I knew Domna long before we met. When I was a student in England, during the Greek Junta, Domna Samiou’s archetypal voice was my concept of Greece. She connected me with my Greek origin, and the wide variety of tunes from all around Greece -which Domna sought to present in every single album of hers- made me contemplate on my Greek identity.
At the same time, she symbolized resistance: the Junta exploited traditional music in the worst of ways; Domna was the conquest of this exploitation.
Extract from the joint interview of Domna Samiou and Yannis C. Lyras to Anna Themeli in the Difono magazine entitled ‘The sea is not only for swimming.’. The interview took place on the occasion of the release of the album Songs of Dame Sea.