Domna Samiou
Encyclopedia
Domna Samiou is a prominent Greek
researcher and performer of Greek folk music
.
She received her first formal musical training from Simon Karas
. For over half a century she has been collecting, recording and performing all over the world the traditional songs of Greece (demotika), appealing not only to the Greek diaspora
, but also introducing non-Greek audiences to traditional Greek folk music.
, Piraeus
in 1928 (one of many neighbourhoods established with the influx of Greek refugees
from Turkey in 1922), Samiou is the daughter of Greek refugees
from the village Bayındır
near Smyrna
in Asia Minor
.
Her mother came to Greece in 1922, whilst her father, who was a prisoner of war, arrived slightly later during the exchange of populations
. During her childhood years she lived the harsh life of a refugee, but was also surrounded with the humane solidarity of the refugee communities. It was there that she acquired her deep connection with popular culture and her love for folk music.
At the age of thirteen, whilst attending night school, Domna Samiou received her first formal musical training from Simon Karas
at the Association for the Dissemination of National Music, where she was tutored in Byzantine and folk music, as well as being introduced to the idea of field research in music.
Her first professional collaboration was with the National Radio Foundation (E.I.R.), the state-run national radio station of Greece at the time, when she was a member of the Simon Karas choir. In 1954 she became a full-time employee of the station, working in the National Music Section, in effect the folk music section of E.I.R.. Through her work there, she came into contact with the leading traditional musicians of the day, who were part of a great wave of migration from the countryside to Athens. The National Music Section was busy recording them and, as a result, Domna became acquainted with all their various local musical styles. She was herself responsible for supervising records, stage plays and films.
In 1963 Domna Samiou started touring the countryside independently, to record music for the archive she was establishing. Then, in 1971, she left her radio job entirely to focus on her own musical career, accepting an invitation by the composer and performer Dionyssis Savvopoulos to sing at a club called Rodeo, frequented by a youthful anti-junta audience. It marked the beginning of Domna Samiou's impact and influence on generations of young people in Greece. Soon after, she performed at the Bach Festival in London, run at the time by Lila Lalandi. It was a triumphant start to a brilliant musical career: “It made people overcome the embarrassment they felt for folk music”, as she herself stated later.
In 1974, she started her collaboration with Columbia Records, which resulted in a number of LPs over the next years. In 1976-77, together with film directors Fotos Lambrinos and Andreas Thomopoulos, she toured the Greek countryside and produced twenty episodes of 'Musiko Odiporiko' ('Musical Travelogue') on Greek national television (ERT).
In 1981, the Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association was founded to preserve and promote Greek traditional music and facilitate the production of records and musical events to the highest standards, free from the demands of commercial record companies.
Within Greece, Domna Samiou’s performances and appearances have been innumerable. She has collaborated with renowned Greek and foreign musicians, musicologists, anthropologists and ethnomusicologists; from 1994 to 2004, she taught traditional folk singing at the Museum of Popular Musical Instruments of Athens; she has also initiated, taught, and promoted many young musicians, and has actively and selflessly undertaken numerous initiatives to improve musical education in primary schooling, which she considers of vital importance.
Tributes to her work have been numerous and honours and prizes abundant. In October 1998, a concert was held at the Athens Concert Hall – Domna Samiou at the Megaron Mousikis: the known and the unknown Domna – to celebrate her seventieth birthday. And in 2005, the President of Greece, K. Stefanopoulos, awarded her a medal of honour.
But Domna Samiou's work reaches way beyond the borders of Greece. For forty years, she has performed all over the world, in places as distant as Australia and South America, appealing not only to the Greek diaspora, but also introducing non-Greek audiences to “Greek music with no Bouzouki”, as one critic in Sweden put it. Her records have been produced under Swedish and French labels.
Today, surrounded by colleagues, friends and supporters, Domna Samiou continues her work. She is currently involved in producing a thematic series of CDs, accompanied by extensive informative booklets on the contents. She is also organising her personal archive and is preparing to make it available on the Internet.
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
researcher and performer of Greek folk music
Greek folk music
Greek folk music includes a variety of Greek styles played by ethnic Greeks in Greece, Cyprus, Australia, the United States and elsewhere. Apart from the common music found all-around Greece, there are distinct types of folk music, sometimes related to the history or simply the taste of the...
.
She received her first formal musical training from Simon Karas
Simon Karas
Simon Karas was a Greek musicologist, who specialized in Byzantine music tradition.Simon Karas studied paleography of Byzantine musical notation, was active in collecting and preserving ancient musical manuscripts, collected performances of folk Greek songs and of Byzantine chant from different...
. For over half a century she has been collecting, recording and performing all over the world the traditional songs of Greece (demotika), appealing not only to the Greek diaspora
Greek diaspora
The Greek diaspora, also known as Hellenic Diaspora or Diaspora of Hellenism, is a term used to refer to the communities of Greek people living outside the traditional Greek homelands, but more commonly in southeast Europe and Asia Minor...
, but also introducing non-Greek audiences to traditional Greek folk music.
Biography
Born in the poor district of KaisarianiKaisariani
Kaisariani , also Kessariani, is a suburb in the eastern part of Athens, Greece. Kaisariani is located about 7 km from downtown Athens, about 4 km SW of Katechaki Avenue 4 km from the Hymettus Ring , which forms part of the Attiki Odos private superhighway network, and 6 km S...
, Piraeus
Piraeus
Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....
in 1928 (one of many neighbourhoods established with the influx of Greek refugees
Greek refugees
Greek refugees is a collective term used to refer to the Greeks from Asia Minor who were evacuated or relocated in Greece following the Treaty of Lausanne and the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey...
from Turkey in 1922), Samiou is the daughter of Greek refugees
Greek refugees
Greek refugees is a collective term used to refer to the Greeks from Asia Minor who were evacuated or relocated in Greece following the Treaty of Lausanne and the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey...
from the village Bayındır
Bayindir
Bayındır is a district of İzmir Province of Turkey and the central town of the district which is situated in the valley of the Küçük Menderes. Its name in antiquity was Caystrus. Its present name derives from the first Turkish settlers in the region who were members of the Bayındır clan, one of the...
near Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
in Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
.
Her mother came to Greece in 1922, whilst her father, who was a prisoner of war, arrived slightly later during the exchange of populations
Population exchange between Greece and Turkey
The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey was based upon religious identity, and involved the Greek Orthodox citizens of Turkey and the Muslim citizens of Greece...
. During her childhood years she lived the harsh life of a refugee, but was also surrounded with the humane solidarity of the refugee communities. It was there that she acquired her deep connection with popular culture and her love for folk music.
At the age of thirteen, whilst attending night school, Domna Samiou received her first formal musical training from Simon Karas
Simon Karas
Simon Karas was a Greek musicologist, who specialized in Byzantine music tradition.Simon Karas studied paleography of Byzantine musical notation, was active in collecting and preserving ancient musical manuscripts, collected performances of folk Greek songs and of Byzantine chant from different...
at the Association for the Dissemination of National Music, where she was tutored in Byzantine and folk music, as well as being introduced to the idea of field research in music.
Her first professional collaboration was with the National Radio Foundation (E.I.R.), the state-run national radio station of Greece at the time, when she was a member of the Simon Karas choir. In 1954 she became a full-time employee of the station, working in the National Music Section, in effect the folk music section of E.I.R.. Through her work there, she came into contact with the leading traditional musicians of the day, who were part of a great wave of migration from the countryside to Athens. The National Music Section was busy recording them and, as a result, Domna became acquainted with all their various local musical styles. She was herself responsible for supervising records, stage plays and films.
In 1963 Domna Samiou started touring the countryside independently, to record music for the archive she was establishing. Then, in 1971, she left her radio job entirely to focus on her own musical career, accepting an invitation by the composer and performer Dionyssis Savvopoulos to sing at a club called Rodeo, frequented by a youthful anti-junta audience. It marked the beginning of Domna Samiou's impact and influence on generations of young people in Greece. Soon after, she performed at the Bach Festival in London, run at the time by Lila Lalandi. It was a triumphant start to a brilliant musical career: “It made people overcome the embarrassment they felt for folk music”, as she herself stated later.
In 1974, she started her collaboration with Columbia Records, which resulted in a number of LPs over the next years. In 1976-77, together with film directors Fotos Lambrinos and Andreas Thomopoulos, she toured the Greek countryside and produced twenty episodes of 'Musiko Odiporiko' ('Musical Travelogue') on Greek national television (ERT).
In 1981, the Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association was founded to preserve and promote Greek traditional music and facilitate the production of records and musical events to the highest standards, free from the demands of commercial record companies.
Within Greece, Domna Samiou’s performances and appearances have been innumerable. She has collaborated with renowned Greek and foreign musicians, musicologists, anthropologists and ethnomusicologists; from 1994 to 2004, she taught traditional folk singing at the Museum of Popular Musical Instruments of Athens; she has also initiated, taught, and promoted many young musicians, and has actively and selflessly undertaken numerous initiatives to improve musical education in primary schooling, which she considers of vital importance.
Tributes to her work have been numerous and honours and prizes abundant. In October 1998, a concert was held at the Athens Concert Hall – Domna Samiou at the Megaron Mousikis: the known and the unknown Domna – to celebrate her seventieth birthday. And in 2005, the President of Greece, K. Stefanopoulos, awarded her a medal of honour.
But Domna Samiou's work reaches way beyond the borders of Greece. For forty years, she has performed all over the world, in places as distant as Australia and South America, appealing not only to the Greek diaspora, but also introducing non-Greek audiences to “Greek music with no Bouzouki”, as one critic in Sweden put it. Her records have been produced under Swedish and French labels.
Today, surrounded by colleagues, friends and supporters, Domna Samiou continues her work. She is currently involved in producing a thematic series of CDs, accompanied by extensive informative booklets on the contents. She is also organising her personal archive and is preparing to make it available on the Internet.
Musical editions
Published by Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association.- Folk fables in song (2008).
- I tread the earth gently (2008).
- Songs of history and heroes (2007).
- The Great North Wind and other traditional songs for children (2007).
- Of nature and of love (2006).
- The Akolouthia Of Nymphios (2002).
- Songs of Dame Sea (2002).
- Domna Samiou at Megaron, The Athens Concert Hall (1999).
- Easter Songs (1998).
- Kaneloriza (1995).
- Carnival Songs (1994).
- Songs about Greeks far from home (1992, produced by UNHCR).
- Songs of Asia Minor (1991).