Demeter Tsounis
Demeter Tsounis arranges and performs traditional and modern Greek music in the community. Her inspiration for composition comes from popular and folk music and the way it expresses diverse human experiences of community and identity. Demeter is the author of several publications on Greek-Australian music with a focus on traditional urban Greek music.
“Her passion for the rembetika has seen her travel to Greece to perform and learn first hand the music, instruments and culture of rembetika; complete her PhD at the University of Adelaide on ‘Rebetika music-making in Adelaide : diaspora musical style and identity’ and perform with various musical ensembles and in numerous concerts in Adelaide over the last 25 years, many of which have had the music and the culture of rembetika at their core.”
Ross Karavis
Neos Kosmos
2 September 2009 11:18am
The song selected for the First Australian Women’s song book is When I Speak Openly, (Όταν Ανοιχτά Μιλώ – Otan Anikhta Milo). It is one of several compositions written for the “Shoulder to Shoulder” – “Artists Against Racism” multi-disciplinary arts project hosted by the Multicultural Artworkers Committee and SA Campaign Against Racial Exploitation in 1990.
Performers on the recording of “When I Speak Openly” are Johanna Saltis (vocals), Anthony Pak Poy (guitars) and Demeter Tsounis (bongos, maracas).
Here is an audio file read by Demeter to demonstrate how to pronounce the Greek lyrics.
Listen to Song By Demeter Tsounis
When I Speak Openly
Όταν Ανοιχτά Μιλώ – Otan Anikhta Milo
Performers on the recording are Johanna Saltis (vocals), Anthony Pak Poy (guitar) and Demeter Tsounis (bongos, maracas).
When I Speak Openly
Όταν Ανοιχτά Μιλώ – Otan Anikhta Milo
Song Lyrics
Lyrics and Music: Demeter Tsounis, 1990
Όταν Ανοιχτά Μιλώ
Όταν ανοιχτά μιλώ δεν ακούς τη φωνή μου
ακούς μόνο αυτά που θέλεις δίχως να
καταλαβαίνεις.
Μη με κάνεις πια να νιώθω σαν ξένη και σαν
ορφανή
κομματιασμένη στη ζωή απόκληρη σ’ αυτή
τη γη.
Στόπα και στο ξαναλέω η μνήμη μου πάει
βαθιά
απ’ του Αιγαίου τα νέρα απλώνει εδώ ως τον
Νοτιά.
Σαν τον απέραντο ωκεανό που δεν διακρίνει
πια στεριά
πως άραγε θα ήταν όταν ανοίγουμε την
καρδιά.
When I Speak Openly
When I speak openly you don’t hear my
voice
You hear what you want to hear without
understanding.
Don’t make me feel like a stranger, an orphan
with a fragmented life, an outcast on this
earth.
I’ve told you once and I tell you again, my
memory runs deep
from the waters of the Aegean it flows here to
the South.
Like the vast ocean which distinguishes no
borders
how would it be if we open our hearts.
Otan Anikhta Milo
Otan anikhta milo dhen akous ti foni mou
akous mono afta pou thelis dhikhos na
katalavenis.
Mi me kanis pia na niotho san kseni ke san
orfani
komatiasmeni sti zoï apokliri s’afti ti yi.
Stopa ke sto ksanaleo i mnimi mou paï
vathia
ap’ tou Eyeou ta nera aploni edho os ton
Notia.
San ton aperanto okeano pou dhen dhiakrini
pia steria
pos araye tha itan otan anigoume tin
kardhia.
© 2021 [1990] Demeter Tsounis
Composed for the Shoulder To Shoulder project (Multi-disciplinary cross-cultural project with Greek-Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, Multicultural Artworkers Committee SA, Adelaide, 1990).
Watch Performances By Demeter Tsounis
“Stephanos – 12 Evzonakia”
Aegean Whispers Concert, Adelaide Festival Centre, 27-28 March, 2009. South Australian Council for the Greek Cultural Month Inc. Musical Arranger/Director: Dr Demeter Tsounis. Vocals: Stephanos Kakoulis. Film Production: Nick Love.
“Polixeni – Mes Tou Egeou”
Aegean Whispers Concert, Adelaide Festival Centre, 27-28 March, 2009. South Australian Council for the Greek Cultural Month Inc. Musical Arranger/Director: Dr Demeter Tsounis. Vocals: Polixeni Arabatzis. Film Production: Nick Love.
“Polixeni – S’agapo (Traditional Kantatha)”
Aegean Whispers Concert, Adelaide Festival Centre, 27-28 March, 2009. South Australian Council for the Greek Cultural Month Inc. Musical Arranger/Director: Dr Demeter Tsounis. Vocals: Polixeni Arabatzis. Film Production: Nick Love.
“Johanna Saltis – Garsona”
Aegean Whispers Concert, Adelaide Festival Centre, 27-28 March, 2009. South Australian Council for the Greek Cultural Month Inc. Musical Arranger/Director: Dr Demeter Tsounis. Vocals: Johanna Saltis. Film Production: Nick Love.
“OLA SE THIMIZOUN / Polixeni – live / M.Loizos / M.Rasoulis”
A TRIBUTE TO MANOS LOIZOS Adelaide’s Hellenic Cultural Festival “ODYSSEY”, GOCSA, Adelaide Town Hall. Wed 31st Oct 2007. Musical Director: John Kourbelis. Vocals Polixeni Arabatzis. Film Production: Nick Love
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Demeter Tsounis: Multicultural music-making and dancing at wedding receptions : a study of the music-making and dancing activities of Greek people in Adelaide, 1986. Unpublished Honours Thesis, Dept. of Music Studies, University of Adelaide.
Demeter Tsounis: “Kefi and Meraki in Rebetika Music of Adelaide: Cultural Constructions of Passion and Expression and Their Link with the Homeland”, in Yearbook for Traditional Music, Vol. 27 (1995), pp. 90-103. Cambridge University Press.
Demeter Tsounis: Rebetika Music-Making in Adelaide: Diaspora Musical Style and Identity, 1997. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Dept. of Music Studies, University of Adelaide.
Demeter Tsounis: “Greek Traditions”. In Currency Companion to Music and Dance in Australia. Ed. J. Whiteoak & A. Scott-Maxwell. Sydney: Currency and Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. 306-308.
Demeter Tsounis: “Music-Making in the Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia Inc.: 1930-2010” in Our Journey at a Glance: 1930-2010. Eds. Athan Anagnostou & Penny Anagnostou, Greek Orthodox Community of SA, 2011, pp. 181-224.
Demeter Tsounis: “Community, Music and Politics” in As We Remember It. The Olympic Hall. Sofia Orfanos & Andreas Botsaris. Adelaide: The Olympic Hall Revisited Association, 2012, pp 111-113.