Eleftheria Arvanitaki talks about her career, pointing out three major chapters of her music career. Arvanitaki gave an interview to an Athenian newspaper talking about important parts of her career in Greek music.
Arvanitaki and Opisthodromiki Compania
” It was the 80s. Just singing and television…
During that time I was in the group Opisthodromiki Compania.
Dionysis Savopoulos introduced us to Manos Hadjidakis, who invited us to the Song contest in Corfu.
Greek TV at that time had just one channel, the public one. Our participation in this contest created an entire updraft.
That was the beginning of an exciting adventure. we played at the “Alsos” music stage in Athens, in a very nice building called “Bauhaus”. We played there for 4-5 hours at a site of 1,000 people that was full 6 days a week.
We had lessons of Byzantine music together with the rest of the group. We appeared in full stadiums, we traveled abroad. That was a very strong beginning in my career.”
The period of Arvanitaki’s personal career
“I started my own collaborations with the composers Ksydakis, Spanoudakis and Kouyioumtzis.
My first personal record was with Spanoudakis – and my first video clip came out from there too. That was a new era with the image playing a key role, and designate things in a time that boosts visibility.”
Arvanitaki’s career abroad
“Now we are at the opposite end. We live in a wider world through the Internet. Information expands.
I travel everywhere and become part of a larger family of musicians called world music.
I have encounters with artists such as Ara Dinkjian, Dulce Pontes, Cesaria Evora, Philip Glass, Javier Limon.
I begun a journey around the world from the Opera House in Australia, the Womad Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival and the Mediterranean Music Festival organized by the Barbican Centre in Mexico. “