Trying to think back, I'm really having trouble thinking of a single song by Eleftheria Arvanitaki that I don't like, if not straight-up love. 

 

There's something about the quality of her voice - either strong and bell-clear, or dreamy and ethereal depending on the song. It's also her choice of music, which swings from upbeat and poppy to traditional and familiar to sweet and lyrical to almost ancient and pagan. No matter your taste in Greek music, there are likely new musical loves to be found if you give her a listen. 

 

I can't imagine ever getting bored listening to her. Her sheer versatility keeps my attention. 

 

One example of her wide choice of material is her album Tragoudia Gia Tous Mynes [Songs For The Months], which is a collection of songs based on poems written by poets Odysseas Elytis, Costas Karyotakis and Maria Polydouri. I remember listening to it while driving through the Peloponnesos with the sun beginning to set over the yellow broom-covered mountains of Arcadia, and thinking this was The. Perfect. Soundtrack. 

 

She's played Carnage Hall and has had records go platinum. She is a glittering star in the Greek music firmament and if you haven't heard her music (or haven't heard much of it), you owe it to yourself to take a listen to our Spotify playlist that features a wide selection of her songs. With such remarkable range and variety, it's likely most people will find something they love. 

 

​​​​​​​​​It starts off with a live version her big pop hit "Dynata", with it's playful nod to Brazilian percussion. Athens meets Rio! (And if you like Greco-Latino fusion, make sure to check out our Greece Goes Latin! article and playlist.)

 

One of my favorites - a straight-up traditional Smyrneiko classic, is "Tha Spaso Koupes". There are many, many versions of this classic song and I like pretty much all of them, but hers may be my favorite.

 

For a change of vibe, take a listen to some collections from the gorgeous album Tragoudia Gia Tous Mynes, which I mentioned above. This particular song is music set to a poem by Oddyseas Elytis, the Nobel-prize winning Greek poet. The songs I've inclluded are "Ola Ta Pire To Kalokairi" and "Sapfo".

 

Take a listen to our Spotify playlist below, and enjoy the beautiful and soulfull voice of Eleftheria Arvanitaki. 

​

​

​​​​

​