Markos Vamvakaris sings the song Fragosyriani, a famous Greek song composed and written by Vamvakaris himself.
There are many different spellings of the song’s title in English: Fragosyriani (which is closer to the Greek spelling Φραγκοσυριανή), Frangosyriani or Fragosiriani.
Fragosyriani means Catholic girl from the Greek island of Syros. The song was written in 1935 when Vamvakaris visited the island of Syros for the second time.
The island of Syros has many Catholic residents, which are called Francs by the Greeks – a remain of older times.
It is said that, when Vamvakaris was playing music close to the beach, he saw a woman there, the one referred to in the song. When Vamvakaris returned to Athens, he created the song Frangosyriani.
Markos Vamvakaris was not certain that this woman was Catholic, and this woman never learned that this famous song was actually written for her.
This woman from Syros inspired a classic song, Fragosyriani, one of the most known rempetika songs, created by Vamvakaris, a Greek composer who introduced and developed the rempetika songs in Greece.
Great song!