Mouskouri's family lived in Canée, Crete, where her father, Constantin, worked as a film projectionist in a local cinema. Her mother, Alice also worked in the same local cinema as an usherette. When Mouskouri was three, Constantin moved the family to Athens. Mouskouri's family worked extremely hard in order to send Nana and her elder sister, Jenny, to the prestigious Athens Conservatoire. Mouskouri had displayed exceptional musical talent from the age of 6. However her sister, Jenny, appeared to be more the more gifted of the two. In fact Mouskouri only had one 'working' vocal chord (rather than the normal two). This a rare condition gives her voice its particularly original timbre.
Mouskouri's childhood was colored by the Nazi occupation of Greece. Her father became part of the Nazi resistance movement in Athens. Mouskouri began singing lessons at age 12. Despite the flaw in her vocal cords, Mouskouri took singing lessons regularly. During the Nazi German occupation, her family no longer had the financial means to pay for her singing lessons. But her teacher saw that she had a certain talent and continued to give her lessons free of charge. As a child, she listened to radio broadcasts of American jazz singers such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holiday as well as French chanson stars like Edith Piaf.
In 1950, she was accepted at the Conservatoire. She studied classical music with an emphasis on singing opera. The young Mouskouri committed herself into classical music studies with a passion, perfecting her vocals with extraordinary self-discipline as well as taking piano and harmony classes. After 8 years at the Conservatoire, Mouskouri was encouraged by her friends to experiment with jazz music. She soon began singing with her friends' jazz group at night and they even managed to get a radio slot. However, when Mouskouri's Conservatory professor found out about Mouskouri's involvement with a genre of music that he considered to be absolutely worthless, he flew into a fury and prevented her from sitting her end of year exams. Consequently, the Conservatoire expelled her. Mouskouri's dreams of becoming an opera singer were dashed.
Mouskouri left the Conservatoire and began performing at the Zaki club in Athens. She began singing jazz in nightclubs with a bias on Ella Fitzgerald repertory. It was at the Zaki in 1958 that Mouskouri met the famous Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis. Hadjidakis was immensely impressed by Nana’s original voice and immediately offered to write songs for her. He became her mentor. In 1959 Mouskouri performed Hadjidakis' Kapou Iparchi Agapi Mou (co-written with poet Nikos Gatsos) at the inaugural Greek Song Festival. The song won first prize, and Mouskouri began to be noticed. At the 1960 Greek Song Festival, she performed two more Hadjidakis compositions, Timoria and Kiparissaki. Both these songs tied for first prize. Mouskouri soon ventured further and participated at the Mediterranean Song Festival, held in Barcelona where she performed Kostas Yannidis' composition Xypna Agapi Mou. The song won first prize. Her wins attracted interest from several international record companies. Mouskouri wound up signed a recording contract with the Paris-based Philips-Fontana axis.
In 1961, Mouskouri performed the soundtrack of a German documentary about Greece. This resulted in the German-language single Weisse Rosen aus Athen ("The White Rose of Athens"). The song was originally adapted from a folk melody by Hadjidakis. It became an enormous hit, selling over a million copies in Germany. The song was later translated into several different languages and it went on to become one of Mouskouri's signature tunes. Mouskouri married Yorgos Petsilas in 1961. Mouskouri and Petsilas have two children, son, Nicolas born in February 1968 and daughter, Hélène born in 1970. In 1974, Mouskouri and Petsilas separated and she moved to Geneva, Switzerland. In 1975, Mouskouri and Petsilas were officially divorced.
In 1962, she met renowned American song producer Quincy Jones. Jones got her to go to New York to record an album of American jazz titled, The Girl From Greece Sings. Following that she scored another hit in the United Kingdom with My Colouring Book.
In 1963, she left Greece to live permanently in Paris, France. Mouskouri performed Luxembourg's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest that year, À Force de Prier. The song became an international hit, and helped win her the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque in France. Mouskouri soon attracted the attention of French composer Michel Legrand, who composed her two major French hits Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964) and L'Enfant au Tambour (1965).
In 1965, she recorded her second English-language album that was released in the United States entitled, Nana Sings. Jamaican-American Calypso musician Harry Belafonte heard and liked the album. Belafonte brought Mouskouri on tour with him through 1966. They teamed for a live duo album entitled, An Evening With Belafonte/Mouskouri. During this tour, Belafonte told Mouskouri to remove her signature black-rimmed glasses when on stage. She was so unhappy with the request that she wanted to quit the show after only two days. Finally, Belafonte relented and respected her wishes to perform with her glasses.
Mouskouri's 1967 French album Le Jour Où la Colombe ascended her to superstardom in France. This album featured many of her French songs, Au Coeur de Septembre, Adieu Angélina, Robe Bleue, Robe Blanche and the French pop classic Le Temps des Cerises. Her rendition of Guantanamera was very well received. Mouskouri made her first appearance at Paris' legendary Olympia concert theater in 1967, with a repertoire blending French pop, Greek folk, and Hadjidakis numbers.
In 1968, Mouskouri turned her attention to the British market and hosted a variety show called Nana and Guests. In 1969, she released her first full-length British LP, Over and Over. It became a smash hit that spent almost two years on the U.K. charts. Mouskouri spent much of the 1970s on the road which helped to broaden her worldwide popularity to levels. In France, she released a series of top-selling albums that included Comme un Soleil, Une Voix Qui Vient du Coeur, Vielles Chansons de France, and Quand Tu Chantes. She also recorded a successful version of Habanera, from Bizet's opera Carmen. She continued to release highly received albums in Europe, including her 1975 album Sieben Schwarze Rosen which was a significant success in Germany, and her English-language album Book of Songs that sold millions of copies worldwide.
In 1979, Mouskouri had another English-language album named Roses and Sunshine. This album was very well received in Canada. She scored a worldwide hit in 1981 with Je Chante Avec Toi, Liberté, which was translated into several languages after its widespread success in France. The momentum from this album also helped boost her following German album, Meine Lieder Sind Meine Liebe. In 1984, Mouskouri returned to Greece for her first live performance in her homeland since 1962.
In 1986, Mouskouri recorded Only Love, the theme song to a BBC TV series that went on to top the U.K. charts. The song was also a hit with its French version, L'Amour en Héritage. That same year, Mouskouri made a play for the Spanish-language market with the hit single Con Todo el Alma. The song was a major success in Spain, Argentina and Chile. She released five albums in different languages in 1987, and the following year returned to her classical conservatory roots with the double LP The Classical Nana (aka Nana Classique), which featured some of her favorite opera excerpts.
Mouskouri's 1991 English album, Only Love: The Best of Nana Mouskouri became her best-selling release in the United States. She spent much of the 1990s with her rigorous global touring schedule. Among her early 1990s albums were spiritual music, Gospel (1990), the Spanish-language Nuestras Canciones, the multilingual, Mediterranean-themed Côté Sud, Côté Coeur (1992), Dix Mille Ans Encore, Falling in Love Again: Great Songs From the Movies. Falling in Love reunited her with Harry Belafonte on two songs.
She recorded several more albums over 1996-1997, including the Spanish Nana Latina (which featured duets with Julio Iglesias and Mercedes Sosa), the English-language Return to Love, and the French pop classics, Hommages. In 1997, she staged a high-profile Concert for Peace at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. This concert was later released as an album, and aired as a TV special on PBS in the U.S.
Mouskouri was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in October 1993 [1]. She took over from the previous ambassador, American actress Audrey Hepburn. Mouskouri's first U.N. mission took her to Bosnia to draw attention to the plight of children affected by Bosnian war. She was deeply moved by her experience in Bosnia and went on to give a series of fund-raising concerts in Sweden and Belgium.
Mouskouri represented Greece in the European Parliament from 1994 until 1999 as a member of the largely conservative New Democracy party.
In 1993, Nana recorded a new album, Hollywood. It was produced by Michel Legrand. Hollywood was a collection of famous film songs. It served was not only a tribute to the world of cinema, but also as a personal reference to childhood memories of sitting with her father in his projection room in Crete.
Between December 11-14, 1997, Mouskouri gave four triumphant performances at the Olympia in Paris to celebrate the 40th anniversary of her singing career. Also in 1997, Mouskouri resigned from her position as a European MP. She explained that a fervent pacifist, she refused to back wars.
Mouskouri currently lives in Switzerland with her second husband, André Chapelle whom she married on January 13, 2003. She still performs about 100 concerts each year. In 2004, her French record company released an unprecedented 34-CD box set of more than 600 of Mouskouri's mostly French songs.
For 2005 and 2007, she plans a farewell concert tour of Europe, Australia, Asia, South America, the United States, and Canada. During an interview with The Australian newspaper, when asked why this would be her final concert series, Mouskouri said she wanted to retire on a high note. "I never thought that I would grow that old. It is better really to stop while you are standing well on your feet. I just want to be proud and in very good form and thank the audience for all this love," she said.
Adieu Angelina
Nana Mouskouri Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ont été volées à l'aube je les entends qui sonnent
Et je me dépêche je dois les rattraper
Adieu Angélina le ciel est en feu
Et je m'en vais
Ce n'est pas la peine d'en faire une affaire
Ce n'est pas la peine d'ameuter toute la terre
Adieu Angélina le ciel a tremblé
Je dois m'en aller
Les rois et les reines quittent la basse-cour
Deux cents bohémiennes sont entrées à la cour
Dans la salle du tout, va, rien ne va plus pour moi
Adieu Angélina le ciel s'écroule
Je te verrai plus tard
Regarde ces pirates dans la Voie Lactée
Qui tirent sur des boîtes avec un canon scié
Les voisins applaudissent poussent des cris de joie
Adieu Angélina le ciel se décolore
Je dois me sauver
King Kong et les elfes vont danser sur les toits
De longs tangos typiques tandis que de leurs doigts
Des maquilleurs s'escriment à fermer les yeux de la mort
Adieu Angélina le ciel est trop sombre
Je dois m'échapper
Les mitrailleuses crépitent, les poupées mobilisent
Des bombes au plastic éclatent dans les églises
Appelle-moi comme tu veux je ne discute pas
Mais adieu Angélina le ciel se déchaîne
Je vais chercher la paix
The song Adieu Angelina by Nana Mouskouri tells the story of a person who is leaving their love, Angelina, behind. The first verse sets the tone with the line "Adieu Angelina les cloches de la couronne, Ont été volées à l'aube je les entends qui sonnent", which translates to "Goodbye Angelina, the bells of the crown, Have been stolen at dawn, I hear them ringing". The reference to stolen bells alludes to the idea that something has been taken away, which is then confirmed in the next line with "Et je me dépêche je dois les rattraper", or "And I hurry, I must catch up with them". This underscores the idea that something has been lost and must be retrieved before it is too late.
In the next verse, the singer tries to reassure Angelina that their departure is not a big deal by saying "Ce n'est pas la peine d'en faire une affaire, Ce n'est pas la peine d'ameuter toute la terre, C'est une table vide sur le bord de la mer", which translates to "It's not worth making a fuss about, It's not worth stirring up the whole world, It's an empty table on the edge of the sea". However, this seems like an attempt to downplay the situation and is contradicted by the lines "Adieu Angélina le ciel a tremblé, Je dois m'en aller", or "Goodbye Angelina, the sky has shaken, I must go". This suggests that the singer is leaving under difficult circumstances and cannot stay any longer.
The following verses paint a surreal picture of chaos and destruction, with references to pirates in outer space, dancing King Kong and elves, and bombings in churches. The final verse brings the song back to reality with the line "Appelle-moi comme tu veux je ne discute pas, Mais adieu Angélina le ciel se déchaîne, Je vais chercher la paix", which translates to "Call me what you want, I won't argue, But goodbye Angelina, the sky is raging, I'm going to seek peace". This reinforces the idea that the singer is leaving to find some sort of refuge or sanctuary, and that the departure is not up for debate.
Overall, the song tells a complex story of loss, reassurance, and chaos, with a surreal and dreamlike quality. Its use of imagery and abstraction make it open to interpretation and lend it a timeless quality that continues to resonate with listeners.
Line by Line Meaning
Adieu Angélina les cloches de la couronne
Goodbye Angelina, the bells of the crown
Ont été volées à l'aube je les entends qui sonnent
Were stolen at dawn, I hear them ringing
Et je me dépêche je dois les rattraper
And I hurry, I must catch them
Adieu Angélina le ciel est en feu
Goodbye Angelina, the sky is on fire
Et je m'en vais
And I’m leaving
Ce n'est pas la peine d'en faire une affaire
It's not worth making a fuss about it
Ce n'est pas la peine d'ameuter toute la terre
It's not worth riling up the whole world
C'est une table vide sur le bord de la mer
It's an empty table on the edge of the sea
Adieu Angélina le ciel a tremblé
Goodbye Angelina, the sky has trembled
Je dois m'en aller
I must go
Les rois et les reines quittent la basse-cour
Kings and queens leave the chicken coop
Deux cents bohémiennes sont entrées à la cour
Two hundred gypsies have entered the court
Dans la salle du tout, va, rien ne va plus pour moi
In the room of everything, go, nothing goes well for me
Adieu Angélina le ciel s'écroule
Goodbye Angelina, the sky is collapsing
Je te verrai plus tard
I'll see you later
Regarde ces pirates dans la Voie Lactée
Look at these pirates in the Milky Way
Qui tirent sur des boîtes avec un canon scié
Who shoot at boxes with a sawed-off cannon
Les voisins applaudissent poussent des cris de joie
The neighbors applaud and cheer
Adieu Angélina le ciel se décolore
Goodbye Angelina, the sky is fading
Je dois me sauver
I must save myself
King Kong et les elfes vont danser sur les toits
King Kong and the elves will dance on the roofs
De longs tangos typiques tandis que de leurs doigts
Long, typical tangos while from their fingers
Des maquilleurs s'escriment à fermer les yeux de la mort
Makeup artists struggle to close the eyes of death
Adieu Angélina le ciel est trop sombre
Goodbye Angelina, the sky is too dark
Je dois m'échapper
I must escape
Les mitrailleuses crépitent, les poupées mobilisent
The machine guns crackle, the dolls mobilize
Des bombes au plastic éclatent dans les églises
Plastic bombs detonate in churches
Appelle-moi comme tu veux je ne discute pas
You can call me whatever you want, I won't argue
Mais adieu Angélina le ciel se déchaîne
But goodbye Angelina, the sky is raging
Je vais chercher la paix
I'm going to find peace
Contributed by Micah M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Kin rock
❤❤je n'arrive pas à décrire mes émotions quand je t'écoutes. J'imagine mon enfance 😭💟 tant de souvenirs
Agnès Lambert
Je l'écoute en boucle depuis ce matin 💓🌺💝
Martine Revest
La voix des anges irremplaçable
Dieudonne Adou
❤️❤️❤️❤️😥 c'était la sonnerie de mon oncle qui n'est plus de ce monde vraiment Adieu tonton
OirPaCiD Vlog
Cette femme est simplement magique✨
marie-france becart
Absolument
Dominique Bastien
Au début de sa carrière , on lui avait demandé de retirer ses lunettes , elle a toujours refusé 👍
kfs bekoko
Formidable NANA! Je suis toujours ému quand j'écoute tes chansons. je ne me fatigue pas.
Dominique Bastien
Une voix de crystal .
Le silence qui suit est encore Nana Mouskouri.
Annie
J'aime beaucoup cette chanson, paroles et musique ; les paroles sont d'une poésie intense, pleines d'images d'une somptueuse beauté