Domna Samiou

Domna Samiou (Greek: Δόμνα Σαμίου; 12 October 1928 – 10 March 2012) was a prominent Greek researcher and performer of Greek folk music. She received her first formal musical training from Simon Karas. For over half a century she collected, recorded, and performed traditional songs of Greece (earlier called demotika, nowadays referred to as "paradosiaka" or "traditional"), around the world, appealing not only to the Greek diaspora, but also introducing non-Greek audiences to traditional Greek folk music. Born in the poor district of Kaisariani, Athens in 1928 (one of many neighbourhoods established with the influx of Greek refugees from Turkey in 1922), Samiou was the daughter of Greek refugees from the village Bayındır near Smyrna in Asia Minor. Her mother fled to Greece in 1922, while her father, who was a prisoner of war, arrived slightly later during the exchange of populations.