Savina Yannatou

About Savina Yannatou

Early Life

Savina Yannatou was born on March 16, 1959, in Athens. She began singing as a child, taking classical guitar lessons and participating in the children's choir led by Yannis Nousias. She studied singing with Gogo Georgilopoulou at the National Conservatory and with Spiros Sakkas at the Workshop of Vocal Art in Athens, later pursuing postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London on a scholarship from the Mousigetis Foundation.

Musical Style & Sound

Yannatou has built a genre-spanning career across éntekhno, medieval and Baroque music, and avant-garde free improvisation, incorporating techniques including throat singing, glossolalia, and ululation. The Guardian described her as a singer whose five-decade career "hasn't stood still," spanning early music interpretations and collaborations with figures including Can's Damo Suzuki. Her repertoire draws on Sephardic, Mediterranean, and world music traditions from Sardinia, Turkey, Cyprus, Albania, Spain, Africa, and beyond.

Career Rise

Yannatou began her professional career in 1979 while still a student, singing on the celebrated Greek National Radio 3 program "Lilipoupoli," produced under composer Manos Hadjidakis. She went on to interpret éntekhno songs, collaborating with major Greek composers, before shifting focus toward medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque repertoire. In the early 1990s, encouraged by German bassist Peter Kowald, she began experimenting with free improvisational vocal techniques. In 1993, she formed the group Primavera en Salonico with a collective of Thessaloniki-based musicians led by Kostas Vomvolos, recording albums including "Primavera en Salonico," "Songs from the Mediterranean," "Virgin Maries of the World" (released in the U.S. as "Mediterranea"), and the acclaimed live album "Terra Nostra," released internationally by ECM Records in 2002. She has performed at major international festivals including WOMAD, the London Jazz Festival, and Rudolstadt Folk Festival, and has collaborated with international artists including Barry Guy, Ken Vandermark, and Damo Suzuki.

Diaspora Impact

Yannatou's extensive international touring and recording with ECM Records has given her a global audience that reaches diaspora communities as part of a much broader world-music fanbase. Her interpretations of Sephardic songs from Salonica connect directly to the historical Jewish and Mediterranean communities tied to Thessaloniki, offering diaspora listeners a distinct, scholarly window into that layered cultural heritage.