Chrisavgi (Kristi) Stassinopoulou (Athens, 20 January 1956) is a Greek singer, lyricist, and fiction writer. A native Athenian, she is an internationally known artist of the world music circuit. She is accompanied by composer, arranger, co-producer and multi-instrumentalist Stathis Kalyviotis. Their music combines traditional Greek rhythms and sounds, Byzantine vocal lines,

rebetiko Rebetiko ( el, ρεμπέτικο, ), plural rebetika ( ), occasionally transliterated as rembetiko or rebetico, is a term used today to designate originally disparate kinds of urban Greek music which have come to be grouped together since the s ...

music,

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

,AllMusic
biography of the artist ambience and

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

. Her work has been compared to that of

Hedningarna Hedningarna (''The Heathens'') is a Swedish, and for some years partly Finnish, folk music band that mixes electronics and rock with elements from old Scandinavian folk music. Their music features yoik or juoiggus, a traditional Sami form of so ...

Grace Slick Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing; October 30, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter, artist, and painter. Slick was a key figure in San Francisco's early psychedelic music scene in the mid-1960s. With a music career spanning four decades, s ...

and

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

Studies and early years

Kristi Stassinopoulou has studied acting and drama at the school of Theatro Tehnis,

Karolos Koun Karolos Koun ( el, Κάρολος Κουν; September 13, 1908 in Bursa – February 14, 1987 in Athens) was a prominent Greek theater director, widely known for his lively staging of ancient Greek plays. Biography Koun was born in Bursa, Ottoman ...

and at the theatre-school of Petros Katselis. In 1978, while still a student, she participated in an audition for the Greek production of the

rock opera A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been ad ...

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with ...

'' by

Tim Rice Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ' ...

and

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, ...

and was selected from 300 professionals and amateur singers for the role of

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...

; that was her debut as a professional singer.Mondomix
, WOMEX showcases 2002 In 1983 Stassinopoulou represented Greece in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

in Munich, where she interpreted the song of Antonis Plessas, '' Mou Les''. At that year she was picked for the role of

Juan Perón Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine Army general and politician. After serving in several government positions, including Minister of Labour and Vice President of a military dictatorship, he was elected P ...

's young mistress in

's and

's rock opera ''Evita'', produced in Athens by

Aliki Vougiouklaki Aliki Stamatina Vougiouklaki (Greek: Αλίκη Σταματίνα Βουγιουκλάκη Greek pronunciation: ˈlici stamaˈtina vuʝuˈklaci 20 July 1934 – 23 July 1996) was a Greek cinema and theater actress, singer and theatrical producer ...

, who was playing the main role of

Evita Peron Evita may refer to: Arts * ''Evita'' (1996 film), a 1996 American musical drama film based on the 1976 concept album of the same name * ''Evita'' (2008 film), a documentary about Eva Péron * ''Evita'' (album), a concept album released in 1976 a ...

Collaboration with artists of the Greek music scene

Stassinopoulou has also collaborated with several composers, songwriters and singers. In the 1980s and until the early 1990s, Stassinopoulou performed and toured together with songwriters/singers/composers: Lakis Papadopoulos (Lakis-me-ta-psila-Rever), Demos Moutsis, Nikos Portokaloglou-Fatme, George Pilali. She also collaborated with

Pavlos Sidiropoulos Pavlos Sidiropoulos ( el, Παύλος Σιδηρόπουλος; 27 July 1948 – 6 December 1990) was a Greek musician noted for combining rock music with Greek music. He is considered one of the pillars of Greek rock due to his involvement so ...

, a most legendary figure of the Greek underground rock scene. Her first record ''Kristi Stassinopoulou'' was released in 1986 by Adelfi Falirea. Composer/singer Stavros Papastavrou co-wrote the songs of this record together with Kleon Antoniou (of the ethno-jazz band

Mode Plagal Mode Plagal is an originally Greek group who perform traditional Greek music blended with jazz, funk and other international styles. They have been described as "the preeminent ambassadors of the much-maligned vernacular Greek music in the 21st cen ...

) and Takis Barberis. For her second LP record, ''Sti Limni me tis Paparounes'' (By the lake with the Poppies), she collaborated with songwriters/composers Panagiotis Kalantzopoulos and Evanthia Reboutsika and lyricist Afroditi Rayla. The record was released by Lyra in 1993.

Collaboration with Stathis Kalyviotis

In 1989, Stassinopoulou met multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Stathis Kalyviotis, member -among others- of the ''Anipofori'' (The Unbearables), one of the first Greek punk bands in the early 80s, the first to do their songs in Greek lyrics and not in English, as was the habit in the Greek indie-underground-rock scene of the times.Punk.gr
translation of 'Ήταν από τα πρώτα, αν όχι το πρώτο, καθαρόαιμο garage/punk συγκρότημα με Ελληνικό στίχο, την περίοδο που μόλις είχε έρθει το punk στην Ελλάδα.' Together with Stathis Kalyviotis, drummer Vangelis Vekios and guitarist Kostis Anagnostopoulos they formed, ''Selana'' (sometimes cited as ''Selena''), a band with an ethnopunk sound that never made an album, but became cult, often performing also as the support group of late

. In 1997, Stassinopoulou and Kalyviotis produced their first album ''Ifantokosmos'' which was released by the independent label Thesis. Their next album, ''Echotropia'', was released in 1999. It was distributed in Greece, N. America and Brasil and was the first Greek album to reach the Top 10 position in the World Music Charts Europe. In July 2000, Stassinopoulou, Kalyviotis and their band were the first Greeks to perform at the International Jazz Festival in Montrea

on its 21st edition. Their first North American appearance took place in July 2002 and it was organized by Dan Berhman. There they played a.o. at the

Winnipeg Folk Festival The Winnipeg Folk Festival is a nonprofit charitable organization with an annual summer folk music festival held in Birds Hill Provincial Park, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The festival features a variety of artists and music from around the ...

in Canada, the Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC, the Central Park Summer StageFestival in New York. In May 2001, she participated in the ''Greece in Britain'' series of concerts at the Barbican Theatre of London; the late

Charlie Gillett Charles Thomas Gillett (; 20 February 1942 – 17 March 2010) was a British radio presenter, musicologist, and writer, mainly on rock and roll and other forms of popular music. He was particularly noted for his influential book ''The Sound of t ...

, who was in the audience, hosted Stassinopoulou and Kalyviotis live in his Saturday BBC Radio 3 show, ''The Sound of the World''. In 2002, ''The Secrets of the Rocks'' was released in Greece by Hitch Hyke Records. In October 2002 Stassinopoulou, Kalyviotis and their band played at Womex in Essen, Germany. In January 2003 ''The Secrets of the Rocks'' reached number 1 on the World Music Charts Europe, went number 2 in February and remained for 6 months in total in the top-10 list. The album was also released in N. America, Spain the U.K. In March 2003, Stassinopoulou was the cover story of the world music UK magazine, fRoots,fRoots
cover story March 2003 interviewed by Ian Anderson. In October 2003 she played in Union Chappell, London, in the ''Europe in Union'' series of concerts organized by fRoots. In August and September 2004, Stassinopoulou and Kalyviotis toured for one-month tour in 17 cities in Brazil, Mostra de Artes Mediterraneo, Roteiro Verde 2005. In 2007, ''Taxidoscopio'' was released in Spain, Germany, Japan and Greece and was included in the top-15 of WOMEX World Music CDs of the year. Together with their band, or as a duo, Stassinopoulou and Kalyviotis have appeared on several music festivals and clubs in Europe, N. America and Brazil. In 2012, ''Greekadelia'' was released worldwide by World Music Network/Riverboat. The album was launched at the Green Note, Camden, London on 24 June. In the

World Music Charts Europe In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

of August 2012 the album was number one charts hit.

Other activities

Stassinopoulou has published two books: Her first book ''Epta Fores stin Amorgo'' (Seven Times in Amorgos) Biblionet
the record for ''Epta Fores stin Amorgo'' in the central database of all Greek publications containing seven mystery

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

set on the Cycladic island of

Amorgos Amorgos ( el, Αμοργός, ; ) is the easternmost island of the Cyclades island group and the nearest island to the neighboring Dodecanese island group in Greece. Along with 16 neighboring islets, the largest of which (by land area) is Niko ...

, was published in 1993 by Kastaniotis Editions. Her second book ''Pyrini Romfaia'' (Fiery Sward) Biblionet
the record for ''Pyrini Romfaia'' in the central database of all Greek publications is a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

of magic set in Athens in the early 1990s and was published in 1995 by Livanis Editions. She has also been writing and publishing short-stories and articles mainly on music, in magazines and fanzines. Stassinopoulou has also worked as a radio producer, presenting her own radio shows in the Athenian-based radios: Sky 100,4 (1989–1992), Kanali 15 (1992-3), En Lefko (1998-9). . Stassinopoulou also supplied voices of

Ariel Ariel may refer to: Film and television *Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award * ''Ariel'' (film), a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki * ''ARIEL Visual'' and ''ARIEL Deluxe'', 1989 and 1991 anime video series based on the novel series ...

in the 1991 Greek dub of ''

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a h ...

'', Belle in the Greek dub of ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' ( ...

'', Shanti in the Greek dub of ''

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, ...

'',

Bambi ''Bambi'' is a 1942 American animated drama film directed by David Hand (supervising a team of sequence directors), produced by Walt Disney and based on the 1923 book ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'' by Austrian author and hunter Felix Salten. ...

's mother in the Greek dub of ''

'', and she voiced a supporting character in the Greek dub of ''

The Rescuers Down Under ''The Rescuers Down Under'' is a 1990 American animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 29th Disney animated feature film and the second movie to be produced during the Disney Ren ...

''.

Discography

Notes

External links

Website

MySpace site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stassinopoulou, Kristi 1956 births Living people 20th-century Greek actresses 21st-century Greek women singers 20th-century Greek novelists 20th-century Greek women writers 20th-century short story writers Actresses from Athens Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1983 Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Greece 20th-century Greek women singers Greek mystery writers Greek novelists Greek voice actresses Greek women novelists Greek women short story writers Greek short story writers Singers from Athens Wrasse Records artists