LiberPress Song Award 2017

Maria Farantouri, singer and political and cultural activist, was born in Athens on November 28, 1947. She began singing as a teenager when she joined the choir of The Society of Friends of Greek Music, where she understood that singing would become her path and her life. She took her first steps as a soloist, thanks to her rich contralto voice, together with many young artists who aspired to revive Greek music. She emphasises her relationship with the composer Mikis Theodorakis, who wanted them to work together.

Soon Maria Farantouri’s voice began to be heard at all important political and social events. During the military dictatorship (1967-1974), she was an activist and a rebel, both personally and artistically, recording protest songs in exile. She has sung poems by Federico García Lorca, Neruda and Víctor Jara, and has recorded Hasta siempre, comandante in Spanish. Also remarkable is her series on Mauthausen. The Theodorakis composition, The Hostage, was performed at all the peace demonstrations, and Maria performed the song The Laughing Boy, known throughout Greece and, finally, all over the world. She has sung with the Catalan singer, Josep Tero, and was a member of the Greek parliament between 1989 and 1993, as a representative of the Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK).