Καλλιτεχνικός Σύλλογος Δημοτικής Μουσικής Δόμνα Σαμίου

Refugees, from Bayindir (Turkey) to Kaisariani (Greece)

I was born in Kaisariani in 1928. My parents were from Asia Minor. My mother came to Greece in 1922 with the refugees, alone,...

From the Tent to the Shack

  One Sunday afternoon a wedding was taking place. My father, since he didn’t go to cafes and he didn’t drink also, he was f...

The Shack with Tar Papers

My sister was born in the shack and so was I with the help of a midwife, as was always the case back in Asia Minor. There wer...

Childhood Years

You can imagine how much poverty there was. I remember that many times at home there was nothing to eat for dinner. We would ...

Off to School

In the beginning I went to school in one of the shacks, just as the church was also in a shack, instead of the massive buildi...

Listening and Learning Music

Since then, when I was a little child, my ears would absorb every music and sound. My father used to chant very well. He was ...

The Zannou Family and Simon Karas

The years went by. I graduated from primary school, but I didn't really enjoy my schooling. I could see the financial difficu...

Homeless During the Civil War

It went on for years: work, music, school. I was busy all day long. That is how I spent my youth. All that period, from 1941 ...

Next to Her Mentor Simon Karas

Close to Simon Karas I learned many things, not just Byzantine music. Although I used to sing as a child, I did not know anyt...

The Encounter with Radio and Discography

The years passed and in 1954 I joined EIR1, as an employee of the department of National Music, which was headed by my teache...

Next Stop: Savvopoulos' Rodeo Club

Overcoming the shame for traditonal songs By 1971 we reach another turning point in my life: my meeting with Dionysis Savvopoulos1 and his invitation to me to sing at ...

In the Recording Studios

One of the songs I first produced on record, I think was Xasteria, the song that was later to become a chant of the youth and...