It’s Friday!
Let me introduce you to Greek singing sensation Marinella. That’s not her real name. She was born in 1938 as Kyriaki Papadopoulou, but that name is tough to fit on a marquee, so she became Marinella. She performed extensively as a child but made her professional debut in 1957. In classic showbiz style, she was working with a traveling Greek musical troupe when she was asked to fill in for the lead singer who had taken ill. Important people were in the audience that night and Marinella was born.
That stuff actually happens.
Early in her career, she and singer Stelios Kazantzidis earned great success performing as a duo. To this day they are said to be the greatest Greek singing pair of the 20th century. I have no personal knowledge to refute that, so I’ll accept it. They married in 1964, but divorced two years later, so they weren’t the greatest Greek married couple of the 20th century. After the divorce, Marinella embarked on a solo career that endures to this day.
As best I can tell, this clip is from a 1969 film called “The Parisienne” which roughly translates as “The Female Who is a Resident of Paris.” I understand enough French for that, but the phrase “It’s all Greek to me” came into play here. The title of this YouTube clip is written in the Greek alphabet. I managed to match it with a song listed on Marinella’s Wikipedia page, “Zografismena sto harti”. That song was from the film…“The Parisienne”.
I do this research so you don’t have to.
Marinella still records at the age of 78. God bless her.
In this clip, she’s not the pneumatic woman in red. She’s the singing woman with the beautiful cheekbones.
Have a groovy weekend!
Groovy Friday extra!
Here’s Marinella simply singing. No dancers, just her and a lot of groovy outfits and confusing dialogue.
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