Sotia Tsotou

Sotia Tsotou ( Greek Σώτια Τσώτου , born May 14, 1942 in Livadia ; † December 10, 2011 in Athens ) was a Greek poet.

biography

Sotia Tsotou was the fifth child of the freedom fighter Giorgos Kraniotis (gr. Γιώργος Κρανιώτης), who was shot by Germans in front of his house in September 1943. The Germans' frenzy towards their father resulted in arson at his house and the family had to leave the place. Irini (Ειρήνη), his wife was traumatized by the violence of the Germans, had lost her loved ones and was missing until 1950 when she was treated one day at the Voula hospital. The dramatic experiences of her family led to the flight of little Sotia.

The Iordanou sisters (Ιορδανού), relatives of the mother, brought her to Athens from the age of two, where she was adopted into a middle-class, relatively affluent family. Her adoptive parents were Charalampos and Despina Tsotou (Χαράλαμπος, Δέσποινας Τσώτου). There she went to the "Marselos" private school (Ιδιωτικό Δημοτικό Σχολείο «Μαρσέλου»), attended the First Gymnasium in Athens (Α 'Γυμνάσιο της ΑθήνΣχλλς Αθήνήλς (άλά Iκos. "" Γοο also. Ιωσήφ »(Καλογραιών))

Since she was 18 she worked as a journalist, parallel to her studies at the Pantion University of Athens and at the theater school of Pelos Katselis (Πέλος Κατσέλης) and Kostis Michalidis (Κωστής Μιχαηλίδης). She experienced the military coup of April 21, 1967 as an employee of the newspaper Eleftheria (Ελευθερία, freedom), which ceased publication on the same day, which brought about the end of Tsotou's journalistic career. During the "Junta" era, she was interrogated and arrested frequently. Solitary confinement inspired her to the songs, which soon became known under the titles: Vre de variese, adelfe (Βρε δε βαριέσαι, αδελφέ) and Na 'tane to 21 (Νά ΄τανε το 21).

Tsotou had two daughters, Despina (Δέσποινα), a journalist, and Asimenia (Ασημένια), a musician and singer. Sotia Tsotou died on December 10, 2011 after two years of cancer.

plant

Decisive for her career was the collaboration with Kostas Chatzis (Κώστας Χατζής), who gave expression to the protest during the time of the Greek military dictatorship. During this time, the songs From the Airplane (Απ 'το αεροπλάνο), The Soldier (Ο Στρατής), Crazy or Brave (Τρελός ή παλληκάρι), The Crazy From the Neighborhood (Της γειλς and τλρς γειτονιάς) German (Ένας Γερμανός και μια Εβραία), something is going on (Κάτι τρέχει), Bus of the World (Λεωφορείο ο κόσμος), and others. The highlight was the record Resital (Ρεσιτάλ), of which a million copies were sold. Among the songs on the record were Love Knows No Boundaries (Σύνορα η αγάπη δε γνωρίζει), Important People (?) (Σπουδαίοι άνθρωποι αλλά), I love you like mother and child (Σ 'αγαδπώ τί τίά μνανοπνς ηπνς ηνννινομ And after that (Κι ύστερα), I am not I (Δεν ειμαι εγώ), Love endures everything (Η αγάπη όλα τα υπομένει) and others.

She had similar economic success with enormous sales figures that are exceptional on the small Greek music market through her collaboration with Stavros Kougioumitzis (Σταύρος Κουγιουμτζής) and with Na tane to 21 (Να ΄τανε το 21΄) with Giorgos Dalaras .

Another significant collaboration was that with Doros Georgiadis (Δώρος Γεωργιάδης), with whom she worked at the Thessaloniki Song Festival in 1972 and won first prize with the song An emoun plousios (Αν ήμουν πλούσιος - Are we not rich) and at the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest with Sokrati (Σωκράτη).

Another station in her career was the two records she recorded with Stelios Kazantzidis . The most important songs were Vradiazi (Βραδιάζει), I Kapetanie (Έι καπετάνιε), Xero nekrous (Ξέρω νεκρούς), Efyges file (Έφυγες φίλε). Stelios Kazantzidis praised Tsotou above all else in various interviews and described her as "The Great" and put her on the same level as Eftychia Papagiannopoulou (Ευτυχία Παπαγιαννοπούλου). Tsotou wrote the song Efyges file for a mutual friend, Andreas Kaiafas (Ανδρέας Καιάφας), who died of cancer at the age of 49. Also in 1994, Tsotou wrote three stanzas in which she described the story of Stelios. They were set to music by Takis Soukas (Τάκης Σούκας) with a melody that took up the rhythm of the Karsilama (καρσιλαμά), a folk dance, and added to the song Ego 'mai prosfyga pedi (Εγώ' μαι πρόσφυγγα). Stelios described them as characteristic of Laïka music. The piece can be found on the record Ke pou theos (Και πού θεός).

Further joint work

Other artists who had worked with her, Giorgos Chatzinasios (Γιώργος Χατζηνάσιος), Apostolos Kaldaras (Απόστολος Καλδάρας), Takis Soukas (Τάκης Σούκας), Christos Nikolopoulos (Χρήστος Νικολόπουλος), Christos Papadopoulos (Χρήστος Παπαδόπουλος) Marinella (singer) , Christos Gartzos (Χρήστος Γκάρτζος), George Krimizakis (Γιώργος Κριμιζάκης), Dimitra Galani , Haris Alexiou , Giannis Parios , Rena Koumioti (Ρένα Κουμιώτη), Giannis Poulopoulos , Michalis Violaris (Μιχάλης Βιολάρης) Keti chomata , poly panou , Nikos Nomikos (Νίκος Νομικός ), Dimitris Mitropanos , Anna Vissi , Elpida (Ελπίδα), Pascalis , Bessy Argyraki , Themis Adamantidis (Θέμης Αδαμαντίδης), Doukissa Fotara (Δούκισσα Φωταρά) and others.

Theater and television appearances

Since the beginning of the 80s Marinella appeared in the Zoum (Ζουμ) with the musical program Ikones (Εικόνες) with poems by Sotia Tsotou and music by Doros Georgiadis (Δώρος Γεωργιάδης). She wrote one of four Christmas fairy tales of her own for the festival program for Christmas 1990 on Sender 19901 with the title: The fourth sage . The program was moderated by Aliki Vougiouklaki . In the following years she published the series Fakelos Amazon (Φάκελος Αμαζών) together with Grigoris Valtinos (Γρηγόρης Βαλτινός) on the same station .

In 1999 her work Vorabend von 2000 (Παραμονές του 2000) with music by Kostas Chatzis was performed in the theater in Athens . In 2007 she wrote the title song for the television series ALPHA Weil the Heart of an Angel (Για την καρδιά ενός αγγέλου) with the title: I wear white when I mourn (Άσπρα φορώ όταν πενθris), sung by Dimoulitos, with Christos Papadop .

Appearances

• Song Festival of Thessaloniki (Φεστιβάλ Τραγουδιού Θεσσαλονίκης) 1971 with the song The child and I traveled (Ταξίδευα παιδί κι εγώ)
• SongFestival of Thessaloniki 1972: 1st prize with the song Are we not rich (Αν ήμουν πλούσιος)
• SongFestival of Thessaloniki 1974: 2nd prize with the song Wenn (Αν) with music by Giorgos Krimizakis and sung by Michail Violari (Μιχάλη Βιολάρη)
• Eurovision Song Contest 1979: 8th place with the song Sokratis (Σωκράτης), while she worked with Elpida, who performed the song.

She also appeared at festivals in Sofia and Tokyo .

Own albums

• Resital (gr.Ρεσιτάλ) Music: Kostas Chatzis, 1976
• Hope (Ελπίδα - Δάκης) with Kostas Chatzis, 1977
• Ain't we rich - (An emoun plousios, Αν ήμουν πλούσιος) with Doro Georgiadi (Δώρο Γεωργιάδη), 1972
• A thousand nine hundred times nothing - (Chilia enniakosia tipota, Χίλια εννιακόσια τίποτα) with Doro Georgiadi, 1974
• White-Black (Aspro - Mavro, Άσπρο-Μαύρο) with Giorgos Chatzinasios, 1974
• Photographs (Fotografies - Φωτογραφίες) with Giorgos Krimizakis, 1971
• Falling leaves (Skorpia fulla - Σκόρπια φύλλα) with Apostolos Kaldaras, 1975
• Difficult life (Duskoli Zoi - Δύσκολη ζωή) with Doro Georgiadi, 1973
• I painted the world (Ego zografisa ti gi - Εγώ ζωγράφισα τη Γη) with Doro Georgiadi, 1983
• It is evening (Vradiazei - Βραδιάζει) with Christos Nikolopoulos, 1992
• And where is God (Kai pou theos - Και που Θεός) with Takis Soukas, 1994
• Marinella (M. Gia senane boro - Μαρινέλλα (Για σένανε μπορώ)) with Andonis Stefanidis (Αντώνης Στεφανίδης), 1981
• Today and Always (Simera kai panta - Σήμερα και πάντα) with Spiros Vlassopoulos (Σπύρος Βλασσόπουλος), 1984
• My best years (Ta kalitera mou Chronia - Τα καλύτερα μου χρόνια) with Giorgos Krimizakis, 1985
• Encounter (Synantisi - Συνάντηση) with Kostas Chatzis, 1987

Web links

• Poems in Greek
• The last interview in Difono magazine (Δίφωνο).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Η Αυγή , "Βράδιασε" για τη Σώτια Τσώτου ..., 13-12-2011.
2. ↑ χαρακτηριστικά από τραγούδια λαϊκά, έμαθα τα ελληνικά