Franco Syriani

[Hany Hayek]

Here is a Greek song, hope you like it


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IwZ1MamLFk

[billhay4]

I do.
Bill

[Hany Hayek]

Thanks Bill. There is not much Greek music around here :(

[Joel Glassman]

Franco Syriani looks like a person's name there, but in translation: "Francosyriani", means a Syros girl of 'Frankish' origin. 'Frankish' is a colloquialism used widely in Greece to denote western european influence. Syros is home to a concentrated population of Greek Catholics, probably a result of an early Venetian/Italian presence. Maybe explaining the presence of mandolin there. "Francosyriani" is also the name of a very popular greek 'rembetiko' song from the 50's or 60's.

[Hany Hayek]

I am half Greek from my mother's side and the reason I learned the song, I was trying to learn Greek from song lyrics.
Should be an easy way to learn a language.

Here is the story of this song as found on the net:
Fragosyriani means Catholic girl from the Greek island of Syros. The song was written in 1935 when Vamvakaris visited the island of Syros for the second time.
The island of Syros has many Catholic residents, which are called Francs by the Greeks - a remain of older times.
It is said that, when Vamvakaris was playing music close to the beach, he saw a woman there, the one referred to in the song. When Vamvakaris returned to Athens, he created the song Frangosyriani.
Markos Vamvakaris was not certain that this woman was Catholic, and this woman never learned that this famous song was actually written for her.
This woman from Syros inspired a classic song, Fragosyriani, one of the most known rembetika songs, created by Vamvakaris, a Greek composer who introduced and developed the rembetika songs in Greece.