GREECE: World renowned diva Nana Mouskouri gives final performance

Record ID: 711711

  • Title: GREECE: World renowned diva Nana Mouskouri gives final performance
  • Date: 30th July 2008
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF MOUSKOURI SINGING ON STAGE
  • Embargoed: 14th August 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA6TDLR1QM5Y15QCAQZJE3RVGVA
  • Story Text: After 50 years of song international diva Nana Mouskouri gave her last stage performance in Athens, choosing the country of her birth and one of the most beautiful ancient theatres to say her final goodbye on Wednesday (July 23).
    The sold out crowd erupted in cheers and applause, giving Mouskouri a standing ovation as she stepped out onto the marbles of the five thousand seat Herod Atticus ancient theatre below the Acropolis, in her trademark black glasses.
    "I feel very lucky to be here, that I will be able to hear her in her final performance," said one audience member.
    "I love her and I respect her as an artist and as a person. It is an honour and joy for us that she has represented Greece for decades,"
    said another.
    Her repertoir included the songs that rocketed her to number one charts worldwide, as well as those that began her career in Greece.
    Among the crowd was Greece's prime minister and the mayors of Berlin, Paris and Luxembourg who came for the performance.
    The concert began with a video montage flashing back over her long career.
    Mouskouri began a four year Farewell Tour in 2004, visiting 85 cities in Europe, North and South America, Canada, and Asia.
    The 73 year old artist decided to stop performing while her voice was still pleasing to audiences, she told Reuters Television, and leave the field open to the younger generation. She also mused she will not miss the stage fright.
    "Beautiful things or bad things they always have an end, and so nothing lasts forever. And I thought it would be about time for me to leave the stage that I have lived for so many years, for this stage, I have dreamed, all my life has happened through that stage. And it is also a conscience that I have, that I have been known like singing in a certain way and my fear is to lose this, this way of singing which will disappoint a lot of people, also. So so, it it's, there are a lot of things together that I really don't want to, it's not that I abandon the singing or I don't, will never sing in my life anymore, no. But I will not go on tours anymore. I don't want to have this, this fear all the time when you go on stage, this stage fright, 'Will it be okay? Will the people be happy?' You know I have exchanged some wonderful moments with the audience," Mouskouri said.
    Born in 1934 as Ioanna Mouskouri on the island of Crete, she began singing at a young age after moving to Athens with her family and attending the Athens Conservatory. She sang in her first Greek music festival at 25.
    Since then she never looked back with her career taking her around the world.
    She is one of the world's highest selling female recording artists, according to her official biography. She has recorded 1,500 songs in seven languages, sold more than 300 million discs worldwide, has more than 350 gold and platinum albums, and has received several awards.
    Her fans have described her as angelic, and a songbird, with a repertoir that has included country, folk, jazz, opera, pop and world music.
    She has toured with Harry Belafonte, recorded with Quincy Jones and Julio Iglesias, and Bob Dylan wrote a song for her. She has topped the charts in Germany, Britain and France, and still after 50 years she sang to sell-out crowds during her Farewell Tour.
    Mouskouri said she never expected her career to last as long as it did.
    "It was like a dream, everything happened like a fairy tale. I mean, only thing I wanted was to sing and so many things happened with me, it's fantastic. So I am really very grateful for what happened and in fact this tour, it was much more, I could stop without saying anything but it was the opportunity to say thank you to the people. I wouldn't really go without saying thank you because thanks to the audience I have been around for so many years because they listen to me."
    Mouskouri has dabbled in other professions as well during her career.
    She presented a series on the BBC in 1968, became a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF in 1993, while also playing her hand at politics in 1994 when she was elected to the EU parliament.
    Mouskouri said she now wants to involve herself with humanitarian causes, as well as give advice to young singers possibly through classes, and looks forward to spending more time with her family.
    Mouskouri has two adult children, Nicolas and Helene from her first marriage to George Petsilas, and is now also a grandmother. She later divorced and married her producer husband, Andre Chapelle, in 2003. They live in Switzerland.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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