Sotiria Bellou

Sotiria Bellou was perhaps one of the most influential performers of rembetika tragoudi, a method of song referred to as “Greek blues.” “Uncovered” by past due Greek composer Vassilis Tsitsánis in 1945, Bellou continuing to sing skillfully for pretty much five decades. Helping herself during rembetika’s reputation lull from the 1950s by offering cassettes on the road, she regained her previous status through the rembetika revival that expanded from the middle-’60s before early ’80s. A indigenous of Drosia (today Haila), a little community near Halkida, Bellou sang as a kid in a cathedral choir led by her grandfather, a parish priest. Although she was briefly wedded in the past due ’30s, the relationship broke down after she reached her boiling stage after a few months of mistreatment and threw acidity into her husband’s encounter. Arrested and attempted in courtroom, she was sentenced to three . 5 years in jail. Released after offering four a few months, she relocated to Athens quickly before the starting point of World Battle II. She backed herself, through the battle years, being a road musician and got an active function in the Greek level of resistance, offering copies of the Communist paper Rizospastis. Imprisoned on several events, she was frequently beaten and imprisoned on her behalf political beliefs. Uncovered by Tsitsánis in 1945, Bellou started showing up in Greek nightclubs with Tsitsánis associated her performing on piano. She continuing to collaborate with Tsitsánis until his loss of life in 1984. Bellou, who documented the to begin many 78 rpm recordings in 1948, battled through the repressive period from the Greek junta in 1950s and early ’60s. Her music, nevertheless, remained favored by learners and record enthusiasts. Beginning with some recordings for the Lyra label in 1966, Bellou reassumed her function as you of Greece’s best-loved performers. In 1975, she started dealing with such top-notch Greek composers as Dionysios Savopoulos. Regardless of the reputation she enjoyed being a vocalist, Bellou continuing to struggle in her personal life. A separate gambler, she dropped many fortunes at magic formula dice games. Almost impoverished in her old age, she was along with the Greek federal government, which brought her economic comfort and helped purchase her intensive medical expenditures. Succumbing to neck cancer two times before her 76th birthday, Bellou was supplied circumstances funeral on August 29, 1997.