Manolis Philippakis

Manolis Philippakis

Singer and musician (Karpathian lyra).

Manolis Nikolaou Filippakis was born in 1943 in Olympos, Karpathos. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Athens (1965-69) and, later, Architecture in Oxford.

He met the American writer and scholar Kevin Andrews (1924-1989) when he visited Olympos and thus came into contact with the teacher Simon Karas. There he met Domna Samiou and they collaborated on discography and in concerts in Greece and abroad in the 80s and 90s.

He also worked on iconography and decorated churches in Karpathos, Kefalonia and Rhodes.

Songs

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  • SongDodecaneseKarpathos, OlymposAcritic Song

Feasting Lords Eating and Drinking

(Andronikos and His Steed)

  • Άρκοντες τρων και πίνουσι ⬥ Some lords are eating and drinking at a marble table, a table of marble, silver and gold, they are all eating and drinking without saying a word. And young Kostantinos started singing quietly about his comrade Andronikos, a much-praised young man. – You're black, you [...]
Γυναίκα και λύρα
  • SongDodecaneseKarpathosImmigration Song

Syrmatiko

  • Συρματικό ⬥ Don’t have me settle far from home, good fortune, I beseech you, but if perchance that’s what you do, don’t visit me with illness, for illness puts a man to bed and props him up with pillows. It needs a mother at his side, a father at his [...]
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  • SongDodecaneseKarpathosLove Song

Who Was It Who Was Singing

  • Ποιος ήτο που τραούησε ⬥ Studio recording, 1975.
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  • SongDodecaneseKarpathosBawdy Song, Carnival Song

Yannaros Expired (Explicit)

  • Ο Γιάνναρος επόθανε ⬥ Yannaros –eh, boom-boom-boom– Yannaros expired. Yannaros expired and willed, that son of Satan willed they weren’t to bury him against a church nor monastery, but only at a cross-road site were they to bury him and they must leave his prick erect, exposed three handspans high, [...]
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Records

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  • AlbumLP1976EMIAΛ Columbia

By the Flowering Oleander

Another classic LP of Domna Samiou which brings together some of the masterpieces of Greek traditional folk music. It is a representative compilation of songs from different areas of Greece performed in an authentic way in respect of their lyrics, music and way of singing. In 2008 it was included […]
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  • AlbumCD, Digital release1994Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association

Carnival Songs

The most famous publication of the Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association. These Carnival songs with their ritual bawdiness – ‘sacred in the profane’ – disturbed the prudish devotees of tradition. The recordings (on CD and double LP) come with a detailed booklet analysing the pagan and ritualistic context in […]
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  • AlbumDigital release, LP1994Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association

Carnival Songs (LP)

The most famous publication of Domna Samiou’s Association. These ‘sacred in the profane’ songs of the Carnival with their ritual bawdiness disturbed the prudish ‘devotees’ of tradition. The records (in LP and CD) are accompanied by a detailed booklet analysing the pagan and ritualistic context in which these songs are […]
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  • AlbumCD, Digital release2017Domna Samiou Greek Folk Music Association

Epic Songs of Warriors and Heroes

The publication includes 30 songs, inspired by the popular tradition of story-telling, relating tales of brave warriors, both high-ranked lords, and lowly soldiers. Centering on heroic Digenis, they originate from all parts of Greece. The publication also contains a detailed booklet analyzing the history surrounding the songs, and their interpretation. […]
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  • AlbumCD, Digital release1992UNHCR – The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Songs About Greeks Far From Home

This CD, published by UNHCR with an informative booklet, includes sixteen songs narrating different aspects of migrating to foreign lands: departure and life in foreign lands; the lives of families left behind; death in foreign lands or a return home. It marks a new direction to Domna Samiou’s music publications: […]
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  • AlbumDigital release, LP1989UNHCR – The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Songs About Greeks Far From Home (LP)

This LP includes nineteen songs narrating all the different aspects of migrating in foreign lands: the departure and the life to foreign lands, the life of the family left behind, death in these foreign lands or the return home. This publication of the UNHCR, with its informative accompanying booklet, introduces […]
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Concerts

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  • Concert
  • 1971-1980

Concerts at the English Bach Festival

Invited by Lina Lalandi, founder of the English Bach Festival and clavichordist, Domna Samiou made five appearances in the festival, presenting, in what could be the first time, the authentic traditional music of Greece to the English audience.
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