Her professional career as a singer started while still a student, when she sang for the very successful and until today highly respected daily program of the Greek National Radio 3 «Lillipoupoli» under the direction of the famous composer Manos Hadjidakis.
After that she interpreted «entechno» («artful») Greek songs, collaborating with well-known Greek composers and also covered contemporary opera and music. Later she focused on medieval, renaissance and barock music. In the early nineties she started experimenting with different vocal technics in free improvisation. Parallel to that she started a collaboration with a number of Thessaloniki-based musicians, who at that occasion founded the group «Primavera en Salonico», with which she recorded - and later performed - “Primavera en Salonico”-Sephardic Folk Songs from Salonica-, “Songs from the Mediterranean” , the “Virgin Maries of the World” and “Terra Nostra” (all released by LYRA/Musurgia Graeca, the second also in the USA by Sounds True under the name “Mediterranea” and the last one also by ECM).
Savina Yannatou has also composed her own music and songs (a.o. “Rosa das Rosas” and “Dreams of the mermaid” both released by Musurgia Graeca), as well as music for theater ( the latest being for Medea, performed in 1997 by the National Greek Theatre), video art and dance theater. All together she has brought out and/or participated in over 20 LPs and CDs.
Her professional career as a singer since 1979 and as a composer-singer-vocalist since 1986 has been covering a variety of musical kinds in performances, festivals, theater and TV production, recordings etc.
[An additional info]
Having built her reputation as a singer of Baroque, renaissance, and early music, Savina Yannatou has increasingly veered toward avant-garde jazz and improvisational music. Accompanied by her band, Primavera en Salonico, which she formed in 1993, Yannatou continues to demonstrate her mastery of Mediterranean music. Her repertoire includes songs from Sardinia, Corsica, Israel, Turkey, Italy, Cyprus, Albania, Spain, Africa, South American, the Caribbean, and her homeland in Greece. RootsWorld described her as "a singer of astonishing range, superb vocal control, and consummate musical scholarship," while www.cityofwomen-a.si claimed that "like a tightrope walker, she elegantly dances on the rope connecting the modal music of the Orient with equivalent music from the West, medieval song and Mediterranean polyphonies." Having established her reputation in classical music, Yannatou began to expand her horizons in 1993 when she formed Primavera en Salonico. The group -- which focuses on a mix of European classical, Byzantine, traditional Greek, and Near Eastern music -- creates a world music sound with a combination of Western instruments (guitar, violin and double bass) and Eastern instruments, including toumbeleki, bendir, tambourine, daoul, kanonaki, nay, and tamboura. A year after coming together, Yannatou and Primavera en Salonico recorded an album of Sephardic folk songs of the Balkan region. The album was followed by two additional group recordings -- Songs From the Mediterranean and Virgin Maries of the World. Yannatou has also recorded as a soloist, releasing Spring in Salonica in 1994, Traditional Lullabies in 1998, and Rosa Das Rosas in 2000. ~ Having built her reputation as a singer of Baroque, renaissance, and early music, Savina Yannatou has increasingly veered toward avant-garde jazz and improvisational music. Accompanied by her band, Primavera en Salonico, which she formed in 1993, Yannatou continues to demonstrate her mastery of Mediterranean music. Her repertoire includes songs from Sardinia, Corsica, Israel, Turkey, Italy, Cyprus, Albania, Spain, Africa, South American, the Caribbean, and her homeland in Greece. RootsWorld described her as "a singer of astonishing range, superb vocal control, and consummate musical scholarship," while www.cityofwomen-a.si claimed that "like a tightrope walker, she elegantly dances on the rope connecting the modal music of the Orient with equivalent music from the West, medieval song and Mediterranean polyphonies." Having established her reputation in classical music, Yannatou began to expand her horizons in 1993 when she formed Primavera en Salonico. The group -- which focuses on a mix of European classical, Byzantine, traditional Greek, and Near Eastern music -- creates a world music sound with a combination of Western instruments (guitar, violin and double bass) and Eastern instruments, including toumbeleki, bendir, tambourine, daoul, kanonaki, nay, and tamboura. A year after coming together, Yannatou and Primavera en Salonico recorded an album of Sephardic folk songs of the Balkan region. The album was followed by two additional group recordings -- Songs From the Mediterranean and Virgin Maries of the World. Yannatou has also recorded as a soloist, releasing Spring in Salonica in 1994, Traditional Lullabies in 1998, and Rosa Das Rosas in 2000. ~ Craig Harris
Ah Marouli
Savina Yannatou Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
το κατευόδιο ζάλη
Αχ, και το «καλωσορίσατε», Μαρούλι,
είναι χαρά μεγάλη…
Αχ, η μηχανή ειν' η μάνα μου,
η ρόδα (ειν') η αδερφή μου,
Αχ, και στο κολαουζέρη μου, Μαρούλι,
Για σένα βάζω φόρεμα,
για σε τραβώ μαρκούτσα,
Αχ, για σένα μου φορέσανε, Μαρούλι,
τα σιδερέ παπούτσια…
The song "Ah Marouli" sung by the Greek artist Savina Yannatou is a beautiful ballad that expresses the singer's deep emotions towards her beloved Marouli. Through powerful imagery and vivid metaphorical expressions, Yannatou takes us on a journey of love, longing, and pain.
In the first stanza, Yannatou sings about the conflicting emotions that come with love. The bitterness of the hatred that she sometimes feels towards Marouli transforms into sweet sorrow and nostalgia with the mere memory of their greeting: "Welcome, Marouli." The line "κατευόδιο ζάλη" (kat-evodio zali) is particularly interesting. "Κατευόδιος" (kat-evodios) is an archaic Greek word that means deadly or poisonous, while "ζάλη" (zali) means vertigo or dizziness. Together, they convey the idea of a deadly sort of infatuation that causes a dizzying whirlwind of emotions.
The second stanza is even more emotional. Yannatou invokes the image of her motorcycle/machine as her mother and the wheel as her sister. The line "κρέμεται η ζωή μου" (kremetai i zoí mou) is an expression that means "my life hangs in the balance." She is saying that her life is so closely tied to this machine that if anything were to happen to it, her life would be destroyed along with it. The word "κολαουζέρη" (kolauzeri) refers to a hydraulic lift, which further emphasizes the importance of the machine in her life.
Overall, "Ah Marouli" is a powerful and emotionally charged song about love and the many ways it can emotionally wreck us. It's a beautiful hymn to the intense emotions that a person's love can be capable of inspiring in another, and their importance in our lives.
Line by Line Meaning
Αχ, ο μισεμός είναι καημός, το κατευόδιο ζάλη
Oh, hatred is sorrow, the dizzying confusion
Αχ, και το «καλωσορίσατε», Μαρούλι, είναι χαρά μεγάλη…
Oh, and the "welcome", Marouli, is great joy...
Αχ, η μηχανή ειν' η μάνα μου, η ρόδα (ειν') η αδερφή μου, Αχ, και στο κολαουζέρη μου, Μαρούλι, κρέμεται η ζωή μου…
Oh, the machine is my mother, the wheel is my sister, Oh, and in my boiler, Marouli, my life hangs...
Για σένα βάζω φόρεμα, για σε τραβώ μαρκούτσα, Αχ, για σένα μου φορέσανε, Μαρούλι, τα σιδερέ παπούτσια…
For you, I wear a dress, for you, I pull a cart, Oh, for you, Marouli, they made me wear iron shoes...
Contributed by Lucy L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@lafanfafra
Immensa Dea!