Nana Mouskouri
Live, Herodes Atticus Theatre, Athens, July 23, 1984
I think it may have been Christmas circa 1983 or so when my second x — also known as Bill Barry, who is a frequent contributor to Gravel Roads — played “Old Toy Trains, Little Toy Tracks” on the stereo. We were sticky with cinnammon rolls I baked every December 25th morning (from scratch), and happy, having imbibed a few rather hefty eggnoggs (also made from scratch). Our daughter was happier than both of us, having only had the rolls and finding two Cabbage Patch dolls (flown in from Toronto because there weren’t any locally) under the tree.
Who embodied that angelic voice I was listening to? Why, it’s Nana, he said. Surely you’ve heard of Nana? Well, no, I hadn’t, Mr. ‘Oh Lord, It’s Hard to be Humble‘.
Now thirty years since, I’m just as enraptured as I was that Christmas morning.
Nάνα may be from Greece
But Canada has first dibs should she decide to seek political refuge. (She did relinquish her Greek pension in an attempt with every other good citizen to revive the economy over there). And in 2013 she was awarded an honorary degree from McGilll University, Montreal, Canada.
Although I adore Celine Dion, there’s nothing like Nana. Streisand doesn’t even register on my listening scale. (All hate mail more than welcome and truly appreciated).
Babs should hum a few notes from Nana’s songsheet. She’s sold over 300 million records worldwide, sung fluently in Greek, English, Spanish, Welsh, Mandarin, Hebrew, and, oh yes, Maori.
So where is she now?
Born in 1934, Nana retired from the music scene in 2008. A pacifist, she served as a Member of the European Parliament in the early 90’s from which she later resigned. In the fall of 1993 she was appointed UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, because in her words,
I always try to see things through children’s eyes,’ she wrote in 1997, ‘Are they happy? Sad? What do they need?’
She recorded two more CDs in 2011 and then performed a “one-off” concert in Berlin to commemorate the 50th anniversary of “The White Rose of Athens,” the little tune that propelled her into the international limelight back in 1961. Nana is on the road, as we speak, for her “Happy Birthday Tour 2013-2014,” appearing much to the delight of her fans also in the US and Canada.
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