Savina Yannatou

Savina Yannatou studied singing in Athens with Gogo Georgilopoulou at the National Conservatory and with Spiros Sakkas at the Workshop of Vocal Art. Postgraduate studies took her to London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She began singing professionally in 1979. Her early work included Greek radio’s Lillipoupoli, under Manos Hadjidakis’s direction, and a lasting creative relationship with Lena Platonos.

Her musical development followed several paths. In the 1980s she helped found the Athens Early Music Workshop. Renaissance and Baroque repertoire demanded close attention to style, while free improvisation later opened another field. In the early 1990s she explored experimental vocal approaches with musicians including bassist Peter Kowald and reed player Floros Floridis. These activities developed alongside Greek song rather than replacing it.

From 1993 she worked with Primavera en Salonico, a group of Thessaloniki-based musicians initially gathered around Sephardic songs. Their international repertoire does not imply that she speaks every language she sings. In a Greek interview she explained how she asks speakers to model pronunciation. She also composes for theatre, including music for Medea in 1997. Her work links interpretation, research and collective music-making.

Terra Nostra, released in 2003, preserves a 2001 Athens concert with Primavera en Salonico. Sumiglia followed in 2005 as their first ECM studio album; Songs of an Other appeared in 2008. The arrangements, often by Kostas Vomvolos, leave room for instrumental and vocal invention. Traditional material is treated as a basis for new encounters, with the source traditions still identified.

Songs of Thessaloniki, released in 2015 after recording in 2014, relates songs to the city’s communities and history. Its Greek, Ladino, Turkish, Armenian and other materials belong to a multilingual programme. The Irish song Salonika is not a Greek-language track merely because it names the city. The Greek song Το γελεκάκι (The Little Waistcoat) appears alongside these other voices, with music credited to Spyros Ollandezos and lyrics to Giannis Theodoridis.

Watersong, released in 2025 with Tunisian singer Lamia Bedioui, brings Greek, Arabic, English and other material around the theme of water. Recordings made in 2022 and 2024 combine traditional instruments with the waterphone. Dine Doneff plays this experimental instrument; the ensemble also includes qanun, nay, violin, oud and double bass. The album’s languages and vocal techniques should be distinguished track by track, not treated as one uniform Greek repertoire.

Yannatou’s work makes pronunciation a cultural encounter rather than proof of fluency in every sung language. Her account of asking speakers for models also gives learners a practical listening method.

Start with the narrated adapted reading, then hear a short passage of the Greek Το γελεκάκι from Songs of Thessaloniki. The title uses the colloquial γελεκάκι; standard γιλέκο and its diminutive γιλεκάκι are also useful. The Greek Language Portal’s dictionary lists both variants. Say your own sentence, Φοράω ένα γιλέκο, “I’m wearing a waistcoat”, then try the diminutive. Compare normal speech with the sung word’s timing. This supported B1 activity does not grade the whole multilingual album, regional dialects or extended vocal improvisation as everyday Greek.

• She began professional singing in 1979 through Greek radio work.
• Singing in many languages does not mean she speaks all of them; she asks speakers for pronunciation models.
• Terra Nostra was recorded live in 2001 and released by ECM in 2003.