M40間諜米格魯的秘密日誌

I first came across Elli Kokkinou's Greek ballade 'Tha Perimeno' whilst on the Greek Ionian island of Corfu. For a few days in a row, the song was played over and over again on various Greek radio stations; as I travelled quite frequently with Corfu's local bus networks during my stay on the island, I became familiar with the melody. For some reason, the tune fits so right into the landscape: bright sun, blue sea and countryside with lots of sentimental nostalgia. 

Kokkinou is a very well-known singer in Greece. Some of her ablums also sold well in neighbouring countries such as Cyprus and Turkey.

Prior to my first visit to Greece in the early 2000s, I (out of ignorance) thought Greek music was mostly about traditional village folk music performed by bald, middle-age musicians dressed up in colourful local costumes. After all, that was the kind of image most of us get to see on foreign TV shows or travel programmes about Greece. But Greek pop music is certainly more lively and more fun than that. Some of the big stars in Greek music scene are no less attractive or sexy than their British or US counterparts. As a matter of fact, music videos of many Greek female singers are  definitely not traditional at all, but full of skimpy bikinis, tiny little black dress and provocative shots.

One of the more famous Greek pop stars is Despina Vandi. She was born in Germany to a Greek immigrant family from Kavala. While she has a huge fan base in Greece, some of her critics thought her style was too artificial and her figure 'too thin'. But some of her songs have become sort of Greek pop classics, such as the song 'Odigoun se sena':