Song of the Day – We all have Eurovision songs that we love and listen to regularly. But then there are songs we might only remember because someone posts a link on Facebook or a Forum. In between our rankings we will shuffle through Eurovision history and present a random song each day to bring back memories and give you the chance to discuss songs and years during the “Eurovision drought”. Our song of this day is the Greek entry of 1981.
In 1981, Greece was represented by the relatively unknown singer Yiannis Dimitras. His self-penned song “Feggari Kalokerino” (“Summer Moon”) starts with a piano/orchestra intro. The piano during the entire song was played by actress and pianist Sofia Houndra, who is not credited officially, but during the intro is the only person shown. Dimitras only appears at the side of the piano when the first verses begin. He sings to Houdras, later sitting down next to her at the piano (Her enthusiasm about this seems rather limited). The song is a ballad in which Dimitras sings to the summer moon and tells him (among other things) that he will build a church for “the crazy children of love”. The result was an 8th place for Greece.
See other Songs of the Day here!
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My last of 1981. I usually love all the old greek entries but this one doesn’t do it for me. Since there’s nothing I hate in 1981, this song comes last in my rankings but it’s no where near as awful as half of 1982! Please don’t thumb me down just coz I don’t like it, or at least reply to me
You don’t hate “Reggae OK”?!
nope i even like it!
and i dont hate portugal either though i dont like it and it’s down in the bottom of my list but it’s not horrible horrible
Haha, excuse me for my uncontrolled reaction, but “Reggae OK” is such a horror, both for my ears and eyes, so I guess I have developed an allergic reaction towards it. And people who likes it might infect me.
it’s ok… it’s reggae ok :p
You don’t hate “Het is een wonder”?
no why would i hate it? the yellow dress, the haircut, and the tad cheezy melodies dont make it a great entry, but it’s still cute and harmless!
A sensitive ballad. Nice listening to, and I think the result was quite fair for it. The biggest problem with the song is the singer imo. Not his voice, but rather his look that seems to lack any signs of the feelings he’s singing about.
(Sigh) Good old esc memories
I like our entry that year (#5 on my 1981 list); it is actually my 11th most fav Greek entry ever. Yannis Dimitras is a good singer, i like his voice and his vocal performance for Greece 81, but he had a rather average career, especially during the 80′s. He even appeared singing in some of the, let’s say “b” (rather trash) movies that decade.
I never heard of him.I only learnt that he was our represenative in esc 1981 during the 90′s from Daphne Bokota.The song is ok i guess and the 8th place is a satisfying result.
Sorry too young to know this entries :/
I really like this song in studio version but the live performance has never worked for me because I do not like his yearning eyes and that bit in the beginning when he sits down next to the pianist as if he wanted to get intimate on the spot. Moreover, the ooh ooh ooohs do not sound good live. Nevertheless, in a very weak year Greece is still in 7th place on my list. Top 3: Luxemburg, Portugal and Turkey. Horrors: Spain and Finland.
What about Yugoslavia that year? I love it; it seems i love both “Leilas” in esc
01.GERMANY: Lena Valaitis- Johnny Blue (cheesy as they can be lyrics; still love it)
02.YUGOSLAVIA: Seid-Memic Vajta- Leila (love his raspy voice)
03.PORTUGAL: Carlos Paião- Play-back (typical, criminally underrated, Portuguese excellent stuff)
04.UNITED KINGDOM: Bucks Fizz- Making Your Mind Up
05.GREECE: Yannis Dimitras- Feggari Kalokerino
06.Netherlands 07.Spain 08.France 09.Switzerland 10.Sweden
just missing out: Denmark, Luxemburg
can’t stand: Belgium (the problem was the stage performance than the song itself btw)
I have Yugoslavia in 6th place that year.
Btw, and speaking of Kalokeri (=summer), here are a few typical Greek summer songs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSqRnk4sRjE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUqzrjIc67k
Thanks a lot. Sounds like holidays.
Btw, to everyone understanding German. Prinz Blog has a very nice series on ESC songs about the sea. So far they have covered Greece, Spain, Estonia and Yugoslavia. I am waiting for Portugal.
Haydeeeeeee!
Haydeeee, indeed!
I hope they mention this one too; it’s one of fav esc sea themes, although it never saw the esc stage:
Have a good night togravus, everyone
I agree . ‘Starac i more’ is a fantastic song.
Good night!
So nice, Oxi sharing music again. Thanks for the summery tunes..
A haydeeee song for you guys
(it’s very popular for my 3 and 6 year old nephews)
Switzerland all the way. Cyprus’s 1st entry was great
I like this song, very nice song.. this could also work in Spanish and French.. is there already a cover of it????
The Eurosong Music Contest is back!! After a few months break, the EMC has returned and is looking for participants from all over Europe!
Should you wish to participate, just send the European country that you wish to compete with (available countries can be found here), the artist, the song and youtube link, to eurosongmusiccontest@gmail.com
The deadline for submissions is the 28th July.
I look forward to hearing from you!
http://www.eurosongmusiccontest.blogspot.com
1981 was the worst edition by then imho. The Greek song is my favourite but cannot keep up with their gems in the nineties.