Glikeria sings Misirlou, one of the most known Greek songs. Misirlou is a name, thus, cannot be translated.
Misirlou is an Egyptian woman, a woman from the “magic East”, who enchants a man of different religion and culture. This cross religious love is the subject of the song which belongs to several different genres: you will find it under the “Rebetika” songs, the songs from Asia Minor, the tsifteteli music and aptaliko music. It’s a combination of Greek and Eastern melody and it’s very appealing to the Greeks and Middle Eastern people.
What is mostly interesting about Misirlou is that it became worldwide known not due to the amazing performances of the Greek singers who have sung it throughout the years, but because it was the main theme in one of the most successful Hollywood movies, Pulp Fiction. Who ever saw the movie remembers John Travolta and Uma Thurman dancing the remix of an oriental song… this is Misirlou.
You can hear Misirlou today in many different versions and in many different languages, such as Arabic, Turkish, Yiddish and even English.
HI, and well done with your wonderful site!
Will you permit me to make a couple of comments and ask a question?
Misirlou is not a name as such. It is ‘girl from Misirl’
I also beg to differ that its popularity has been thanks to the movie Pulp Fiction, although this is very significant. Dick Dale the Lebanese american brought it to the surfing culture long before.
It is now a ‘folk song’ of all middle eastern and balkan nations and sung even by rabbis.
In terms of style it has been translated to music styles all over the world, including classical, cabaret, Eurolounge, Latin rumba and samba.
As such it is the most internationalised song in the world after the ‘happy birthday’ song.
Also why are there no Cypriot Greek entries? They have some really cool folk songs.
All the best
Apollo
Thanks for the comments, they are very welcome and interesting!
The thing is that Misirlou became vaguely known abroad due to Pulp Fiction – even in Greece some younger people had never heard the song before.
Thanks for suggesting the Greek Cypriot songs, we intend to post some characteristic folk songs from the Cypriot tradition as well!