Born in Athens, Greece, Savina Yannatou (Σαβίνα Γιαννάτου) studied song wit… Read Full Bio ↴Born in Athens, Greece, Savina Yannatou (Σαβίνα Γιαννάτου) studied song with G.Georilopoulou at the National Conservatory and later with Spiros Sakkas at the Workshop of Vocal Art in Athens. She attended postgraduate studies (performance and communication skills) at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, with a scholarship awarded by the Mousigetis Foundation.

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

Sto 'Pa Kai Sto Ksanaleo
Savina Yannatou Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Sto pa kai sto ksanaleo
Sto gialo min katebeis
Ki o gialos kanei fourtouna
Kai se parei kai diaveis

Ki an me parei pou me paei
Kato sta vathia nera
Kano to kormi mou varka

Ta herakia mou koupia
To mandili mou panaki
Mbainobgaino sti steria

Sto pa kai sto ksanaleo
Mi mou grafeis grammata

Giati grammata den ksero
Kai me pianoun klamata.

Overall Meaning

The song "Sto 'Pa Kai Sto Ksanaleo" by Savina Yannatou is a haunting and powerful piece that evokes a sense of longing and melancholy. The lyrics describe a scene by the sea where the waves are crashing and the singer is lost in thought. The first verse talks about how the waves are making a commotion and drawing the attention of the singer, but they are warned not to sit on the shore. The second verse describes how the sea can take the singer away to its depths, where they would be submerged and their body would float like a log. They are dressed in a handkerchief and their body is covered in bruises from the rocks at the bottom. The singer pleads with whoever might read these words to spare the message because they do not know how to write, and their pain is too much to bear.

One interpretation of this song could be that it is about the pain of separation and the longing for someone who is far away. The sea could represent distance, and the singer's desire to be reunited with their loved one. The image of the waves crashing could symbolize the turbulent emotions that come with longing and the uncertainty of whether or not the singer will ever be able to see their loved one again. The singer's admission that they do not know how to write could reflect a feeling of powerlessness and inability to express their feelings adequately.

Line by Line Meaning

Sto pa kai sto ksanaleo
I talk and talk, saying things over and over again

Sto gialo min katebeis
Don't look down in the sea

Ki o gialos kanei fourtouna
And the sea makes waves

Kai se parei kai diaveis
And takes you away, and you wander

Ki an me parei pou me paei
And if it takes me where it goes

Kato sta vathia nera
Down in the deep waters

Kano to kormi mou varka
I will make my body a boat

Ta herakia mou koupia
My hands will be oars

To mandili mou panaki
And my scarf will be a sail

Mbainobgaino sti steria
I enter the horizon

Mi mou grafeis grammata
Don't write me letters