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.
Dans Le Soleil Et Dans Le Vent
Nana Mouskouri Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Les enfant moissonnent
Et j'ai déjà
Rentré le bois
Toi, en uniforme
Avec d'autres hommes,
Très loin d'ici
Tu es parti
Dans le soleil et dans le vent
Tournant les ailes du vieux moulin
Elles tourneront aussi longtemps
Que nous vivrons main dans la main
Un peu de poussière
Sur la tabatière
Me prouve bien
Que tu es loin
Mais, je crois entendre
Le refrain si tendre
Que l'an dernier
Pour me bercer
Tu me chantais
Dans le soleil et dans le vent
Tournant les ailes du vieux moulin
Elles tourneront aussi longtemps
Que nous vivrons main dans la main
Ton ami hier
Est rentré de guerre,
Il n'a rien dit
Mais j'ai compris
En voyant ta chaîne
Ton blouson de laine
Que plus jamais
Tu ne viendrais
Me rechanter.
Dans le soleil et dans le vent
Tournant les ailes du vieux moulin
Elles tourneront aussi longtemps
Que nous vivrons main dans la main
Tournent les ailes dans la lumière
Tourne le temps rien n'a changé
Mais dans mon cur, depuis hier
Le vieux moulin s'est arrêté
The lyrics of Nana Mouskouri's song "Dans Le Soleil Et Dans Le Vent" tells the story of a woman left behind by her lover who has gone off to war. The opening lines suggest that autumn is approaching, and the children are busy harvesting. The woman's lover is far away in uniform with other men, leaving her alone. The woman reminisces about a time when they were together, and he would sing to her in the sun and the wind, turning the old mill's sails. In the second verse, she notices some dust on her tobacco box, which confirms that her lover is far away. However, she can still hear his tender refrain from last year when he would sing her to sleep, reminding her of the days when they were together.
The third verse is a heart-wrencher, where the woman learns that her lover's friend has returned from war, and from the returned items, she understands that her lover is never coming back. She realizes that the old mill has stopped turning, and her heart is broken as well. The mill turning in the wind is a metaphor for time remaining unchanged while the woman's life has changed forever without her lover.
In conclusion, this lyrical masterpiece by Nana Mouskouri is a tale of lost love due to war. The song speaks about the things that can never be undone and how the passage of time means that nothing will ever be the same again. It is a poignant reminder of the sacrifices made during times of war, the cost of which is felt by those left behind.
Line by Line Meaning
C'est presque l'automne
It's almost autumn
Les enfant moissonnent
Children are harvesting
Et j'ai déjà Rentré le bois
And I've already brought in the wood
Toi, en uniforme
You, in uniform
Avec d'autres hommes,
With other men
Très loin d'ici Tu es parti
You went away, far from here
Toi qui chantais
You who used to sing
Dans le soleil et dans le vent Tournant les ailes du vieux moulin Elles tourneront aussi longtemps Que nous vivrons main dans la main
In the sun and in the wind, turning the blades of the old mill, they will keep turning for as long as we live hand in hand
Un peu de poussière Sur la tabatière Me prouve bien Que tu es loin
A bit of dust on the snuffbox proves to me that you are far away
Mais, je crois entendre Le refrain si tendre Que l'an dernier Pour me bercer Tu me chantais
But I think I can hear the tender tune that you sang to lull me to sleep last year
Ton ami hier Est rentré de guerre, Il n'a rien dit Mais j'ai compris En voyant ta chaîne Ton blouson de laine Que plus jamais Tu ne viendrais Me rechanter.
Your friend came back from war yesterday, he didn't say anything but I understood by seeing your chain and your wool jacket that you would never come back to sing to me again
Tournent les ailes dans la lumière Tourne le temps rien n'a changé Mais dans mon cœur, depuis hier Le vieux moulin s'est arrêté
The blades keep turning in the light, time keeps turning but in my heart, since yesterday, the old mill has stopped
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: ALAIN YVES REGINALD GORAGUER, CLAUDE JACQUES RAOUL LEMESLE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Jozo Petrovic
Jos kada je bio mlad
rat mu je odnio sve
i zenu i djecu, i topli dom
Ostao je sam
i zaboravio je na proslost
jer Pjer i vise nije bio Pjer
Sad luta sam taj stari Pjer
da svaki dan i svaku noc
Pjeru je ipak ostalo nesto
i mnogi su imali priliku
da ga vide kako svira
na usnu harmoniku
On oduvijek svira za jedan gros
a ljudi se u strahu pitaju
da li ce jednog dana
i citav orkestar biti tu
I svira Pjer, da svira jos
taj stari Pjer za jedan gros
Kazu da ih danas ima mnogo kao sto je Pjer
a mnogi su imali priliku
da ih vide kako bez cilja lutaju
Daleko od stvarnosti oni su tako sami
a ljudi se u strahu pitaju
da li ce jednog dana
i citav svijet ostati sam
Lily Phan
C'est presque l'automne
Les enfants moissonnent
Et j'ai déjà rentré le bois
Toi en uniforme
Avec d'autres hommes
Très loin d'ici tu es parti, toi qui chantais
Dans le soleil et dans le vent
Tournent les ailes du vieux moulin
Elles tourneront aussi longtemps
Que nous vivrons main dans la main
Un peu de poussière
Sur la tabatière
Me prouve bien que tu es loin
Mais je crois entendre
Le refrain si tendre
Que l'an dernier pour me bercer tu me chantais
Dans le soleil et dans le vent
Tournent les ailes du vieux moulin
Elles tourneront aussi longtemps
Que nous vivrons main dans la main
Ton ami hier
Est rentré de guerre
Il n'a rien dit mais j'ai compris
En voyant ta chaîne
Ton blouson de laine
Que plus jamais tu ne viendrais me rechanter
Dans le soleil et dans le vent
Tournent les ailes du vieux moulin
Elles tourneront aussi longtemps
Que nous vivrons main dans la main
Tournent les ailes dans la lumière
Tourne le temps, rien n'a changé
Mais dans mon cœur depuis hier
Le vieux moulin s'est arrêté
Maria Aparecida Batista de Mattos
Música linda, essa voz que ecoam na alma 🇧🇷
Rasoarilalao Clarisse
Cette chanson me donne toujours de frisson! Une description d'un amour si profond et d'une complicité
orfeo kitis
C'est vrai
José 💢
Vraiment une chanson très classique un véritable poème de l'âme
Joséphine RAZAFINDRAMAINTY
C'est la chanson préférée de ma mère .
Monique Tanguay
Tellement belle chanson !!
Constance Semeglo
Merci pour votre vie. Vous êtes un ange avec cette voix vous êtes magnifique.
Nguyet Minh Nguyen
Magnifique . Merci de me faire revivre mes souvenirs
Nirina Ramangasalama
Très jolie chanson.
Reine Machet
interprétation très émouvante et si talentueuse .