Sotiria Bellou (Σωτηρία Μπέλλου)

Yesterday, the first day of our story concerning Greek lesbian singers, we discussed one of the leading ladies of Demotiko. Today we will discuss one of the leading ladies of Laiko.

Sotiria Bellou (Σωτηρία Μπέλλου) was born in 1921 in Chalchis, a town not far from Athens, to a middle-class family. Her favorite grandfather was a priest. He was the one who introduced her to Byzantine music, the basis of Greek church music. This has greatly influenced her singing style.

In her teens she decided that she would be a singer, but her family wouldn't think of it. So, at 17, she left home and went to Athens. Life in the big city was difficult, especially for a young girl alone, so when a bus conductor called Vangelis Trimouras (Βαγγέλης Τριμούρας) proposed marriage, she accepted.

The marriage lasted only six months. They were fighting constantly and things escalated to the point that Sotiria once used vitriol on her husband's face. She was given 3.5 years, but was released from jail after 6 months for good behavior.

She returned to her parents' home. She was, however, now considered to be the black sheep of the family. She received daily beatings from her father and was restricted in her movements. Not being able to suffer this for long, she left once again for Athens. The date was 28th October 1940, which was the day that the war between Greece and the forces of Axis (Germany and Italy) began. In a few months Athens was under German occupation. Life for the next few years would become a lot harder. In the WInter of 1941, more than 300 000 people, many children among them, died from hunger and the cold. Bellou got by doing odd jobs and occasionally singing at eating places for her food. She was also involved in the resistance movement.

A while after Greece was freed, Bellou was introduced to one of the top (perhaps the greatest) Greek composers of Laiko, Vassilis Tsitsanis (Βασίλης Τσιτσάνης). Tsitsanis was instantly impressed by her voice and got her in the recording studio with him, as well as in the clubs that he was playing. Their artistic relationship would be a long and prolific one. Not that there weren't fights, they were both hot-headed people with strong egos. However, they would always make up, eventually.

After one of such fights, Tsitsanis kicked her out of the club that they were working and replaced her with Marika Ninou (Μαρίκα Νίνου) who was already a star. Ninou demanded that while she was working with Tsitsanis, no other woman would work with them, which meant that Bellou was out, even after she made up with Tsitsanis. She was furious with Ninou and went looking for her. She found her in a café where musicians used to hang out and she beat the sh*t out of her, forcing her to spend a few days in the hospital. She definitely was a fiery character.

We've been talking a lot and not listening to music. Let me fix that. First, a song written by Tsitsanis called Cloudy Sunday (Συννεφιασμένη Κυριακή), which was inspired by the execution on a Sunday morning of a group of resistance fighters by the nazis. It is considered to be one of the best (if not the best) Laiko song of all-time.

We Seperated One Evening (Χωρίσαμε Ένα Δειλινό) is a song from the late 40s.

Morning Comes And Then Night Comes (Ξημερώνει Και Βραδιάζει) was a love song - of sorts. It says, I love you like crazy, if you're faithful to me I'll spend all my money on you, but if you're not, then I'll kill you and happily go to jail for it.

The above three songs were all written by Tsitsanis. Bellou also sang great songs from other composers. Here are three of them.

Chadjikyriakeio (Χατζηκυριάκειο) was a building in Pireas (the port city adjacent to Athens) which housed homeless young girls. It was circled by mostly (but not exclusively) men, who were hoping to get lucky with one of these girls. Around it places serving wine and snacks were built, so that the "suitors" would be well fed while they were pursuing the girls.

One Evening You Called Me A Bum (Αλήτη Μ' Είπες Μιά Βραδιά) is another good song in this genre, underlying the pride these people had concerning the derisive comments from people of the upper classes.

Dawn In A Minor Key (Το Μινόρε Της Αυγής) is one of the greats. It's a pessimistic song, but it's not sad.

In the early 60s, younger singers were taking over and Bellou's career reached a low point. She re-invented herself as the muse of Rock stars. During the military dictatorship (1967-1974), Dionysis Savvopoulos (Διονύσης Σαββόπουλος), (remember him from yesterday?), wrote a song called Zeymbekiko (Ζεϊμπέκικο) which was a veiled attack on the dictatorship. He originally recorded it solo, but was then inspired to record it as a duet with Bellou. This version became a Greek classic.

In 1981 she recorded You Say Nothing (Δε Λες Κουβέντα) with another famous Greek composer who was more Rock oriented, Dimos Moutsis (Δήμος Μούτσης). The song is an opaque comment on Greece's post-dictatorship political confusion.

Bellou was a passionate woman: she would have tempestuous affairs with women and she would spend a lot of money on them. She was also addicted to gambling, so, when in 1993 she was hospitalized for respiratory failure (and was diagnosed with throat cancer soon after), her money ran out. Throat cancer cost her her voice, so she couldn't make money by singing any more. She would often go out in the streets, selling her old cassettes, in order to make some money. It was sad.

The cancer eventually defeated her: she died in 1997. She was 76.