A folk musician since her childhood, a singer whose vocal potential adapts to the special demands of the repertoire of almost all regions of Greece, Domna Samiou is the only one who could gather around her Greece’s top singers and instrumentalists. The reason is very simple: musicians recognize her as [...]
1977 ⬥ Domna Samiou is a nice person and, I am sorry to say that, be careful how you treat her, because she’s a sensitive thing and needs special treatment. And anyone who knows her closely can understand what I’m about to say: she has this strange quality, that is, [...]
The voice of Domna Samiou brings down walls, penetrates cement, rises to the fourteen-day Moon, accompanies it in an amorous way, and under the sound of traditional instruments –the bagpipe, the clarinet, the goblet drum– they start a dance and make a mock of the imported ‘Saint Valentine’ and of [...]
Austere, absolute in her beliefs and actions, and warm, Domna Samiou represents a part of the contemporary Greek culture. And those of us who have been living close to her for years, know how full of love and sincerity are her efforts for the preservation and dissemination of traditional music. [...]
[...] One of the sharpest, most intense images I have of Domna: in Monemvasia under the full moon, she is singing the songs of Sophia Vembo for a group of friends in a high spirited, relaxed manner, but one imbued with inscrutable emotions. From the overtones of that musical treat [...]
In the post-war contemporary Greek society, Domna Samiou is considered as something more than a simple interpreter of traditional music or researcher and collector of folklore music material or album and radio/television producer or a traditional music teacher. She represents, in fact, something more than the sum of all these [...]
What makes Domna Samiou a distinct and unique phenomenon, is not that she is steeped in tradition, but that she herself is creating tradition. She does not mimic any one traditional style or school, but whatever she sings becomes an established form and interpretation. She does not want to feign [...]
Before I even met Domna, when I was seventeen years old, I already had a connection with her, meaning through her numerous albums. When I finally met her, she proved to be very close to my picture of her; and the basic fact was that she had immense patience with [...]
I have always remembered Domna. Just as I remember the music from Agios, Geronimo Groovy, Scott (ed. former pirate radio stations), and other amateurs, just as I remember the sound of the wooden football tables, around which we spent all our holidays. Domna Samiou was always present. A musical accompaniment [...]
If traditional song was to be named, it would be given her name. Not just because she renders in such a special way the songs which bind us with our cultural memories, but also because Domna Samiou re-discovered these memories and connected us with the roots which uphold our country [...]
