Stasinopoulou Kristi

Kristi Stassinopoulou was born in Athens into a traditional Greek orthodoxe family. She spent the most time of her holidays and weekends of her childhood in the dozy town of Kalamata on the Pelepones in the south of Greece, where church music and byzantine chorale was still predominantly cultivated. Her brother opened her ears for music from all over the world with his self-made short wave radios: Oum Kalthoum from Egypt, Turkish arabesque music from the Bosphorus and Balkans sounds, Patti Smith, classical music and Velvet Underground - nothing she didn't listen to ! In the late 60's Hippies from all over Europe drove in to Greece. Their music, the multicolored cothes and their long hair impressed Kristi. This athmosphere inpired her to the first experiences in amateur student bands and finally to study music. She discovered and became enthusiastic for the traditional Greek music. But those had been abused by the military junta to propaganda purposes and had a strong nationalistic image, similar to the German folk music after War II and abuse by the Nazis.