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Stefanos Vartanis
Biographical Note

Born in Smyrna in 1922 and died in Athens in 1989. He was a folk violinist, a composer, and a singer of Rebetika and folk songs.
He had participated in numerous concerts and musical events, as well as in albums of many prominent artists. A list of his albums, personal and in collaboration, includes Dyo foties (1975), Kaigomai, kaigomai (1978), Laika diamantia (1981), Rebetikoi kaimoi (1981).
In Domna Samiou's Archive, there is a personal narration of Stefanos Vartanis that took place in 1978.
Stefanos Vartanis
Narration to Domna Samiou. Athens 1978
© Domna Samiou Archive
Source: Domna Samiou' s Archive
Songs

Thessaly Magnesia, Keramidi Historical Song, National Legends and Laments
Amidst Three Seas
Ανάμεσα τρεις θάλασσες


Sporades Skiathos Ritual Song, Fable Song (Ballad)
Arta’s Βridge
A team of forty stonemasons and sixty prentice workers
were putting up a bridge across the river close by Arta.
The whole d...




Sporades Skiathos Love Song
I See Some Ships Approaching Port
I see some ships approaching port, how beautiful they seem to me,
ships that sail across the waters,
rending my faint heart...

Epirus Love Song
I’ll Be the Basil by Your Window
Βασιλικός θα γίνω
I’ll be the basil by your window,
I’ll stay unwed for your sake.
Come, come to me
and I’ll fill you with glee.
Come to th...

Peloponnese Processional Tune Love Song, Wedding Song
Let My Eyes Go See
Ας πα να δουν τα μάτια μου
Let my eyes go see for themselves
how my love spends her days,
lest she’s found another and fallen in love
and left me.
W...

Thrace Couplets Love Song, Spring Song
May
Λεν ήρθι Μάης κι Άνοιξη
May's come,
May's come and spring,
summer’s come
when the perfumed roses bloom.
I've a white rose I want to dye
and if I...

Thrace Couplets Love Song, Spring Song
May
Μάης
May's come,
May's come and spring,
summer’s come
when the perfumed roses bloom.
I’ve a white rose I want to dye
and if I...

Epirus Pogoni Immigration Song
My Heart-Sick Bird Flown Far From Home
Ξενιτεμένο μου πουλί
My heart-sick bird flown far from home,
joy you bring those far-flung lands,
sadness all you leave behind.
What'll I send,...

Asia Minor Smyrna Couplets Love Song
My Heartless Love (Smyrna's Bálos)
Καλέ, δε με λυπάσαι
My heartless love,
do you not feel for me
as you don your finery
and I lose myself for love of thee?
Come kiss me quick
...

Asia Minor Erythraea, Çeşme Carol New Year's Carol, Ritual Song
New Year Carol (Asia Minor)
Κάλαντα Πρωτοχρονιάς

Central Greece Euboea Couplets Sea and Sailors Song, Lampoon
Our Tráta All Tattered
Η τράτα μας η κουρελού
Our battered old boat and its tattered old nets
patched over and over and yet always torn.
Our old boat
needs sails,
Our ...

Epirus Klephtic Song
Samarina
Σαμαρίνα
Hey, you young klephts,
you sons of Samarina,
if you go up to the mountains, the Samarina way
[don’t fire off shots, don’t...



Macedonia Couplets Love Song, Carnival Song
Why Did I Fall in Love With You? (Enteka (Eleven))
Τι 'θελα και σ' αγαπούσα
Why did I go and fall for you?
Why didn't I just get on with my life?
Now my head’s swimming
and knives have pierced my he...
Albums
Concerts

1978-1997
With Evgenios Spatharis in Shadow Theatre Performances
Performances with legendary shadow theatre artist Evgenios Sp...