Tania Tsanaklidou

Tania Tsanaklidou grew up in Thessaloniki and appeared in theatre as a child. She studied archaeology and attended the drama school of the National Theatre of Northern Greece. ERT’s account of her early career places acting and music alongside each other. In her own recollection, she moved from Thessaloniki to Athens in 1973, aged twenty-one, and began a new stage of professional life.

She sang at the Ledra music venue and worked with Yannis Markopoulos. In 1975, she appeared in Chekhov’s Three Sisters at Karolos Koun’s Art Theatre. In 1978, she represented Greece at Eurovision in Paris with Charlie Chaplin, composed by Sakis Tsilikis with lyrics by Yannis Xanthoulis. The entry finished eighth. Despite its English proper-name title, the song is sung in Greek.

Her subsequent career includes collaborations with Yannis Spanos, Stamatis Kraounakis, Lina Nikolakopoulou and Mikael Delta. Albums and live programmes developed alongside her theatrical background. She dates the first Magic Box stage work to 1996; a later second part returned to this format. In a January 2026 broadcast interview, she explained her approach through the relationship between what she experiences and what she sings.

Tsanaklidou’s repertoire depends on the meeting of a performer with composers and writers. Χωρίς ταυτότητα (Without Identity, 1980) features music by Giorgos Hatzinasios. Μαμά γερνάω (Mum, I’m Growing Old, 1988) brings together Kraounakis’s music, Nikolakopoulou’s lyrics and her interpretation. The title addresses a mother while the speaker confronts growing older. Her name on the record should not be mistaken for sole authorship of the songs.

Το μαγικό κουτί (The Magic Box) is a music-theatre project first presented in 1996. The 2022 second part credits Tsanaklidou with the idea, programme and performance. Piano, guitars, cello and bass support a programme involving love, loss, fear and reconciliation. The title names a theatrical framework for existing songs and texts, rather than a single composition.

Το χρώμα της μέρας (The Colour of the Day, 2001), made with Mikael Delta, places her voice within an electronic musical setting. It extends a career already moving between stage and recording studio. ERT’s archival portraits preserve performances from different periods, allowing listeners to hear changes in accompaniment and delivery. Her theatrical training matters in the shaping of a phrase: expression can reside in timing, emphasis and a pause, as well as in the melody itself.

ERT’s archival programmes and later broadcast interviews offer different encounters with Tsanaklidou: singing, recollection and ordinary conversation. These formats help separate stage expression from everyday spoken Greek.

Open her Buongiorno interview of 26 January 2026 on MEGA. Listen with language help to a short passage about her artistic approach, using the published transcript to locate χαρά, “joy”, and λύπη, “sadness”. Notice a form of νιώθω, “I feel”. Then make your own sentence beginning Όταν νιώθω…, “When I feel…”, followed by something you do. Say it naturally before trying an expressive reading. This B1 activity practises naming feelings and reactions; it does not require understanding an entire song or adopting a singer’s stage delivery.

• She studied archaeology as well as attending drama school.
• Charlie Chaplin finished eighth at Eurovision 1978 and is sung in Greek.
• The first Magic Box stage work dates from 1996; the later album is a separate release.