Friday, September 26, 2008

Ta pedia tou Pirea - Ei koskaan sunnuntaisin


The previous entry contained a song about Melina Mercouri. So it is most appropriate now to present a song sung by her. Vieno Kekkonen started her recording career in 1955 with the Finnish version of "Mr. Sandman". She was very active performing and recording in the 50's, being among the most popular Finnish artists for a long time. She recorded "Ei koskaan sunnuntaisin" (Never on sundays) in 1960. It was naturally a big hit, becouse of the success of the movie the song came from. And the movie was "Pote Tin Kyriaki") a 1960 Greek film which tells the story of Ilya, a prostitute who lives in the port of Piraeus in Greece, and Homer, an American tourist. The film starred Melina Mercouri who sang also this signature song "Ta pedia tou Pirea" (The children of Piraeus). The song and the bouzouki theme of the movie became hits of 1960s and Manos Hadjidakis, the composer, got an Oscar. The movie got an English title "Never on sundays" and the signature song was recorded by a multitude of artists. The English language version made by Connie Francis (b. Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero ) in 1961 became an international hit.
Here's the triple:

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