Nana Mouskouri

A Voice - the Very Best Of Nana Mouskouri

Once during conversation about all the embarrassing moments of our childhood and what crap music we listened, friend and I mentioned Nana Mouskouri and both laughed upon remembering bespectacled, teacher-looking lady who was constantly on TV everywhere during 1970s, hands clasped as in prayer and all so pure, white and virginal that it just seemed so annoyingly sweet to us teenagers - something from that conversation stayed with me unconsciously much later when I found myself in a Athens CD shop when I found myself roaming around and being utterly unfamiliar with names of the singers, Mouskouri however was the only once I recognised. And so I decided to purchase this compilation that focused exclusively on her Greek recordings, from pre-international fame and beyond.

Its easy to be cynical about someone who seems so sincere that it provokes immediate reaction that this must be contrived (contradictory as it it) and since we are used to show business to be artificial, some of us assumed Mouskouri couldn't possibly be so immaculate in real life. I still remember my initial response to hearing the very first song here, where her young tender voice was so honestly pure-hearted that it actually embarrassed me. There was no doubt that girl caught on a record in 1959 was so clear and angelic that it must touch some deep spot in a listener and this strange connection between ear-and-heart is where Mouskouri build her life work on (as opposite to eye-and-ear). Very much like Barbra Streisand, Mouskouri was ugly ducking who could easily turn into a beautiful swan with pure magic and they both not only made themselves somehow glamorous in their own terms in process but appealed to millions around the world. It takes a particular skill for a unknown, impoverished girl from Greece to find her way into hearts of audiences from Australia to Canada and out of the millions she was the one, the rightful daughter of mythological Orpheus who could enchant demons who guarded the underworld.

For some reason I have always found Mouskouri's Greek recordings the most perfect ones, maybe because singing in her native language didn't sound as artificial as when she would later tackle any pop song from international repertoire. Sure, she was just fine with Paul Simon or Edith Piaf, but there was something in Greek music that we simply accept as part of her soul, while all those foreign covers were perhaps routine for someone who was multi-lingual. This is why I like this best from anything that I have ever heard of Nana Mouskouri. CD 1 is all about her very beginnings and its magical - Manos Hadjidakis, Kostas Yannidis and all those composers who found her their own Ella Fitzgerald for Greek songbooks (and believe me, these songs are still in repertoire of Greek musicians heard around). The voice was slightly different back than, somehow huskier and deeper but nevertheless very appealing. Around 1962/1963 Mouskouri spread her wings into different markets and left her native country so CD 2 collects selected Greek tracks recorded sporadically since than - they are fine, but not as half as exciting as the very beginnings because artist here is now already too sophisticated and mannered. The discovery here is choice from her all-Greek 1985 album "I endekati entoli " that is by far most interesting experiment in otherwise fairly mainstream and mild repertoire. Towards the end of compilation we can unfortunately witness the unavoidable effects on age to a once-impeccable instrument and my impression is that lady should have retired long before this became too obvious. 

That Nana Mouskouri still holds the record as one of the biggest-selling recording female artist of all times is a testament not only to millions of her faithful fans around the world, her immense appeal to different audiences from Australia to Canada and back, strong management who new how to market her, lady's multi-lingual skills and career that goes back to late 1950s but also to the curious fact that Mouskouri did it all without using any gimmicks and tricks pop stars are using today - in fact, her success is based exclusively on her voice and people truly responded to her "ugly ducking" story with greatest affections. To any uninformed new listener, Mouskouri could best described as dwarfed classically trained singer who - because of circumstances - turned to pop music, put Manos Hadjidakis and "Never on Sunday" on the map and ever since made some hugely impressive steps in multi-lingual markets as various as Germany, France, UK and Canada. 

Personally I always found her earliest Greek music the most interesting, since at the very start there was a sense of being at the right place in the right time, when Greek composers found her the best instrument to express their ideas. Everything that came after mid-1960s was kind of only slight variation of proved recipe, where singer would cover international hits in that innocent and virginal voice but she very rarely had her own original material. Not that anything was wrong with Mouskouri (who clearly had lot of integrity to hold her own against any suggestions to change her image) or with her voice which always was one of the loveliest instruments in pop music, its just that her multi-million selling records always turned out so mild and unadventurous that you can't help but wonder what would happen had she decided to do something unexpected or unusual just for a change. That is why I found her mid-1980s return to Greek composers much more satisfactory and experimental than any of her platinum and gold records collected here, where she sings covers.

"Passport" was a generous compilation of Mouskouri recordings from the time when she was at the top of the world, in late 1960s/early 1970s. If Barbra Streisand was reigning queen in USA, Mouskouri spread her wings over Europe where BBC TV shows introduced her to audiences who watched her weekly on small screens and she was doing everything from Greek originals to songs in Spanish, French and English to semi-classical pieces like 200 years old "Plasir d'Amour" that sounds as it was written for her. Moskouri could and did cover everything from Paul Simon to Edith Piaf and audiences apparently could never get enough of her recordings. Sure, all this success backlashed in a way that it made her uncool to younger audiences who would probably prefer artist to starve unrecognized instead of being such ubiquitous presence but Mouskouri was too busy touring around the world to ever stop and think about effects of over-exposure, in fact she prepares another tour even at this moment. Listening to this compilation its easy to get swept away in sheer beauty of her voice, though I still find her the most interesting in Greek material above all. 

Before she became a world-known pop phenomenon, politician and UNICEF ambassador, Nana Mouskouri was actually classically trained singer at the Athens Conservatoire from where she was famously expelled for moonlighting in jazz clubs around the town, after eight years of studying. It sounds terribly cruel and unnecessary dogmatic decision against young girl who probably thought it was the end of the world for her (specially as parents could not afford having both daughters trained and decided on her instead of the other equally talented sister) but luckily, Greek pop composers like Manos Hadjidakis found her voice the perfect instrument for their ideas and she eventually became very successful megastar indeed. Trough the decades Mouskouri established extremely strong following around the world, serving mostly international hits sung by that sweetly virginal voice and even made a conscious statement with holding on to consistently light pop material and those glasses, refusing to bow to any outside pressure which is quite remarkable in face of what we know about the business.

At the age of 60 Mouskouri returned to her classical roots with album consisting exclusively of classical material - it sounds like a interesting idea to hear her versions of Mozart, Bizet, Albinoni and Rossini but honestly by now singer was too settled in easy-listening mannerisms so everything she does sounds very much alike. I won't go into the fact that voice couldn't possibly be like in younger days because this is expected, perhaps it should have simply been done some twenty years earlier. Mouskouri approaches this material with her trademark seriousness and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it (orchestration and arrangements are excellent) except that it would probably appeal not so much to lovers of classical music as to her fans who might even get a nice introduction to something outside of the box. 

When we read about all those millions of records that Nana Mouskouri so successfully sold around the world from Greece to Hong Kong and back, I can't help but to feel its a bit cheat, because as much as lady was obviously hard-working and regularly in studios, it seems that half of those albums were compilations from already published tracks. Perhaps nothing wrong with that, except that we are still talking about rehashed and repackaged material.

"Un Canadien Errant" is another of those compilations, this time focused on Canadian authors that Mouskouri covered trough the years - since that virginal voice easily could (and did) sing in absolutely any language of the world and lady had already enchanted audiences in France, Canada was obvious next step. The very first Canadian track on this compilation dates back to 1966 and the rest is pulled from various 1970s, 1980s and 1990s albums, with Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" from 2011 being newest recording. For the majority of the material here, Mouskouri sounds her usual self, equally at home in English and French, crooning gently and sweetly songs by Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Sylvia Tyson and others, all very mild and embodiment of easy-listening. Nothing wrong with easy-listening except that this light pop can be a bit of overkill in such quantity (19 songs!) so I would suggest a careful dosage. Like everybody else, Mouskouri eventually fell out of fashion and its just a matter of time before we get another virginal ugly duckling erupting on international stage, since everything always comes up in circles. Maybe somebody in the future will remember that it has already been done.