οf Ιndependence!

If you want to read more about this important National Celebration, the Greek National Anthem, useful vocabulary etc…
then click on the button below, for the article in English, Greek,
as well as a Greek -file Audio to improve your listening skills in Greek 🙂

To celebrate the 200 years since the Greek Revolution, the famous song of Dionysis Savvopoulos has been chosen for the official video clip of this event. See below.

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As you all know, in Greece there are so many wonderful songs, singers, songwriters and composers. This time, we chose for you a beautiful, traditional love song from Crete. Listen to this sweet song and the sound of the Cretan lyre! Under the video, you will find the Greek Lyrics as well as the English translation. Maybe you can sing along… Enjoy!
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Manos Hatzikadis is a Greek composer, known by every Greek. As a non-Greek, there are probably many names that pop into your head when you think about Greek music, such as Dalaras, Mouskouri, Theodorakis … but today it is time to learn more about Manos Hadzidakis.
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Antonis Remos is a popular Greek singer who has many fans in Greece, as well as fans among the Omilo students 🙂
For many years, Remos was also one of the Greek coaches of the popular TV show “The Voice”.

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It cannot always be sunny, also in Greece there are “rainy days”! And of course, there is a Greek song that goes along with a wet day!
Listen to the beautiful rebetiko song, composed by Vassilis Tsitsanis “Raindrops are falling” «Πέφτουν της βροχής οι στάλες».
A rainy day is excellent to study Greek as well, so here we go!

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Thessaloniki, or often called “Salonika”, is the second largest city in Greece, after Athens.
As we have written already many times about Athens, it is now time to introduce you to some secrets of Thessaloniki!

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Have you ever attended a Greek wedding or have you heard a Greek wedding song?
As probably in every country, every wedding is different; you can find various wedding customs, traditions, and songs, depending on the family and its roots and/or beliefs.

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