The green-eyed Greek sorceress - Kaiti Garbi

Allow me to begin this post by saying that I am extremely partial to Kaiti Garbi, for she is my favourite Laika singer. That's why I had thought that I should reserve her for a later post, because I wanted to ellaborate more freely. However, I’ve just bought her penultimate album and I have loved it so much that the deranged, stalking fan within me had to talk about her!!!!!! I LURRRVE Kaiti Garbi!!!! :-D After this extremely embarrassing moment (sorry! ;-P), allow me to begin properly. The third in contention to the throne of Modern Laika, Kaiti Garbi is one of Greece's most successful singers ever and has a massive following amongst Greek expatriates - I'd go so far as daring to say that, in some places, she's even more popular than the Goddess Anna Vissi herself (who is also her closest and dearest friend). Then again, I’m terrified of being dismembered alive by a horde of furious Vissi and Vandi fans (let me tell you, they are SCARY), so I'll just say that Kaiti is just oh-ever-so-slightly behind Anna and Despina in terms of popularity.

Blessed with a heavy, robust mezzo and the ability to inject torrents of passion into anything she graces with her voice, Kaiti's musical progression somewhat mirrors the gradual evolution towards dance music that Laika has had over the last ten years. But while other artist seem to have a love for always finding new sounds and styles to add to their repertoire, Kaiti evolves through what could be best described as "stylistic blocks", and is thus a bit more predictable. Her first two albums were pure, unadulterated 80's pop. From there, she started introducing traditional elements to her music, and by the mid-nineties she was singing all out Middle Eastern folk/rock. Then, in 2000, she abruptly changed the style that had made her so successful and began singing dance music combined with traditional songs (the speciality of Modern Laika singers!). As of late, Kaiti has become more diverse than ever, and her albums have a bit of everything: rock, dance, reggae, folk – you name it.



Even though what I have just written is hardly original as far as Laika singers are concerned, what separates Garbi from the rest of the genre's stars is that she is extremely careful with the material she chooses. She is never self-indulgent and never allows herself to rest in her laurels, and that’s what I like so much about her: her total commitment to pleasing her audience by always striving to offer the best material she can find. :-)

La Garbi is also one of Greece’s most highly regarded celebrities, and her success has been built upon sheer charisma, integral professionalism and hard work. She launched her career at fifteen by singing on a third-rate television show with her little sister Liana (who attempted to build a pop career in the early nineties, but failed). In the two years that followed, the popularity of the Garbi sisters increased steadily, to the point when they started receiving offers to sing in well-known bouzoukia nightclubs. However, Kaiti’s very conservative father, who believed that ‘pop singer’ and ‘whore’ were synonym concepts, forced his daughters to abandon their musical dreams. In spite of this, Kaiti refused to give in, and as soon as she finished her studies, she decided to work as a session singer, while taking part in the occasional concert with minor orchestras. Sadly, given her father’s ideas, she didn’t have a chance to release anything until the age of 27 – with his blessing. I suppose that, tired of hearing Kaiti beg for years and watching people’s very favourable reactions to her singing, Kaiti’s father understood what her true calling in life was and gave his unconditional support.



And thus it all began! Kaiti met success immediately, and unlike other more popular singers ;-), she has rarely trailed off from the platinum path. All of Kaiti’s albums have been successful, reaching at the very least Gold status within six months of their release (neither Vissi nor Vandi can say that, and Natassa Theodoridou could only do it thrice – the rest of her albums have had a lukewarm reception). Thus, I don’t exaggerate when I say that, in terms of sales, La Garbi is the most successful female singer in Greece ever.

But, upon what has this success been erected? The answer is, besides talent, careful planning and passion, an impeccable public image built of fairy tale twists. Let me give you an example: in 1997 she recorded a duet with one of Greece's most popular heart-throbs, Dionysis Schoinas. Apparently, Kaiti and him got along famously during the recording sessions, but then went their separate ways and it seemed that they would just remain good, if somewhat distant, friends. A few months later, immediately after they finished performing the song for the first time ever on Greece's highest rated afternoon show, he knelt down before her and declared, in front of everyone, that he had realized that he loved her and wanted her to marry him... A shocked Kaiti laughed, then cried, ran around the scenario several times with a dazed expression, and finally accepted with a tearful smile. Aaawwwwwww isn't that sweet... And great publicity (sorry, but I had to say it!). Anyway, they have been very happily married ever since, and in 1998 had a boy named Dimitris.



Well, anyway, I just wanted to finish this rather lengthy article by saying that I hope you enjoy her songs, and also to remind you to go to buy her albums here!

(Αυτό) Το Κάτι - (Afto) To Kati/(That) Something

2000 was a very fructiferous year in terms of creativity (and success) for the world of Greek music. No less because its three official goddesses all released exceptionally good double albums that were either preceded by or presented with the most successful singles in Greek history ever. Yes, unlike the three goddesses of the Iliad, everyone got a price: Vandi had the most successful single (Ypofero -437.000 copies sold in three months - find it here). Anna Vissi had the greatest combined sales with the quasi simultaneous releases of her English language début, the massive single Agapi Ypervoliki and then the spectacular double album Kravgi (1,237,000 copies sold in a few months), but Kaiti had the second highest selling album that year, reaching the half-million mark on its own - and it did so helped by this amazing song! A greatest hits compilation of sorts, the spectacular double album To Kati presented seven new songs along ‘only’ 24 of Kaiti's top 20 hits. Needless to say, its success was more than justified. This song is pure pop bliss!!!!! Honestly, dance music is seldom this good and impossibly catchy. Video.

Κραγιόν - Kragion/Lipstick

This is one of my favourite songs by Kaiti, and I can honestly say that this is solely responsible for my buying her spectacular 2001 double album Apla Ta Pragmata/Simple Things (31 awesome songs in one package!). An amazing dance epic, this combines a thumping dance beat with an utterly lovely melody and Gypsy violin instrumentation, which is integral to the structure of the song: the melody always delves into the progressions, and vice versa. Or rather, they constantly whirl and flutter around each other. It also is notable because it has Kaiti’s highest notes ever (even though they are very distorted by a vocoder). However, this song is, above all, incredibly fun! Enjoy it ;-).

Μία Γυναίκα Μόνη - Mia Gynaika Moni/A Woman Alone

This has to be my favourite song from Kaiti’s penultimate album, the not very successful (when compared to her previous efforts) Echo Sta Matia Ourano/I’ve The Sky In My Eyes (2005). It combines a heavy, thumping percussive line with gorgeous folk guitars and a hook-ridden melody that will be stuck in your brain for days. The really interesting thing is that the cadence and style of the song always keep changing; the verses have a reggae-fied background that morphs into an aggressive techno landscape in the choruses, which then lead us to a succession of instrumental breaks, a saxophone solo and an end that’s as much of an anti-climax as it is surprisingly satisfying. I wonder why this song wasn’t released as a single, especially because the ones that were chosen to promote the album weren’t as successful as it had been expected – this would surely have injected some much needed life to the album's promotion.

Ζήλια - Zilia/Jealousy

This aggressive dance track heavily samples Donna Summer’s I Feel Love, but improves on the original by adding what sounds like a deafening storm of sound explosions happening all in rapid succession, and often at the same time. The heavy, cold instrumentation creates a very sharp contrast with the melody, which is very mellow and soft, but is constantly pushed forward by Kaiti’s stout vocals, which also create a compact structure in a song that seems to endlessly revolve without direction in a chaotic myriad of electronic effects. In short, this is amazing, and one of the best dance songs I’ve ever heard. From her 2003 album Emmones Idees/Recurrent Ideas.

Όλη Μου Η Στενοχώρια - Oli Mou I Stenochoria/All Of My Anguish

This unbelievably beautiful traditional song is one of the main highlights in the album To Kati. Introduced by rippling piano scales, it quietly unfolds into a boundless sea of sorrow that waves its way across your ears ever so softly. I cannot even begin to say how sad and moving this song is. All I will say is that it’s just exceptional in every sense.