Arleta ( el, Αρλέτα; 3 March 1945 – 8 August 2017; born Argyro-Nicoleta Tsapra, ) was a Greek musician, author and book illustrator.

Biography

Arleta was born in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

on 3 March 1945 and studied at the

Athens School of Fine Arts The Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA; el, Ανωτάτη Σχολή Καλών Τεχνών, ΑΣΚΤ, literally: Highest School of Fine Arts), is Greece's premier Art school whose main objective is to develop the artistic talents of its students ...

. She published her first album of her own compositions (''Η Αρλέτα τραγουδά'', ''Arleta sings'') in 1966 and became one of the leading figures of the

Greek New Wave Néo kýma ( el, Νέο Κύμα, , translated as "new wave") is a Greek music genre appeared during so called Greek New Wave movement in the mid-1960s which lasted about a decade. It was a mixture of éntekhno, entechno and Chanson, French chanso ...

during the 1960s. At the beginning of her career she worked with many well-known Greek composers like

Giannis Spanos Ioannes "Giannis" Spanos ( el, Ιωάννης "Γιάννης" Σπανός, ; 26 July 1934 – 30 October 2019), also transliterated as Yannis Spanos, was a Greek music composer and lyricist. In his early days as a musician he was also a piano ac ...

, George Kontogiorgos,

Manos Hatzidakis Manos Hatzidakis (also spelled Hadjidakis; el, Μάνος Χατζιδάκις; 23 October 1925 – 15 June 1994) was a Greek composer and theorist of Greek music, widely considered to be one of the greatest Greek composers and one of the most ...

and

Mikis Theodorakis Michail "Mikis" Theodorakis ( el, Μιχαήλ "Μίκης" Θεοδωράκης ; 29 July 1925 – 2 September 2021) was a Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works. He Film score, scored for the films ''Zorba the Greek (film) ...

. Her first great successes came with songs whose music was written by Lakis Papadopoulos and lyrics by Marianina Kriezi. She performed with great success in the Athens ''boîte'' scene. In 1997 she published a book, ''Από πού πάνε για την Άνοιξη'' (''How to Get to Spring''), which was based on her songwriting and included her own illustrations. On 11 February 2008, just a few minutes before a planned performance at

Volos Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...

, Arleta suffered a stroke, which left her in hospital for six months and partly paralysed her for a year. with recovery after a lengthy hospitalization and year of rehabilitation. In January 2017, she suffered another stroke and remained in hospital, where she died on 8 August 2017, aged 72.

Discography

* ''Τραγουδά η Αρλέτα'' (''Arleta sings'') (Lyra, 1966) * ''Αρλέτα Νο. 2'' (''Arleta No. 2'') (Lyra, 1967) * ''Στο Ρυθμό του Αγέρα'' (''In the Rhythm of the Wind'') (Lyra, 1968) * ''12+1 Τραγούδια του Μάνου Χατζιδάκι'' (''12+1 Songs of Manos Hatzidakis'') (Lyra, 1969) * ''Έξη Μέρες'' (''Six Days'') (Lyra, 1970) * ''Ταξιδεύοντας'' (''Travelling'') (Lyra, 1976) * ''Romancero Gitano'' (Lyra, 1978) * ''Ένα Καπέλο με Τραγούδια'' (''A Hat with Songs'') (Lyra, 1981) * ''Περίπου'' (''Almost'') (Lyra, 1984) * ''Τσάι Γιασεμιού'' (''Jasmine Tea'') (CBS, 1985) * ''Ζητάτε Να Σας Πω'' (''You Ask Me to Say to You'') (CBS, 1987) * ''Δέκα και μία νύχτες'' (''Ten and One Nights'') (CBS, 1989) * ''Εκτός Έδρας'' (''Away'') (CBS, 1989) * ''Άσε τα Κρυφά Κρυμμένα'' (''Let secrets remain hidden'') (Columbia, 1991) * ''Μετά Τιμής'' (''With Honour'') (Portrait, 1993) * ''Έμπορος Ονείρων'' (''Trader of Dreams'') (Ακτή, 1995) * ''Και Πάλι Χαίρετε'' (''Hello to You Again'') (Legend, 2009) * ''Demo'' (Lyra, 2010)

Illustrations

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

«Ο Μπαρμπα-Έντε» (Uncle Eddie's Moustache) – Children's Book (Οδυσσέας Editions, 1979; in Greek) *

Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (, ; rus, Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский, , vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ məjɪˈkofskʲɪj, Ru-Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.ogg, links=y; – 14 Apr ...

«Το Αλογάκι-Φωτιά» (The Fire Horsey) – Children's Book (Οδυσσέας Editions, 1986; in Greek)

References

1945 births 2017 deaths 20th-century Greek women singers Greek entehno singers Greek illustrators Greek women songwriters Singers from Athens Greek LGBT songwriters Greek LGBT singers 21st-century Greek LGBT people {{Greece-singer-stub

Biography

Discography

Illustrations

See also

References