Maria Katinari ( el, Μαρία Κατινάρη) is a Greek actress, singer, and lyricist. She was born in

Chania Chania ( el, Χανιά ; vec, La Canea), also spelled Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno and west of Heraklion. The muni ...

on Crete as the oldest daughter of

Antonios Katinaris Antonios Katinaris ( el, Αντώνιος Κατινάρης) (1931 – 28 October 1999) was a Greek musician. He was born in Chania, Crete, the first son of a refugee family from Asia Minor. Since his earliest years, he demonstrated his interest ...

Early years

Due to her father being a well-known, very successful

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

and a highly gifted

Bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

-soloist and her mother Maria Rippi being a singer from a musical family, Katinari got early-stage experience. In a short phase of her juvenile rebellion against the

rembetiko 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 ...

tradition of the family, she joined a rock music group at the age of 13. Three years later, she began to travel during school-holidays as a singer through Europe. She performed live at clubs in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. In

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

she studied kinesiology and dance, whereby she financed her studies and living costs with her music. Back 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 a ...

, she took acting classes, studied classical and jazz dance. After some success as an actress on Athens' stages, her restless soul drove her to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

, where she studied classical and traditional Arab music and succeeded also interpreting Arab music.

Musical work

Maria Katinari is particularly well known in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

for her live concerts and television appearances. Their discography is limited so far to three personal albums. Beyond them she took part in successful music productions. In 2006, she announced a new album with recompilations of Antonios Katinaris' well-known songs. She has worked on Greek Live music stages with well-known Greek artists like

Stratos Dionysiou Stratos Dionysiou ( el, Στράτος Διονυσίου; November 8, 1935 – May 11, 1990) was a Greek laika singer. Early life Dionysiou was born in Nigrita, Serres prefecture, to Asia Minor refugees Angelos and Anastasia Dionysiou. At age 13, ...

, George Zambetas, Dimitris Mitropanos,

Giannis Parios Yiannis Parios ( el, Γιάννης Πάριος) is a Greek singer, with a career spanning five decades. Biography Yiannis Parios was born Ioannis Varthakouris (Ιωάννης Βαρθακούρης) on the island of Paros. He made his firs ...

Panos Gavalas Panagiotis (Panos) Gavalas (Greek: Πάνος Γαβαλάς; October 26, 1926 – December 3, 1988) was a Greek singer. Discography References *''The first version of the article is translated from the article at the Greek Wikipedia (Main pa ...

Poly Panou Poly, from the Greek πολύς meaning "many" or "much", may refer to: Businesses * China Poly Group Corporation, a Chinese business group, and its subsidiaries: ** Poly Property, a Hong Kong incorporated Chinese property developer ** Poly Real ...

, Keti Grei,

Rita Sakellariou Rita Sakellariou ( el, Ρίτα Σακελλαρίου) (born 22 November 1934, Sitia, Crete, Greece – died 6 August 1999, Athens, Greece) was a Greek singer. Biography Her mother originated in Kalymnos and her father in Izmir. As a child, he ...

Anna Vissi Anna Vissi ( el, Άννα Βίσση, , ; born 20 December 1957), is a Greek Cypriot singer and songwriter. She studied music at conservatories and performed locally before moving to the professional scene in Athens, in 1973, where she signed ...

, Babis Goles, Georgios Ksintaris,

Babis Tsertos Haralambos (Babis) Tsertos (Greek: Μπάμπης Τσέρτος; born October 27, 1956) is a Greek musician. His sister is the singer Nadia Karagianni and his father was also a musician who played the mandolin. At the age of 17, he settled perm ...

, Antonis Repanis and others. With the musical direction of

Vasilis Dimitriou Vassilios or Vassileios, also transliterated Vasileios, Vasilios, Vassilis or Vasilis ( el, Βασίλειος or Βασίλης), is a Greek given name, the origin of Basil. In ancient/medieval/Byzantine context, it is also transliterated as Basile ...

and the National Orchestra of Greek Music by Stavros Xarhakos, she also took a successful concert journey through Greece. She worked on several extremely successful music productions well-known Greek artists with hits. Her success CD appeared in the label M.B.I. "If I a were a man" ("Αν ήμουν άντρας") deals with the deliberated women of the time between world wars in music apart. The increasing influence of the women on the society, in combination with the influence of

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

's refugees is told with a contemporary Rembetiko music journey.

External links

Official webpage with mp3 songs

Greek Rempetiko Music Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katinari, Maria Actresses from Crete 21st-century Greek women singers Greek rebetiko singers Greek stage actresses Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Chania Singers from Crete