Domna Samiou Ensemble

Domna Samiou was born on October 12th 1928, in the Kaisariani1 neighborhood in Athens and died on March 10th 2012. Her parents were refugees from the village of Baindir in the Smyrna (Izmir) area. Her mother came to Greece in 1922, whilst her father, who was a prisoner of war, arrived slightly later during the exchange of populations2. During her childhood years she lived the harsh life of a refugee, but was also surrounded with the humane solidarity of the refugee communities. That is where she acquired her deep connection with popular culture and her aptitude to participate. It was in these surroundings that she also came into contact with music for the first time and where she acquired her love for folk music.

At the age of thirteen, whilst attending night school, Domna Samiou also began to receive her first formal musical training from Simon Karas at the Association for the Dissemination of National Music, where she was tutored in Byzantine and Folk music, as well as being introduced to the idea of field research in music.

Her first professional collaboration with the National Radio Foundation (E.I.R.)3 started when she was a member of the Simon Karas choir. In 1954 she became a full time employee of the station, working in the ‘National Music Section’4. Through her work there, she came in contact with the leading traditional musicians of the day, who were part of the greater migration wave at the time from the countryside to Athens. The National Music Section was busy recording such musicians and as a result, she became acquainted with all the various local musical styles. At the same time she was conducting the musical supervision for records, theatrical programs and films. In 1963 she started touring the countryside independently, to record music for the archive she was establishing, using her own means and equipment.

In 1971 Domna Samiou left her radio job and importantly, later in the year, accepted an invitation by the composer and performer Dionysis Savvopoulos to start performing at a club called Rodeo, (see The first concerts) frequented by a youthful anti-junta5 audience. This marked the beginning of Domna Samiou's impact on the appreciation of folk music by the younger generations in Greece. Soon after she performed at the English Bach Festival in London, which was being run by Lila Lalandi at the time. It was a triumphant start to a brilliant musical career. 'It made people overcome the embarrassment they felt for folk music' as she herself stated later.