Eleftheria Arvanitaki – a vibrant Greek Singer

Eleftheria Arvanitaki is a Greek  singer, born (October 1957) and raised in Piraeus. She is a vibrant Greek singer, a true diva on stage, able to enchant her audience.

Energetic and very extroverted, Eleftheria Arvanitaki manages to fascinate and whip up enthusiasm when in live concerts. In fact, her concerts always gather thousands of people because of her nice songs and her approachable attitude.

Her personality, warm but strong, her voice, her ambition to create a bridge between Greek and new urban music from the best composers, make her work to be considered a classic in Greek music. Eleftheria Arvanitaki is a star in Greece and her concerts are very successful, always turning into a true explosion of enthusiasm.

Eleftheria Arvanitaki – The beginning of a career

Eleftheria Arvanitaki started her career as a singer in 1980, by joining the group “Opisthodromiki Kompania” and in 1981 she had her first guest appearance on an LP by being featured in the album of Vangelis Germanos titled “Ta Barakia”.

During this period, as a singer of the band she was the most known voice of all Rebetika music done in Greece. She was considered the promoter of this kind of music in its modern version. The band “Opisthodromiki Kompania” and Arvanitaki sang both rebetika and smyrneika songs, going  back to the folklore of Minor Asian refugees .

Despite her great success and the numerous known songs she sung, she broke away from the group and started a solo career in 1984 with her album called “Eleftheria Arvanitaki”. This album was a blast.

Arvanitaki – The Solo Career

Once her first album was released, Arvanitaki managed to meet and work with great Greek composers, participating in amazing albums of the time, such as “Trapezakia Ekso” by Dionissis Savvopoulos, “Kentro Dierchomenon” by Nikos Mamagkakis, Nikos Ksidakis and more.

In 1985 she worked with Stamatis Spanoudakis and released the album “Kontrabanto” which was innovative, introducing the distinctive, high strung voice of the Greek singer and the amazing music composed by Spanoudakis, who was not that known at that time. The album was a great hit and was followed by a second collaboration with Spanoudakis in 1987 in the album “Tanirama”.

“Meno Ektos” and other Albums

The year 1991 was a marking point for her solo career; Eleftheria Arvanitaki releases the album “Meno Ektos”, in which she works with Lina Nikolakopoulou and Nikos Antipas. Among the Greek composers who write music for her are Nikos Ksidakis and Nikos Antipas, as well as the American – Armenian Composer Ara Dinkjian, who composes music for two of the most beloved songs ever: Dinata dinata and Meno Ektos.

This collaboration with Nikolakopoulou and Dinkijan gives us a second album in 1994, called “Ta kormia kai ta machairia”. Arvanitaki enters the elite of the Greek singers and becomes instantly one of the most popular and beloved singers in Greece, serving the Greek music with respect and quality choices.

In 1996 she releases the album “Tragoudia gia tous mines”, one of the best Greek albums ever released, consisting of songs based on Greek poems; Elytis, Kavafis, Sappho, Polidouri and more. Dimitris Papadimitriou composes music on the lyrics and the result is stunning.

In August 2004 she participated in the closing ceremony of the Athens Olympics.

Arvanitaki: A Crystal Voice and a Great Diva

The unique crystal-like clarity of her voice made her a hugely popular figure in the “artistic” (entehno) Greek song genre.

Eleftheria’s vocal qualities and her ability to combine the traditional and contemporary music of Greece have inspired some of the most distinguished composers, lyricists and poets to write songs for her that are now considered ‘‘classics’’ in Greek music. All of her personal albums have gone platinum. Moreover, she has received 2 Greek music awards for Best Female Singer of the Year.

Every year she gives many live performances in Greece, many of them during her much-awaited (by the public all around Greece) summertime concert tours. According to critics her live appearances are considered  legendary and also a very important part of Greek music’s history.

Eleftheria Arvanitaki has extensively toured Europe. She has gone almost to every city in Spain since her first Iberian tour in 2002. She has also gone to the UK, Belgium, France and Germany, but also sang in Australia, South Africa and the USA.

Her live appearances abroad always have a huge success, most of them are sold–out many days before and they are also praised by the critics and audiences all around the world. In May 2009, Eleftheria Arvanitaki gave two unforgettable sold out concerts at the Sydney Opera House in Australia . It was the first time the Opera House and its very important festival “Hemispheres” invited a Greek artist to feature in its circle of events and the first time that a Greek artist gave a concert to this historic concert hall.

Also sold out was the concert that Eleftheria Arvanitaki gave at Melbourne Arts Centre. She managed to attract the interest of major Australian newspapers and to receive warm critiques apart from the audience’s huge applause.

Eleftheria Arvanitaki is considered a Greek Diva – in the good sense.