Athena Andreadis

Singer/songwriter, Athena Andreadis

Where you live:

I live in London.

Your roots:

I was born in London, grew up in Greece, and then returned to England to study. My parents are from Thessaloniki but my grandparents and my great-grand parents came from various places like Constantinople, East Thrace, Pontos, Epirus, even Alexandria…

Since I was born in London I spoke English first, but my family returned to Greece when I was quite young; my parents thought it was a shame for me to lose that so I went to a bilingual school in Thessaloniki and grew up speaking both languages.

As a young child, did you ever have dreams/aspirations of singing? Did you see yourself in the future being a singer?

I’ve been singing since I was a little girl. When I was about seven, I made a promise to myself that my life would be immersed in music and singing. I was self-taught for years, but during university (at Bath, England) I met my first singing teacher while doing an internship in the USA in New York, and then went on to study (jazz and classical voice) in London.

How did you get the word out about your music when you were starting out?

I did many concerts, gigs, traveling from town to town, performing at concert halls and festivals all around the UK and then word of mouth spread I guess. Many journalists seemed to like my music and the BBC was very supportive. The internet helped a lot too, initially through my website athenaandreadis and then also through other websites like myspace.

You have a relatively large fan base in the UK. Outside England, where do you get the most support from?

People from Greece, the US and Canada have been particularly supportive and encouraging. But I also get e-mails and requests from people from all over the world. It’s wonderful how the internet has enabled artists to reach out to so many.

Prior to your UK tour in 2006, where did you perform?

I performed at many festivals in the UK including the Big Chill, Tower Jazz Festival and Womad, as well as venues like the Union Chapel and the Southbank Centre in London.

How many cities/venues did you visit in 2006?

I think it was 12 cities and about 16 venues and festivals. We’re on tour at the moment and we’re performing at another 12 cities/venues. It’s great to see how differently the audiences react in the various venues and places we visit. A performance is very much affected by and created with the audience and the communication and chemistry between us.

2007 is turning out to be a great year for you with another full tour of the UK. How does it feel to have been accepted so fast by so many?

Making my debut album was a great experience as my two backgrounds came together – my British background and my Greek roots – not only in the music and my songs but also in the recording process.

My music is influenced by both cultures; the lyrics are in English but Greek elements are there in the music and the overall atmosphere of the record. Lyrics are very important to Greek people so that has influenced me greatly. Certain themes are directly drawn from Greek-related themes like my song ‘Wooden Horse’ which was inspired by the Wooden Horse of Troy in Homer’s Iliad and other times they are more subtly there affecting the overall sentiment of the music or the lyrics, like the nostalgia for the Greek sea and landscape, or the pain of lost land, probably passed on to me by my immigrant ancestors, but a theme with which everyone can associate I think, as on another level returning to who we really are is also a spiritual issue.

There are also Greek influences in the rhythms (eg I have used the Zeibekiko rhythm of 9/4 for Inside Out), in the melodies and the ornaments (in most songs), and in the instruments (eg the violin solo in Eden (Garden State), the Greek lute in Let Me In etc).

We recorded part of the album in Athens and part of it in London, with musicians from both cultures playing different instruments. It was great watching the musicians interact and learn from each other’s instruments and music and that affected both the music and the overall atmosphere of the album. On All I See Is You for example the double bass player does an intro solo which is partly influenced by Greek Epirus music; he’s almost imitating the clarinet in the way he slides from note to note on the bass.

It’s great to be on tour and take my music to many people. The audiences have been wonderful and I really enjoy coming out after the shows and meeting them while signing CDs and getting direct feedback as well.

What are your plans in the future? Do you plan to release your album in other countries..say US, Canada, Greece etc?

Yes, I would really like to release my album in the US, Canada, Greece and other countries too hopefully. Also I’d love to tour and perform in all these places!

How can our readers hear some of your music?

They can go to my website athenaandreadis and click through the music page to buy a CD from Amazon (UK) or they can go to iTunes (internationally). They can also listen to a few songs on myspace

We know you just recently found out about DF, but give us some of your feedback.

What a great name! I love frappe and so when we were recording my album in Greece I introduced it to my international band who ended up having several frappes every day – they really kept us going.. So when I mentioned DF to them they agreed it’s an absolutely brilliant name!

Best of luck Athena.