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Mikis Theodorakis, The Legendary Greek Composer

Already several years have passed, without Mikis Theodorakis…

Mikis Theodorakis, the beloved and internationally known Greek composer,
whose music and political life are also well-known abroad, died on September 2nd, 2021. He was 96.

Theodorakis’ career, which started in his early years, produced a hugely varied body of work.
He has not only composed symphonic music, music for operas, ballet, chamber music, but of course a great number of Greek songs.

Apart from his musical career, he is also remembered by Greeks for his stubborn opposition to postwar regimes and dictatorships.

He will be never forgotten.

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Your Persistence | A Greek Song by Eleonora Zouganeli

For many Greek language learners, Greek music is the reason why they started learning Greek. Music is a fun and interesting way to learn the language. You can listen at any time of the day and the lyrics can help you to expand your vocabulary, but also make you feel closer to Greece and the Greek culture.
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Greek Vocabulary With A Song By Rena Morfi

Building your Greek vocabulary with a Greek song, while listening to Greek music, is fun.
Below you can read the lyrics and listen to a very nice and popular Greek song by Rena Morfi.  

Click here to read the article in Greek

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Greek singer Kostis Maraveyas welcomes you to Greece

Do you also love Greek music? Then let us introduce you to one more Greek singer,  Kostis Maraveyas. 

Click here to read this article in Greek

Maraveyas – also known by his stage name Maraveyas illegal – is a Greek singer-songwriter, composer, performer, director and writer.
A true one-man band, he plays the accordion, piano and guitar. His songs are written mainly in Greek with the occasional lyric in English, Spanish or Italian thrown in (as we will see below). Despite the upbeat melodies, his songs often hide dark humour and social critique or tell the story of a troubled relationship.

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Learn More About Greek Music and Greek Singer Eleftheria Arvanitaki

Do you also like Greek music?  Who is your favorite singer?
We here present you… Eleftheria Arvanitaki! A renowned Greek singer with a career that spans four decades and is a strong favorite among Omilo students. Let’s learn more about her life and work!

Click here to read the article in Greek
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Corona Updates from Greece & A Greek Song About Staying At Home!

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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Vamvakaris and Greek Rebetika Music

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.”

Read this article in Greek
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Greek Singer Yannis Charoulis and his music

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.

Click here to read the article in Greek

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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It is never cold in Greece – Greek song by Locomondo

It is never cold in Greece!
Is it a myth or the truth? What do you believe?
Μύθος ή όχι; Κάνει κρύο στην Ελλάδα ή όχι;
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A Greek Movie About Eftihia Papagianopoulou – The Greek Female Lyricist

A Greek Movie About Eftihia Papagianopoulou – The Greek Female Lyricist , was very welcome.
Eftihia Papagianopoulou was potentially the most important female lyricist of the Greek music scene. She penned countless « laika and rembetika »(*) songs, many of which became Greek song hits and are sung and danced to even nowadays.

Click here to read the article in Greek

Papagiannopoulou was born in Aydin near Smyrna (now Izmir) in Asia Minor in 1893, which she had to abandon due to the Greco-Turkish War (1919-22) and the Great Fire of Smyrna in 1922. She emigrated to Greece and arrived by boat to Athens with her two daughters.

Initially, she was married to Kostis Nikolaidis; it was an arranged marriage with a man 20 years her senior. Papagiannopoulou divorced him shortly after arriving in Greece. She got married again in 1932 to Yorgos Pappagiannopoulos, who was the only man she really loved in her life. Lire la suite

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