Maria Farantouri

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Maria Farantouri ( Greek Μαρία Φαραντούρη Maria Farandouri ; born November 28, 1947 in Athens ) is a Greek singer.

Life and accomplishments

Maria Farantouri grew up in the Nea Ionia district of Athens; her father was from Kephallonia , her mother from Kythera . She developed polio in her childhood. She took her first musical steps as a member of the Choir of the Syllogos Filon tis Ellinikis Mousikis , from which numerous Greek musicians such as Yannis Markopoulos , Manos Loizos and Dionysis Savvopoulos emerged . At the age of 16 she was discovered during a performance by Mikis Theodorakis when she was performing one of his songs. As a result, she became the most important interpreter of his songs. She is often mentioned in the same breath as Mikis Theodorakis, as she sang the female solo part in many of his oratorios and song cycles (Theodorakis called her "his priestess"). She achieved international fame in the 1970s and 1980s, primarily through the Canto General . Since the 1990s she has also increasingly dedicated herself to her own projects.

Maria Farantouri with Mikis Theodorakis

Maria Farantouri, "the greatest voice in Greece", is an outstanding figure on the Greek music scene. Internationally successful since the 1980s, she is considered by her music colleagues and her fans to be the most authentic interpreter of the New Greek Song. Famous in the 1960s and 1970s as the “ideal interpreter” of Mikis Theodorakis' songs, she is now a “diva” who moves easily between tradition, world music and modernity.

She became known in 1965 when she made her breakthrough with her first long-playing record, the “ Mauthausen ” cycle by Theodorakis. In 1967 she left Greece after the military coup to protest against the colonial dictatorship in hundreds of concerts around the world until 1974 . The critics celebrated them. The Guardian : “Your unique voice is a gift from the Olympic gods.” Le Monde : “Farantouri is the Joan Baez of the Mediterranean.” François Mitterrand in his book The Bee and the Architect: “Maria is Greece for me. This is how I imagine the goddess Hera. I don't remember any other artist who would have given me the feeling of the divine to such an extent. "

1982–83 she appeared at several concerts of the West German peace movement , partly together with Theodorakis, partly together with the Turkish singer Zülfü Livaneli - this also as a conscious protest against the traditional hostilities between Greek and Turkish nationalists.

In the parliamentary elections in 1989 Theodorakis supported (as a non-party) the formation of the first left-right government in Europe between the Communist Party of Greece and the conservative Nea Dimokratia , while Maria Farantouri ran for the socialist PASOK , for which she ran from 1990 to 1993 in the Greek parliament sat.

Maria Farantouri worked on stage and in the studio with John Williams , Manos Hadjidakis , Zülfü Livaneli , Leo Brouwer , Vangelis , Lucio Dalla , Zubin Mehta and many others. In 1995 she celebrated her international comeback with concerts in Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia. In 1996 she began working with the German composer and arranger Henning Schmiedt , with whom she produced three critically acclaimed Theodorakis CDs, POETICA (1996), ASMATA (1998) and WAY HOME (2007). On July 16, 2000, she performed at a concert in Ferropolis near Dessau (director: Gert Hof ), where 10,000 people applauded her. On July 29, 2000 she took part with Milva , Petros Pandis and other well-known artists at the concert on the occasion of Theodorakis' 75th birthday on Munich's Königsplatz, an event that was released on CD one year later by Tropical ( Happy Birthday, Mikis! ) has appeared. In 2012 the Munich label ECM released the CD Charles Lloyd & Maria Farantouri: Athens Concert , which was critically acclaimed.

Farantouri also works with younger composers, for example with Perikles Kukos , a composer of classical music, and treads new paths, but continues to maintain their relationship with traditional music. For example, Maria Farantouri has recently been interpreting demotic, rebel and island songs as well as Byzantine hymns. In June 2019, ECM released her CD with songs by the Turkish composer and saz player Cihan Türkoglou Beyond the Borders .

Her most important interpretations of Theodorakis works include: Canto General based on the poem of the same name by Pablo Neruda , Romancero gitano based on texts by Federico García Lorca , in which she was accompanied by the Australian composer and guitarist John Williams , and the symphonic version of the Mauthausen cantata who performed the 1991 Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta .

Maria Farantouri is married to the Greek politician and poet Tilemachos Chitiris and has one son.

LP and CD recordings (selection)

  • 1966 I ballada tou Mauthausen (The Mauthausen Ballad) / Mikis Theodorakis - Iakovos Kambanellis
  • 1967 Enas Omiros (The Hostage) / Mikis Theodorakis - Brendan Behan
  • 1970 Pnevmatiko Emvatirio (Marche of Spirit) / Mikis Theodorakis - Angelos Sikelianos
  • 1970 Katastasi Poliorkias (State of Siege) / Mikis Theodorakis - Rena Chatzidaki
  • 1971 Theodorakis diefthini Theodorakis 2 (Theodorakis Conducts Theodorakis 2) «Romancero Gitano» & «Mythology» / Mikis Theodorakis - Federico García Lorca & George Seferis
  • 1971 John Williams & Maria Farantouri: Theodorakis Songs of Freedom «Romancero Gitano» / Mikis Theodorakis - Federico García Lorca
  • 1974 Mikis Theodorakis & Maria Farantouri / Mikis Theodorakis - different
  • 1974 Arkadia 6 & 8 / Mikis Theodorakis - Mikis Theodorakis & Manolis Anagnostakis
  • 1974 I Ellada tou Miki Theodoraki (Greece of Mikis Theodorakis) / Mikis Theodorakis - different
  • 1975 O ilios ke o Chronos (Sun and Time) / Mikis Theodorakis - Mikis Theodorakis
  • 1975 I megali agripnia / Eleni Karaindrou - KHMyris
  • 1975 Canto General / Mikis Theodorakis - Pablo Neruda
  • 1975 Ta negrika / Manos Loizos - Giannis Negrepontis
  • 1977 Tragoudia diamartirias / Victor Jara , Violeta Parra , Carlos Puebla , Franco Corliano and others
  • 1979 Farantouri sings Bertolt Brecht / Hanns Eisler & Kurt Weill - Bertolt Brecht
  • 1979 I gitonies tou kosmou / Mikis Theodorakis - Jannis Ritsos
  • 1979 songs from Greece
  • 1979 Maria Farantouri Live
  • 1980 I agapi ine o fovos (The Love Is the Fear) / Michalis Grigoriou - Manolis Anagnostakis
  • 1980 I epochi tis Melissanthis / Manos Chatzidakis - Manos Chatzidakis
  • 1981 Canto General / Mikis Theodorakis - Pablo Neruda
  • 1981 O epivatis / Mikis Theodorakis - Kostas Tripolitis
  • 1982 Ensemble (album) / Zülfü Livaneli - Lefteris Papadopoulos & Nazim Hikmet
  • 1984 Maria Farantouri Söylüyor (Live) / Zülfü Livaneli - Lefteris Papadopoulos & Nazim Hikmet
  • 1985 Maria Farantouri Live in Olympia Paris
  • 1988 Skotini mitera / Manos Chatzidakis - Nikos Gatsos
  • 1990 greatest hits
  • 1991 17 Songs / Vangelis , Nicola Piovani , Michel Legrand , Lucio Dalla , Kurt Weill and others
  • 1994 Veatriki stin odo Miden (Beatrice on the Zero Street) / Mikis Theodorakis - Dionissis Karatzas
  • 1995 Maria Farantouri sings Lucio Dalla / Lucio Dalla - G. Spyropoulos
  • 1996 Poetica / Mikis Theodorakis - Dionissis Karatzas
  • 1997 Arkadies 1, 7 & 8 / Mikis Theodorakis - Mikis Theodorakis, Takis Sinopoulos, Manolis Anagnostakis
  • 1998 Asmata / Mikis Theodorakis - different
  • 1998 Serenates / Mikis Theodorakis - Lefteris Papadopoulos
  • 2000 I triti porta (The Third Door) / Lena Platonas - Thodoros Poala
  • 2000 Nostalgia / Different
  • 2000 Rainer Kirchmann & Maria Farantouri: Sun & Time / Mikis Theodorakis - Mikis Theodorakis
  • 2001 Enas aionas Elliniko tragoudi (100 Years of Greek Songs) / Different
  • 2002 Passions of the Moon (Homage to FGLorca with 3 works): Bodas de Sangre (Manos Hadzithakis - FGLorca / Nikos Gatsos) & Canciones Populares by FGLorca (sung in Spanish) & Romancero Gitano (Mikis Theodorakis - FGLorca / Odysseas Elytis )
  • 2003 The poetry in hellenic music / Different
  • 2003 Blue / Michalis Grigoriou - Rinio Papanikola
  • 2005 Erimia / Mikis Theodorakis - Lefteris Papdopoulos
  • 2007 Way home / Different
  • 2007 Odysseia / Mikis Theodorakis - Kostas Kartelias
  • 2010 Maria Farantouri with Christos Thivaios : Tou erota kai tou thanatou / Mikis Theodorakis
  • 2011 Maria Farantouri sings Taner Akyol - Different
  • 2011 Charles Lloyd & Maria Farantouri: Athens Concert
  • 2014 Chtes archisa na tragoudo / Different (live recording for the 50th anniversary of MF as a singer, Odeion des Herodes Atticus, 2013) 2 CDs, DVD

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Reviews of Charles Lloyd & Maria Farantouri: Athens Concert
  2. ↑ CD review Traumweber meets mother of the universe at jazzecho.de
  3. ↑ CD review Beyond the Limits by Thomas Rothschild at faustkultur.de
  4. ↑ The Voice of Greece in cover culture magazine , published on June 28, 2007. Last accessed on July 25, 2018.
  5. ↑ www.cd-kritik.de
  6. ↑ openpr.de


personal data
SURNAME Farantouri, Maria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Φαραντούρη, Μαρία; Farandouri, Maria; Pharantourē, Maria; Pharanturē, Maria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION greek singer
DATE OF BIRTH November 28, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Athens