Interviews
Previous Australian Tours -
"Nana Mouskouri's light is similar to the stars ... "
"It is sheltered from the ebbing waves of time and fashion that Nana Mouskouri has built up her world of songs," writes the critic Lucien Nicolas. "More than ever do you find in them an immaterial purity, an infinite of quietness and wisdom, a wonderful balance of grace and depth. Nana Mouskouri's light is similar to the stars which take many years to reach us."
Q: You are considered as very gentle, but gentleness not to be misconstrued for weakness. Is it true that a reception organised in your honour in Germany nearly turned out badly?
A: Everything ended well, but during the reception I had noticed a man who had produced a film in Greece and had left without paying all the local people he had hired. I informed my hosts right away and told them that I would not sit at the same table as this decants producer. They took no notice, so I left the table where there were important people and had lunch at a separate table with my husband and a few friends though the reception was organised in my honour. It was rather amusing situation.
Q: How was your second meeting with Belafonte?
A: He had heard me in a tavern in Athens. A few years later he invited me to come to New York. I was asked to rehearse in a certain room, with four musicians at my disposal, then when ready Mr Belafonte was to see me as he had only one hour to spare me, he was leaving on a trip. In reality, Belafonte gave me much more of his time than this, but, as it had been many years since he had heard me, he preferred to have me think that he was in a great hurry in case I disappointed him. These were clever tactics, all the more so when I later discovered that he had been listening to me during the rehearsal ... with the 40 persons that compose his staff.
Q: Is it true that you have problems with your vocal chords?
A: "Let us say that I am more vulnerable than others. I have one chord which does not work properly. It is the right one, It is very thick whereas the left one is normal. This is why you may hear the air go through when I sing. Once I was condemned to three months' absolute silence. As I could not speak I wrote on a book, like Beethoven", says she smilingly. "For my convalescence, I had the right to exercise my voice only with vowels ... it is a medical rule after a long loss of voice."
Q: I imagine you must have a kind of flying time record. Do you have any idea how many miles you have covered?
A: I have not added them up ... surely more than 1,000,000 kms. I never stop. Fortunately my husband accompanies me everywhere as he leads the band, otherwise I would never see him!
Q: From a professional angle, have you been bothered by the wearing of glasses?
A: I find it very normal to wear them. Without them I feel naked. Since being myopic and astigmatic I have worn glasses ever since I was 12, but when I started singing, let us say professionally, stage people wanted to wear contact lenses. I could not understand this decision. As I am not obstinate, I obeyed, and then it was realised that there is no use going against nature.
Q: What difference do you make between your existence as a globetrotter and your years spent in Greece?
A: I am fortunate to see new countries, to become acquainted with people, but as I have always been singing, nothing seems to me very different.
Q: How did you learn all the languages you speak?
A: Do not ask me, I cannot explain it. Maybe because the geographical location of Greece facilitates things and then I have travelled so extensively during the past years.
Q: How does it feel to be a star?
A: You must ask one to get the answer. I am satisfied to sing, as at the beginning, in my taverns of Athens.
In October, 1967, Nana is consecrated by Paris at the Olympia. Her triumph will remain in the annals of this great music-hall. When, after dozens of curtain calls, Nana came back n stage to sing "Le Temps Des Cerises", the standing audience listened with devotion before bursting out in an unprecedented ovation.
In September and October, 1968, Nana produces six colour television shows in London, which very rapidly are bought the world over, another evidence of hr international prestige. On October 29, 1968, again in London, 8,000 guests, amongst whom the London high society, greet her with cheers at the Royal Albert Hall.
Ever since, every year, she goes back to her English audience for a new 45-minute colour show. There is no one over there who ignores that her shows attract the greatest percentage of listening audience for the BBC.
In 1969, on January 13, during the musicorama at the Olympia, she holds her public under her spell for 3 hours and is cheered by an endless ovation. Then she triumphantly tours Canada and the United States ending on March 18 with a gala at Carnegie Hall in New York.
In April of the same year, her tour of England is just as triumphant. Then, on the 23rd, she is the "star" of the closing evening of the Cannes Festival in Eurovision.
In June, she appears in a one-hour television show which will be bought by televisions all over the world. As guests of honour she had: Franco Corelli and her old friend Harry Belafonte.
In October, 1969, after a tour of France, she goes back to the Olympia where she finds an even more enthusiastic public, then goes back to the United States who ask after her. |