Trilogy of the Greek Blues – Press Evaluation

Trilogy of the Greek Blues Press Evaluation In aid of the Leukaemia Cancer Society

TRILOGY OF THE GREEK BLUES OVERVIEW tpr media consultants were commissioned to design and implement a dynamic, visible media campaign around the different elements of the Trilogy of the Greek Blues. This involved supporting the drive of audiences to three key events – Rembetika & Beyond, My Sweet Canary (nationwide release) and Homage to Roza – to ensure the success of the campaign. tpr liaised with Trilogy partners – the Leukaemia Cancer Society, Martha D Lewis, director Roy Sher and venue management teams – to maximise coverage on all elements of the campaign, and to raise the profile of all parties involved.

The Trilogy demanded a strong national profile, due to the Cineworld release, coupled with grassroots – community and regional – coverage in print, online and broadcast. We invested considerable resources into producing effective marketing materials for the Cineworld release of My Sweet Canary (including sponsor details) as well as liaising with Cineworld to ensure that the film had a tangible presence in each venue. Additionally tpr pitched targeted community angles to relevant press including Greek, Cypriot, Turkish and Jewish. This paid off in terms of coverage; the aim was to position the Trilogy of the Greek Blues as a sense of community event that would also appeal to arthouse film fans. tpr aimed to raise the profile of the Leukaemia Cancer Society and to convey the urgency of their appeal for new donors. The Leukaemia Cancer Society was represented in all press and marketing materials and was visible at both the Rembetika & Beyond concert as well as the UK film premiere.

Co-ordinator Androulla Stylianou was interviewed by Cyprus' national broadcaster – Rik TV – which is also broadcast globally, across countires including the UK. The charity also spoke to the 250-strong audience at the Enfield premiere of My Sweet Canary.

Social media was used to alert key high profile individuals to the campaign. There was a strong social media presence at each event venue throughout the Trilogy.

Please see a selection of cuttings below but as we did not have a dedicated cuttings service for the campaign it is not comprehensive.

MEDIA CRUNCHING In total across the campaign we contacted over 2,000 editors and journalists across print and broadcast, both national and regional. This included 366 jazz and world music writers, 417 film critics and 487 women’s interested writers (all at national publications) as well as 25 targeted contacts in TV and radio.

In addition, we built bespoke lists with a particular focus on 62 contacts at ‘community’ publications (in order to reach Greek, Turkish and Jewish audiences) as well as regional papers and broadcast channels across North London (Enfield, Wood Green and Wandsworth), Birmingham, Manchester and Brighton, tying in with key events in the trilogy across the country and comprising 591 addresses. In addition to this, information about each event was sent to 70 events listings editors and websites.

Tracks from Martha D Lewis’ new album along with a press release were sent to 48 targeted music writers and a smaller group were also sent copies of the CD. Meanwhile the DVD release was sent to 20 key DVD reviewers at national papers (along with the larger film critics list).

Compiled by tpr media, November 2014

sophie@tpr-media.com / +44 (0)20 8347 7020

CAMPAIGN BREAKDOWN NATIONAL PRESS tpr contacted all major national papers, especially broadsheets, including The Times and The Telegraph, suggesting a number of different angles. The Guardian G2 ran a piece on its Arts pages ahead of the premiere following an interview with Martha D Lewis.

BROADCAST The campaign was launched on BBC Radio 4’s Midweek ahead of the Rembetika & Beyond concert. Martha D Lewis spoke about the Trilogy alongside actor Ray Winstone and explorer Ranulph Fiennes, OBE. Midweek has over 2.3 million listeners. Martha’s involvement in this show was noted in a news piece and via social media by the weekly Greek-Cypriot paper, Parikiaki.

BBC World Service attended the premiere of My Sweet Canary to speak with members of the audience, this was then followed up with an interview from Martha D Lewis.

Martha also spoke on the show Brighton Nights on Juice Radio prior to the Rembetika & Beyond concert in Komedia, Brighton and flagged up all events in the Trilogy.

COMMUNITY PRESS For a successful campaign tpr felt it was essential to engage with relevant communities such as the Cypriot, Greek, Jewish and Turkish as well as local (especially Enfield) papers and regional press to tie in with screenings across the country. tpr contacted all major regional papers local to the Trilogy’s events. Millfield previews were issued in Enfield Festivals and Palmers Green Community.

Parikiaki – the main Greek-Cypriot community paper – provided huge support to the trilogy, issuing a series of news stories and features as well as tweeting key events. Greek-Cypriot paper, Eleftheria, also ran a feature.

The Turkish paper, Haber Newspaper, covered the film in their weekly paper and sent two journalists to the premiere.

The Jewish Chronicle ran a news story surrounding the release of Martha’s latest album and how Roza was a huge influence on her work. The Jewish Telegraph also ran a feature about My Sweet Canary based on an interview with Martha and Roy. Cypriot state broadcaster – Rik TV – attended the premiere of My Sweet Canary to interview Martha D Lewis, Sophie Toumazis, tpr and Androulla Stylianou, Leukaemia Cancer Society co-ordinator. Rik TV is the main Cypriot broadcaster and is watched by the global Cypriot diaspora.

Events were also mentioned in community newsletters including the University School of Oriental and African studies, Rembetika networks, Greek, Turkish and Jewish associations.

Compiled by tpr media, November 2014

sophie@tpr-media.com / +44 (0)20 8347 7020

LISTINGS tpr sought to place previews and listings in local press and community papers to reach potential audiences. tpr also ensured that Millfield Theatre listed the Rembetika & Beyond concert on their homepage.

We also issued listings to websites and databases such as the Press Association which supplies to hundreds of outlets including Time Out and the Guardian, as well as regional titles.

Listings for all three events also ran in EuGreeka – an online Greek culture website and newsletter.

FILM CRITICS Information about My Sweet Canary with a press release was issued to tpr’s film critics list which was comprised of over 400 contacts. tpr also issued invitations to the premiere to a list of selected film critics. The feedback was that the film could not be covered in this capacity due to the lack of a major distributor and the niche subject matter.

Following the premiere and launch of the DVD, tpr issued a release to a list of DVD writers.

WORLD MUSIC AND JAZZ PRESS tpr contacted over 350 music writers including specialist jazz and world music journalists, initially to make them aware of the Trilogy of events, and finally to push the launch of Martha’s album.

Songlines issued a news story on the trilogy and DJ Ritu not only covered the Trilogy on her SOAS radio show a number of times and listed events but also chaired the Q&A at the premiere in Enfield.

MARKETING tpr liaised closely with Cineworld (particularly Cineworld Enfield), attending two onsite meetings and coordinating the My Sweet Canary premiere. tpr aided the design, preparation and distribution of specialist film posters and leaflets in participating cinemas as well as community organisations and institutions. tpr felt this was essential to the campaign’s success, increasing the film’s visibility within venues. tpr pushed to make tickets available to coincide with key press coverage.

The My Sweet Canary trailer was shown at all Greek Trilogy events and appeared in key online coverage in the run up to the premiere.

Compiled by tpr media, November 2014

sophie@tpr-media.com / +44 (0)20 8347 7020

BROADCAST BBC Radio 4, Midweek

Wednesday 8 October 2014 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04kf5zj Libby Purves meets actor Ray Winstone; adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes; singer and songwriter Martha D Lewis and animal behaviourist Dr John Bradshaw.

2.3 million listeners

BBC World Service Saturday 8 November 2014 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p029twmv A review of the week with the latest news.

Reporter speaks to audience memebers following the premiere.

43 million listeners

Juice 107.2 Monday 27 October 2014 http://www.juicebrighton.com/ Interview with Martha D Lewis ahead of the Komedia, Brighton Rembetika & Beyond concert.

Rik TV Cypriot national broadcaster covered the Enfield premiere.

Trilogy of the Greek Blues Overview Press

theguardian.com

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/nov/04/roza-eskenazi-my-sweet-canary

Roza Eskenazi: canary of the Aegean Laura Barton

Tuesday 4 November 2014 17.23 GMT

Songs in seven languages … Eskenazi with fellow musicians.

It’s a short song, but rich and intriguing. “My sweet canary,” it begins. “You took my mind./ In the morning you wake me/ When you sing so sweetly.” Although it’s sung in Greek, you get the drift even without a translation: there’s something hard and yearning in the voice of its singer, Roza Eskenazi, a mingling of desire, infatuation and pain.

Eskenazi was the queen of rembetika, the Greek blues, a genre that sprang up in the Aegean’s port towns in the 1920s. She was a prodigious and prolific talent, revered for her soul and her charisma, as well as for giving a voice to the underclass: the displaced, the poor and the desperate. Yet until now, her music and the extraordinary details of her life have remained relatively unknown. This month, however, Eskenazi will be celebrated – in a new album that pays tribute to her music, and in a documentary film, My Sweet Canary, that tells the story of a life and a career that encompassed two world wars, an elopement, a long-lost son, the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, German occupation, wartime resistance, imprisonment, and of course extraordinary music.

“The thing that struck me was the lack of any information about her,” says Martha D Lewis, the British-born Cypriot composer who this week releases Homage to Roza, a collection of reworked versions of Eskenazi songs.

“It’s like the work of Billie Holiday going by undocumented.”

Eskenazi was born Sarah Skinazi in Constantinople, probably in the 1890s, and her childhood was somewhat itinerant, as her parents worked as rag-traders, mill-workers and maids. Although her family would not sanction a career as a performer, she was rebellious enough to become first a dancer then a singer, and elope in her teens with a much older man, then shave 10 years off her age and rename herself Roza Eskenazi. In the late 1920s, she was singing in a club when famed rembetika composer and record label boss Panagiotis Toundas happened to hear her. He convinced her, in the autumn of 1929, to make her first recordings. Their success was immediate, not only ensuring Eskenazi’s own fame but propelling rembetika into the mainstream.

Eskenazi recorded about 500 songs in the following decade, becoming one of several Greek artists – and the first woman – to be flown to the US to record for Columbia. She sang in Greek, Turkish, Armenian, Arabic, Yiddish, Ladino and Italian, writing her own compositions, too, including My Sweet Canary. Misirlou, one of her songs from this time, would appear on the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.

During the German occupation, Eskenazi ran a nightclub in Athens where, despite her Jewish heritage, she managed to escape deportation thanks to a fake baptism certificate and an affair with a German officer. She hid resistance fighters and British agents in her home and saved the lives of many Jews – including her own family – until she was finally exposed in 1943. She spent three months in prison before being released, thanks to campaigning by her German lover and her son.

Although her career then waned, her music enjoyed a revival in the 1970s, with TV shows and live performances, leading to her final concert in 1977. She died three years later, living out her final days in the company of her long-term companion, a police officer 30 years her junior. “She was a fighter,” says Lewis. “How can you have all of that in your life and not have that in your voice?”

Eskenazi’s songs have been a constant throughout Lewis’s life. The musician grew up in the Greek-Cypriot community in London. “We would go to weddings and christenings almost every single weekend,” she says, “and we would hear these songs. Like aAny immigrant community, theywe would will cling on to theirourits culture.

And, so tThey were part of my upbringing. My parents would sing along, like they were in a football stadium – from their hearts.”

In 2008, the director Roy Sher began making a documentary about Eskenazi and asked Lewis to be involved.

“The idea was to make a road movie,” Lewis explains. “He wanted to get a Greek, a Turk and a Jew involved in telling Roza’s story, to find places in their countries still playing her music. I was the Greek.”

They visited the Greek community in Jerusalem, then went on to Istanbul, Thessalonica, Athens and Piraeus.

“What was interesting,” says Lewis, “was that the people in Turkey think the songs are theirs, as do the people in Jerusalem and Greece. But what the film dares to say is that they belong to all of us. In fact, what makes these songs is the fusion of those three cultures.”

At one point, Lewis found herself on stage singing Eskenazi songs with 12 other musicians, of Israeli, Greek and Turkish heritage. “We were singing in different languages,” she says. “Roza used to say she was nationality-less, because she embodied so many different cultures. And there we all were, in a loving and peaceful environment, playing her songs together.”

• The UK premiere of My Sweet Canary is at Cineworld, London EN1, tomorrow at 8pm. Homage to Roza will be launched at the London jazz festival on 23 November.

parikiaki.com

http://www.parikiaki.com/2014/10/ladies-sing-the-greek-blues/

Ladies sing the ‘Greek Blues’ 1 October 2014

UK documentary premiere about iconic Greek-Jewish singer born in the 1890s inspires celebration of Greek music

An exciting trilogy of Greek music runs from 14 October – 23 November 2014 in aid of the Leukaemia Cancer Society.

The Trilogy of the Greek Blues is a three-part celebration of rembetiko music – also known as the ‘Greek Blues’ – inspired by the life of Greek-Jewish singer Roza Eskenazi, the ‘Queen of Rembetika’. Born in Istanbul’s Jewish Quarter, Roza led a fascinating life during a career spanning two world wars, four cultural capitals (Istanbul, Thessaloniki, Athens and New York), and incorporating the countless ethnic influences that Roza encountered on her journey.

Roza was at the forefront of the breakthrough of rembetiko music into popular culture, her music shaped the soundtrack of Greece for almost a century, and even today her unique sound is still identified with the soulful genre. In 1931 Roza was the first female Greek musician to sign a record deal with Columbia Records and HMV and travelled to America. She soon became one of their most popular stars recording a huge body of work comprising over 500 records, with far reaching influences.

Roza’s contribution to Greek music is particularly impressive considering that she survived the upheaval of the Greek-Turkish population exchange of 1923 involving around 2 million people, and became a single mother at 15.

She also escaped persecution by the Nazis in the Thessaloniki occupation that resulted in mass deportation to Auschwitz of the Jewish community which made up around 20% of the city’s population in the 1940s.

Rembetika & Beyond: A Journey Into the Greek Blues – 14 & 28 October 2014

The three-part festival inspired by Roza’s legacy kicks off in October with a passionate musical performance of the traditional Greek blues to rock the soul, called Rembetika & Beyond: A Journey Into The Greek Blues. Led by award-winning vocalists and musicians, Martha D Lewis and Eve Polycarpou, with special guest singers and musicians, some of whom are playing rembetiko for the first time, the Rembetika & Beyond tour will kick off in London on 14 October at the Millfield Theatre, followed by a second concert in Brighton on 28 October (further dates tbc).

Roza Eskenazi has inspired Martha and Eve throughout their careers and they’ll be performing a number of her songs, keeping the rembetiko genre alive. Ticket sales from the tour will be donated to the Leukaemia Cancer Society, a charity that the duo are passionate about supporting in their endeavour to increase the number of Mediterranean bone marrow donors on the UK register.

Martha says: “The Trilogy of the Greek Blues project was created to shine a spotlight on music that has shaped the soundtrack and people of the Mediterranean region for almost a century.

The trilogy will pay homage and celebrate the music and culture of our elders. On this journey, we hope to add support to the mission of establishing rembetiko’s place on the World Blues stage, alongside Fado and Tango – and to introduce new audiences to a world which lies at the crossroads of East and West with the music that continues to echo throughout the region. It’s thrilling that we have so many young Greek musicians on board.

Most of them were born in the UK but rembetiko, the music and spirit of their grandparents lives on, through them.”

Maria Nicolaou, Chairman of the Leukaemia Cancer Society says: “The Leukaemia Cancer Society is now celebrating its 20th anniversary and its aim to recruit potential bone marrow and stem cell donors is now even stronger. The charity is proud to be working with Martha and Eve and hopes to reach a wider audience with the launch of the Trilogy of the Greek Blues.”

My Sweet Canary – 6 November 2014 On 6 November 2014, the award-winning international feature documentary about the life of Roza Eskenazi, My Sweet Canary, will receive its UK premiere. Directed by Roy Sher, the film follows the exuberant musical journey of three young musicians – Mehtap Demir, Tomer Katz and Rembetika & Beyond’s Martha D Lewis – as they explore the history of rembetiko music and travel to London, Jerusalem, Istanbul, Thessaloniki and Athens, tracing the musical journey that Roza Eskenazi made in her life.

The documentary explores how, like other urban subcultural musical forms – such as the Blues, Fado and Tango – rembetiko grew out of particular urban circumstances and evolved to reflect the harsh realities of marginalized communities at that time, inspired by the experiences of refugees, the unemployed, impoverished and criminal underclass. Because it was regularly played in bars where hashish was smoked, and its lyrics were considered subversive – on themes such as prisons, poverty, love, lust and drugs – rembetiko was even banned for a time.

The documentary looks at how rembetiko, which originated in Smyrna, Turkey, from the 1920s onwards absorbed diverse cultural influences but has also had a far reaching impact on other musical forms. Most of all, it’s a journey into a world that has largely vanished, but whose sounds continue to echo through the Mediterranean Basin and beyond.

The UK premiere, in aid of the Leukaemia Cancer Society, will be followed by a UK release by Cineworld in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Brighton from 7 November 2014, opening the doors to local communities.

The documentary has already been screened worldwide throughout Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, India and Europe to great critical acclaim.

Homage to Roza – 23 November 2014 The final event in this Trilogy of the Greek Blues is the much-anticipated launch of Martha D Lewis’ Homage to Roza album. Following her appearance in the film, My Sweet Canary, Homage to Roza features contemporary remakes of classic rembetiko songs by Roza Eskenazi, performed by Martha. The album provides a stimulating new contribution to the margins and borders of world music.

Martha is accompanied by legendary drummer Jack DeJohnette on the track that’s perhaps rembetiko’s greatest legacy – Misirlou. And top classic musicians from the jazz and world music scene will join Martha onstage to reinterpret the genre for a new audience. The tour begins at the prestigious London Jazz Festival on 23 November at Kings Place London.

32

Jewish Telegraph Friday October 31, 2014

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Assaf was warned against writing his latest book ASSAF Gavron was warned off penning his latest book, writes SIMON YAFFE. The Hilltop (Oneworld, £16.99) tackles the contentious issue of settlers in the West Bank.

“I like the fact that it is a divisive and sensitive issue,” said Assaf, whose mother Angela is from Leeds.

“Some friends warned me when I was thinking about writing it that nobody was going to be

❝ I like to leave Israel from time to time

happy with the result. But it is an unclear and uncontested topic and an emotional subject for many people.

“It is a conflicting area and a place with no clear borders and no clear laws, so these people invent laws in a way which causes a lot of tension.”

The Hilltop focuses on West Bank settlement Ma’aleh Hermesh C, which doesn’t exist according to the government and must be defended according to the military.

He follows the lifespan of the settlement and its numerous characters.

Assaf said, as someone who would be considered politically left-wing, he was against the existence of settlers.

But his research for The Hilltop got him thinking.

He explained: “I travelled for two years to different settlements and got to know people there. I read so many publications about the settlements — I immersed myself.

“I had to separate myself from my political opinion.

“I do feel sympathy towards some of them and I developed a friendship with three of them.

“I learned things, which I set out to do, such as understanding the motivations and reasons and the fact there is a big variety of settlers who have different reasons for them to be there.

“The book’s goal was to go deeper into the stereotype.”

It has been a hit in Assaf’s native Israel, too, winning the Bernstein Prize for Literature and being long-listed for the Sapir Award.

It is not the first time the 45year-old has been among the honours.

His 2012 novel, Croc Attack, won France’s Prix Courrier International and Germany’s Buch für die Stadt, while Assaf received the Israeli Prime Minister Award for authors in 2011.

Family turned back on Roza

BY SIMON YAFFE

TENSION: Assaf Gavron The Hilltop is his seventh book, but his talents don’t end with writing fiction.

Assaf also worked as a journalist, a creative director for an Israeli high-tech company, a musician in a band and a translator into Hebrew of the work of novelists, including Philip Roth and Jonathan Safran Foer.

And he is three months into a year-long sabbatical teaching literature and creative writing at the University of Nebraska, in Omaha.

“I like to leave Israel from time to time, even though I still see it as my home base,” said Assaf, who has also lived in London and Vancouver.

Born in the town of Arad to English parents Angela and Daniel, he was raised in Motza Illit, near Jerusalem.

Growing up in a secular family, Assaf said Judaism is part of his identity, but he is not interested in the “religious side of it”.

“My Jewishness is secondary to my being Israeli,” he explained.

“They are linked, but they are

❝ Go deeper into the stereotypes

also separated — they are not one.”

The father-of-two studied for a BA in media and communication at London’s Goldsmiths’ College and new media in Vancouver.

He worked for several Israeli newspapers and spent two years in the high-tech world.

“I was not sure whether I saw journalism as a long-term career, even though I did enjoy it at the time,” Assaf explained.

His first novel, Ice, was published in 1997.

Assaf is also a singer/songwriter with The Mouth and The Foot, together with friends Ohad Fishof and Ram Orion.

He said: “We got together in 1989 and have released five albums, the latest being last year.

“It was always going to be an ongoing project. One of the rules is we release an album every six years.

“I would describe our music as experimental, but also pop music.”

An Arsenal fan since he was 10, he founded and captains the Israeli writers national football team, too.

“When I lived in London, I went to a lot of Arsenal games,” Assaf explained.

■ http://assafgavron.com

T

HE story of Roza Ezkenazi may not be familiar to many, but a new film about the late musician is aiming to change that.

My Sweet Canary, which will be premiered in London on Thursday, tells the story of Roza, who was the most famous singer in Greece and Turkey in the 1930s.

In the documentary — directed

by Israeli Roy Sher — three artists devoted to her legacy retrace her steps and perform her songs.

One of them is British GreekCypriot sin ger and composer Martha Lewis, who is featured with Turkish singer and musician Mehtap Demir and Israeli Tomer Katz, an oud and bouzouki player Martha said: “In 2006, I presented a documentary on BBC Radio about Greek blues music. That is when I discovered Roza and her music.

“I was commissioned to record a piece of her music and, years later, Roy came across it on the internet and got in touch with me.”

Roza was born in late 19th century Istanbul as Sara Skinaz to a Sephardi family.

She emigrated to Thessaloniki, Greece, which was occupied by the Ottoman Empire, and started performing as a dancer in local clubs and cafés. Roza’s rise to fame began in the late 1920s, after she was discovered in Piraeus by Panagiotis Toundas, director of Colombia records in Greece.

Londoner Martha explained: “Roza’s family turned its back on her because of her choice of career. In that era, if you chose to be a singer, it could be at the cost of your family.

“In Thessaloniki, though, she was surrounded by Jewish people as it had a huge Jewish population, around 20 per cent of the city.”

Roza endured a stormy early life. She survived the upheaval of the Greek-Turkish population exchange of 1923, which involved around two million people and became a single mother at 15, to Paraschos.

Roza also escaped persecution by the Nazis in the Thessaloniki occup ation which resulted in mass deportation to Auschwitz of the Jewish community.

She managed to obtain a fake

LEGACY: Roza Ezkenazi with musicians and, below, Martha Lewis baptismal certificate.

As well as exploring Roza’s life, the documentary looks at how the genre of music she mainly performed, rebetiko, evolved to reflect the harsh realities of marginalised communities at that time, inspired by the experiences of refugees.

“Rebetiko is still huge in Israel,” Martha added. “We filmed for a week in Jerusalem at the Greek Jewish community centre.

“Roza recorded more than 500 songs. Many of them have been rehashed over generations, but

❝

Greeks think her music belongs to them many Israelis, Greeks and Turks know her songs.

“Working on the film made me realise the connections between Greeks and Jews.

“Roza recorded songs in Ladino, Greek, Hebrew and Turkish, so the Greeks think her music belongs to them, as do the Jews and Turks.”

She went on tour in America in 1952 to sin g for the Greek and Turkish communities, becoming the first Greek-Jewish singer to perform there.

During the 1960s, Roza made new recordings of several of her old songs and in the 1970s, after the fall of the colonels’ regime in Greece and the increase in rebetiko popularity among Greek teenagers, her career regained momentum.

She spent her twilight years at her home in Athens, with husband Christos Philipakopoulos, having converted to Greek Orthodoxy in 1976.

Roza gave her last performance in September 1977, three years before her death.

Martha said: “The last scene in the documentary is of a concert we performed in Thessaloniki, with Jews, Greeks and Turks on the same stage.

“It was one of the most powerful things I will ever do — it was full of love, heart and spirit.

“It is about three cultures joining together.”

The film, which is in Greek, Turkish, Hebrew and Ladino, has English subtitles.

Following its premiere, it will be screened at Cineworlds in Manchester, Birmin gham and Brighton.

It has already been screened worldwide to great critical acclaim.

Martha has also recorded a CD called Homage to Roza, which will be launched at the London Jazz Festival next month.

■ www.mysweetcanary.com

Marcia loses her battle with cancer ACTRESS Marcia Strassman, bestknown for her role in hit film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, died on Saturday.

The 66-year-old had a seven-year battle with breast cancer.

Strassman played the wife of Rick Moranis’ scientist character in the hit 1989 film, as well as its 1992 sequel Honey, I Blew Up the Kid. Born in New York City and raised in New Jersey, at the age of 15 she

succeeded Liza Minnelli in the role of Ethel Hofflinger in the off-Broadway musical Best Foot Forward.

In 1967, Strassman became a recording artist for Uni Records and her debut single, The Flower Children was a hit.

She later landed the recurring role of nurse Margie Cutler in M*A*S*H, before shooting to fame as Julie, the wife of high school teacher Gabe Kotter

in the 1970s comedy series Welcome Back, Kotter.

Strassman appeared in numerous television series, including Magnum, PI, before landing the role of the mother of two teenagers mistakenly reduced to the size of bugs in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

Her appearances in film and TV slowed down after her diagnosis of breast cancer in 2007.

kat-whispers.blogspot.co.uk

http://kat-whispers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/xclusive-trilogy-of-greek-blues_8.html

Xclusive! Trilogy of the Greek Blues The award winning music duo Martha and Eve (formally of Donna and Kebab) are keeping very busy this Autumn; the popular pair have been spearheading a trilogy of events to celebrate the wonderful music genre of “Rembetika”, a style of music that years after it’s inception, still moves, rouses, celebrates, and is undoubtedly interwoven within our very heritage.

Fresh from Martha and Eve’s recent successful run of the “Rembetika and Beyond” live shows at London’s Millfield Theatre and the Komedia in Brighton last month, in aid of The Leukaemia Cancer Society (of which they are patrons); an album, tour and cinema screening are all part of their trilogy project showcasing the magic of Rembetiko.

Phase two of the trilogy encompassed the release of “Homage to Roza”; the much-anticipated new album by Martha D Lewis, featuring contemporary remakes of classic rembetiko songs. The album is inspired by the repertoire of iconic Greek-Jewish singer Roza Eskenazi, the ‘Queen of Rembetika’, whose legacy has had a far-reaching influence extending even to the theme tune of Pulp Fiction and continues to influence blues in the States with collaborations taking place today between famous rembetiko musicians and blues and jazz artists. Martha’s new interpretation of Roza’s music provides a stimulating new contribution to the margins and borders of world music. The album, released on Monday 27th October will be taken on tour, premiering at the prestigious London Jazz Festival on 23rd November 2014 at Kings Place London where renowned classic musicians from the jazz and world music scene will join Martha onstage. On the album itself, Martha is accompanied by legendary drummer Jack DeJohnette on the track that’s perhaps rembetiko’s greatest legacy – “Misirlou”.

Also known as the “Greek Blues” – rembetiko originated in Smyrna, Turkey, from the 1920s onwards. Like other urban subcultural musical forms – such as the Blues, Fado and Tango – rembetiko grew out of particular urban circumstances and evolved to reflect the harsh realities of marginalized communities at that time, inspired by the experiences of refugees, the unemployed, impoverished and criminal underclass.

Martha’s “Homage to Roza” album follows her involvement with Roy Sher’s award-winning international feature documentary “My Sweet Canary” about the life of Roza Eskenazi. The film follows the exuberant musical journey of three young musicians – Mehtap Demir, Tomer Katz and Martha D Lewis – as they explore the history of rembetiko music and travel to London, Jerusalem, Istanbul, Thessaloniki and Athens, tracing the musical journey that Roza Eskenazi made in her life.

The UK premiere, in aid of the Leukaemia Cancer Society, takes place this Thursday 6th November. It will be followed by a UK release by Cineworld in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Brighton from 7th November 2014, opening the doors to local communities. Be sure to get yourselves down there and support this great venture!

The documentary has already been screened worldwide throughout Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, India and Europe to great critical acclaim. To view the trailer to the documentary visit: My Sweet Canary Trailer The album “Homage To Roza� by Martha D Lewis is available to buy at Amazon and ITunes.

parikiaki.com

UK Cypriot on Radio 4 midweek

http://www.parikiaki.com/2014/10/uk-cypriot-on-radio-4-midweek/

13 October 2014

Martha was on Radio 4’s Midweek on Wednesday with Ray Winstone and Sir Ranulph Fiennes http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04kf5zj – Martha is on in the last 15 mins roughly. She explains to Dr John Bradshaw who is an animal behaviourist that she’s allergic to cats!.

Libby Purves meets actor Ray Winstone; adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes; singer and songwriter Martha D Lewis and animal behaviourist Dr John Bradshaw.

UK Cypriot Martha D Lewis is a singer and songwriter. She is performing at The Trilogy of the Greek Blues festival, inspired by rembetiko singer Roza Eskenazi. Rembetiko music is derived from Greek urban folk music and in her day Roza was feted as the Greek Billie Holiday. Martha, who has just produced an album called Homage to Roza, features in a documentary, My Sweet Canary, about the life of Roza. Rembetika & Beyond: A Journey Into the Greek Blues tour begins at the Millfield Theatre, London and later at the London Jazz Festival.

Dr John Bradshaw is an animal behaviourist and the founder and director of the Anthrozoology Institute at the University of Bristol. Anthrozoology is the study of interactions between humans and animals. He is one of the presenters of the BBC Two series Cat Watch which uses GPS tracking technology and cat-cams to follow a range of felines from city centre cats to farm cats. Cat Watch 2014: The New Horizon Experiment is broadcast on BBC Two. Cat Sense by Dr John Bradshaw is published by Penguin.

Ray Winstone is an actor best known for playing often brutal characters in films such as Sexy Beast, Scum and Nil by Mouth. In his autobiography he writes about growing up in East London where he was a schoolboy boxing champion. His breakthrough came in 1997 when he starred as an abusive husband in Nil By Mouth. He has since worked with directors including Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Anthony Minghella. Young Winstone is published by Canongate.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes OBE was the first man to reach both poles by surface travel and the first to cross the Antarctic unsupported. In 2009 he became the oldest Briton to reach the summit of Everest. His new book explores how his own ancestors were key players through the centuries of turbulent Anglo-French history that led up to the Battle of Agincourt. Agincourt – My Family, The Battle and The Fight for France is published by Hodder & Stoughton.

wandsworthguardian.co.uk http://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/news/11581538.Wandsworth_Cineworld_shows_feature_documentary_My_Sweet_Canary/

Wandsworth Cineworld shows feature documentary My Sweet Canary (From Wandsworth Guardian) Molly O'Shea

Thursday 6 November 2014

Wandsworth Cineworld shows feature documentary My Sweet Canary

Wandsworth Cineworld shows feature documentary My Sweet Canary Cineworld Wandsworth is to release the award-winning international feature documentary, My Sweet Canary, from November 7.

Sirected by Roy Sher, the production focuses on the fascinating life of the iconic Greek-Jewish singer, Roza Eskenazi.

The film follows three young musicians, Mehtap Demir, Tomer Katz and Martha D Lewis, as they explore the musical journey the Queen of Rembetika made in her life, and the history of rembetiko music. Rembetiko, also known as the Greek Blues was inspired by the experiences of refugees, the unemployed, impoverished and criminal underclass.

Born in Istanbul’s Jewish Quarter, Roza led a fascinating life during a career spanning two world wars.

She survived an upheaval involving about 2m of the Greek-Turkish population, became a single mother at 15 and escaped persecution by the Nazis.

Mr Sher says: "The biographical portrait I had originally planned would be balanced and harmonised with a distinct musical path, sometimes playing in the background, sometimes surging to the forefront, but constantly present throughout the film."

My Sweet Canary is accompanied by a CD launch called Homage to Roza by Martha D Lewis at the London Jazz Festival.

Wandsworth’s release follows a UK premiere, in aid of the Leukaemia Cancer Society, on November 6 in Enfield.

The documentary has already been screened in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, India and Europe to great critical acclaim.

Visit cineworld.co.uk/cinemas/london-wandsworth.

Rembetika and Beyond National Previews

allevents.in

http://allevents.in/london/the-concert-rembetika-and-beyond/288364374686893

The Concert - Rembetika & Beyond

Award winning spine tingling vocalists and musicians Martha D Lewis and Eve Polycarpou return to Millfield with their stompingly successful show ‘Rembetika and Beyond a journey into the Greek Blues’.

“Not to be missed” TIME OUT This years show will also feature songs from the globally released award winning feature film documentary ‘My Sweet Canary’ the story of the First Lady of the Greek Blues, Roza Eskenazy which receives its UK Premiere in Cineworld this month and features Martha D Lewis. With special guest singers and musicians this will be a passionate musical performance of Greek blues to rock the soul!

All profits from this show will be in aid of Leukaemia Cancer Society.

Tickets cost £15 - call Millfield Box office Tel: 020 8807 6680 Map Leukaemia Cancer Society, 118 Myddleton Road, London, United Kingdom

wow247.co.uk http://www.wow247.co.uk/london/music/millfield-arts-centre-xmilart9/rembetika-and-beyond-a-journey-into-the-greek-bluesyremgre14/

Rembetika And Beyond: A Journey Into The Greek Blues Oct 14, 7.45pm-10pm

Millfield Arts Centre, London Award-winning spine tingling vocalists and musicians Martha D Lewis and Eve Polycarpou return to Millfield with their stompingly successful show 'Rembetika and Beyond a journey into the Greek Blues'.

"Not to be missed" TIME OUT This years show will also feature songs from the globally released award winning feature film documentary 'My Sweet Canary' the story of the First Lady of the Greek Blues, Roza Eskenazy which receives its UK Premiere in Cineworld this month and features Martha D Lewis. With special guest singers and musicians this will be a passionate musical performance of Greek blues to rock the soul! enfield.gov.uk/millfield/homepage/18/whats_on_millfield_theatre

Rembetika and Beyond Community Previews

enfieldfestivals.com

http://www.enfieldfestivals.com/event/details/rembetika-and-beyond-a-journey-into-the-greek-blues/

» Rembetika and Beyond: A journey into the Greek Blues Martha & Eve Award winning spine tingling vocalists and musicians Martha D Lewis and Eve Polycarpou return to Millfield with their stompingly successful show ‘Rembetika and Beyond a journey into the Greek Blues’.

“Not to be missed” TIME OUT This years show will also feature songs from the globally released award winning feature film documentary ‘My Sweet Canary’ the story of the First Lady of the Greek Blues, Roza Eskenazy which receives its UK Premiere in Cineworld this month and features Martha D Lewis. With special guest singers and musicians this will be a passionate musical performance of Greek blues to rock the soul!

All profits from this show will be in aid of Leukaemia Cancer Society.

Tickets £15

palmersgreencommunity.org.uk http://www.palmersgreencommunity.org.uk/pgc/index.php/event-details?event_id=84405132

Event Details Tuesday 14 October 7.45pm

Rembetika and Beyond: A journey into the Greek Blues Millfield Theatre, Silver Street, N18 1PJ Award winning spine tingling vocalists and musicians Martha D Lewis and Eve Polycarpou return to Millfield with their stompingly successful show ‘Rembetika and Beyond a journey into the Greek Blues’.

“Not to be missed” TIME OUT This years show will also feature songs from the globally released award winning feature film documentary ‘My Sweet Canary’, the story of the First Lady of the Greek Blues, Roza Eskenazy, which receives its UK Premiere in Cineworld this month and features Martha D Lewis.

With special guest singers and musicians this will be a passionate musical performance of Greek blues to rock the soul!

All profits from this show will be in aid of Leukaemia Cancer Society.

Tickets £15 There will be a £1.50 Transaction Booking Fee.

Rembetika and Beyond National Listings

list.co.uk

https://www.list.co.uk/event/20699956-rembetika-and-beyond-a-journey-into-the-greek-blues/

Rembetika And Beyond: A Journey Into The Greek Blues Award-winning spine tingling vocalists and musicians Martha D Lewis and Eve Polycarpou return to Millfield with their stompingly successful show 'Rembetika and Beyond a journey into the Greek Blues'. Š2014 The List Ltd.

visitlondon.com http://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/event/32659984-martha-and-eve-rembetika-tribute-at-millfield-arts-centre

Martha & Eve: Rembetika Tribute at Millfield Arts Centre

Millfield Arts Centre Silver Street, Edmonton, London, N18 1PJ

Prices: Adult Ticket from ÂŁ12.00 -

Millfield Arts Centre Silver Street Edmonton London N18 1PJ

Rembetika and Beyond Community Listings

Rembetika and Beyond a journey into the Greek Blues Date: Tuesday, 28 October 2014 [20:15] Venue: Komedia, 44-47 Gardner Street, Brighton BN1 1UN Details: Award winning spine tingling vocalists and musicians Martha D Lewis and Eve Polycarpou return to Millfield with their stompingly successful show ‘Rembetika and Beyond a journey into the Greek Blues’. This years show will also feature songs from the globally released award winning feature film documentary ‘My Sweet Canary’ the story of the First Lady of the Greek Blues, Roza Eskenazy. With special guest singers and musicians this will be a passionate musical performance of Greek blues to rock the soul! All profits from this show will be in aid of Leukaemia Cancer Society.

For more information and bookings click here.

My Sweet Canary Coverage

blog.onthebox.com

http://blog.onthebox.com/2014/11/07/my-sweet-canary/

My Sweet Canary Dee O'Donoghue

If you were to look back on some of the great international singing divas of the twentieth century, the names of Edith Piaf, Maria Callas and Judy Garland roll off the tongue with ease. While Piaf moved audiences with dramatically aching ballads, Callas seduced with sonorous operatic arias and Garland belted out musical classics with violent vibratos, Jewish singer Roza Eskenazi, who became Greece’s biggest musical export in the 1930s,

appears to have been consigned to the dusty musical archives of a by-gone era, remembered only by those of a certain generation located around the Aegean sea. In his film My Sweet Canary, director Roy Sher intends to revive the memory of the forgotten songstress, employing a group of three young musicians to retrace her journey from Turkey to Greece and explore the cultural significance of Eskenazi’s legacy and its impact on the lives of young Aegean musicians today.

Eskenazi was born in Constantinople in the 1890s, the exact date unknown due to her desire to remain younger the older she became. Moving to Thessaloniki as a young child, the family rented accommodation near the Grand Hotel Theatre, cementing her ambition to become a performer. Despite a penurious childhood, family disapproval and an attempt by Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas to censor rebetiko due to its subversive content, she rose to international acclaim in the 1930s with her powerful vocal range in the Greek urban rebetiko tradition.

The three young musicians travel to the most significant places in Eskenazi’s career to recreate her most memorable songs with local musicians, while second hand accounts from those who knew her, paint a panegyric of an artist, a singer, a dancer but predominantly, a career driven diva. The film results in a staccato-like synopsis of her back catalogue of hits without ever really delving into the intimate side of the woman whose backstage performances were just as theatrical as those onstage. An illegitimate son, an affair with a Gestapo officer and a lifelong affair with a man twenty years her junior, equip the director with enough scope to balance the film between public success and private complexities but while such affairs are alluded to they are never fully explored.

Given the seditious tone and urban, marginalised philosophy of rebetiko music, a further investigation into the private Eskenazi would have been beneficial to align her musical success with that of urban musical culture.

While the recordings certainly attest to the magnificence of her voice you cannot help but feel slightly cheated at not fully unmasking the woman behind the myth. As fans of Piaf, Callas and Garland can attest to, it is the knowledge of star’s private tribulations that heighten the significance of musical performances and keep the legend alive long after they have gone. It is a film well worth seeing nonetheless and you will come away learning a lot about the rich tradition of rebetiko music; you just may not learn as much about Roza Eskenazi as you would hope.

My Sweet Canary is released in selected UK Cineworld cinemas on 7 November

brillfilms.com

http://www.brillfilms.com/2014/11/roza-eskenazi-canary-of-the-aegean/

Roza Eskenazi: canary of the Aegean It’s a short song, but rich and intriguing. “My sweet canary,” it begins. “You took my mind./ In the morning you wake me/ When you sing so sweetly.” Although it’s sung in Greek, you get the drift even without a translation: there’s something hard and yearning in the voice of its singer, Roza Eskenazi, a mingling of desire, infatuation and pain.

Eskenazi was the queen of rembetika, the Greek blues, a genre that sprang up in the Aegean’s port towns in the 1920s.

She was a prodigious and prolific talent, revered for her soul and her charisma, as well as for giving a voice to the underclass: the displaced, the poor and the desperate. Yet until now, her music and the extraordinary details of her life have remained relatively unknown. This month, however, Eskenazi will be celebrated – in a new album that pays tribute to her music, and in a documentary film, My Sweet Canary, that tells the story of a life and a career that encompassed two world wars, an elopement, a long-lost son, the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, German occupation, wartime resistance, imprisonment, and of course extraordinary music.

“The thing that struck me was the lack of any information about her,” says Martha D Lewis, the British-born Cypriot composer who this week releases Homage to Roza, a collection of reworked versions of Eskenazi songs.

“It’s like the work of Billie Holiday going by undocumented.”

Eskenazi was born Sarah Skinazi in Constantinople, probably in the 1890s, and her childhood was somewhat itinerant, as her parents worked as rag-traders, mill-workers and maids. Although her family would not sanction a career as a performer, she was rebellious enough to become first a dancer then a singer, and elope in her teens with a much older man, then shave 10 years off her age and rename herself Roza Eskenazi. In the late 1920s, she was singing in a club when famed rembetika composer and record label boss Panagiotis Toundas happened to hear her. He convinced her, in the autumn of 1929, to make her first recordings. Their success was immediate, not only ensuring Eskenazi’s own fame but propelling rembetika into the mainstream.

Eskenazi recorded about 500 songs in the following decade, becoming one of several Greek artists – and the first woman – to be flown to the US to record for Columbia. She sang in Greek, Turkish, Armenian, Arabic, Yiddish, Ladino and Italian, writing her own compositions, too, including My Sweet Canary. Misirlou, one of her songs from this time, would appear on the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.

During the German occupation, Eskenazi ran a nightclub in Athens where, despite her Jewish heritage, she managed to escape deportation thanks to a fake baptism certificate and an affair with a German officer. She hid resistance fighters and British agents in her home and saved the lives of many Jews – including her own family – until she was finally exposed in 1943. She spent three months in prison before being released, thanks to campaigning by her German lover and her son.

Although her career then waned, her music enjoyed a revival in the 1970s, with TV shows and live performances, leading to her final concert in 1977. She died three years later, living out her final days in the company of her long-term companion, a police officer 30 years her junior. “She was a fighter,” says Lewis. “How can you have all of that in your life and not have that in your voice?”

Eskenazi’s songs have been a constant throughout Lewis’s life. The musician grew up in the Greek-Cypriot community in London. “We would go to weddings and christenings almost every single weekend,” she says, “and we would hear these songs. Like aAny immigrant community, theywe would will cling on to theirourits culture.

And, so tThey were part of my upbringing. My parents would sing along, like they were in a football stadium – from their hearts.”

In 2008, the director Roy Sher began making a documentary about Eskenazi and asked Lewis to be involved.

“The idea was to make a road movie,” Lewis explains. “He wanted to get a Greek, a Turk and a Jew involved in telling Roza’s story, to find places in their countries still playing her music. I was the Greek.”

They visited the Greek community in Jerusalem, then went on to Istanbul, Thessalonica, Athens and Piraeus.

“What was interesting,” says Lewis, “was that the people in Turkey think the songs are theirs, as do the people in Jerusalem and Greece. But what the film dares to say is that they belong to all of us. In fact, what makes these songs is the fusion of those three cultures.”

At one point, Lewis found herself on stage singing Eskenazi songs with 12 other musicians, of Israeli, Greek and Turkish heritage. “We were singing in different languages,” she says. “Roza used to say she was nationality-less, because she embodied so many different cultures. And there we all were, in a loving and peaceful environment, playing her songs together.”

• The UK premiere of My Sweet Canary is at Cineworld, London EN1, tomorrow at 8pm. Homage to Roza will be launched at the London jazz festival on 23 November.

greece.com

http://www.greece.com/news/3990/Roza_Eskenazi_Celebrated.html

Roza Eskenazi Celebrated Wednesday, November 5th, 2014 Last Update: 12:59 Roza Eskenazi was the queen of rembetika, the Greek blues, a genre that sprang up in the Aegean’s port towns in the 1920s. She was an amazing talent, yet until now, her music and the extraordinary details of her life have remained relatively unknown.

However, a new album that pays tribute to her music, and the documentary film My Sweet Canary'/ The story of Roza Eskenazi , directed by Roy Sher, will celebrate the “Canary of the Aegean.” The documentary is a colorful cinematic and musical journey, full of life, that follows three young musicians from Israel, Turkey and Greece, on a journey motivated by the influence of Roza Eskenazi's life, as an artist and as a woman.

Eskenazi recorded about 500 songs, becoming one of several Greek artists – and the first woman – to be flown to the US to record for Columbia. She sang in Greek, Turkish, Armenian, Arabic, Yiddish, Ladino and Italian, writing her own compositions, too, including My Sweet Canary. Misirlou, one of her songs from this time, would appear on the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.

The story of her life and career encompassed two world wars, an elopement, a long-lost son, the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, German occupation, wartime resistance, imprisonment, and of course extraordinary music.

The UK premiere of My Sweet Canary is at Cineworld, London, on Thursday (11.06).

Homage to Roza will be launched at the London jazz festival on November 23.

See also The Guardian: Roza Eskenazi: canary of the Aegean & My Sweet Canary Trailer

lifo.gr

http://www.lifo.gr/team/music/52836

Mε ένα σμυρνέϊκο μινόρε, η Ρόζα Εσκενάζυ, ανοίγει τα φτερά της πάνω απ' την Ευρώπη Ο Roy Sher στην πρεμιέρα του Μy sweet canary στην Θεσσαλονίκη Από τονΘΑΝΑΣΗ ΧΑΡΑΜΗ Όλα ξεκίνησαν σε ένα μικρό νυχτερινό κέντρο της Ιερουσαλήμ. Ο Roy Sher ακούει την τραγουδίστρια Hadas Pal Yarden να ερμηνεύει σε ακαταλαβίστικη για αυτόν γλώσσα, μερικά συγκλονιστικά τραγούδια. Η τραγουδίστρια μοιράζεται με το κοινό τη ζωή της Ρόζας και συνεχίζει με το "Σμυρνέικο Μινόρε". Ο Roy εξακολουθεί να μην καταλαβαίνει τους στίχους, αλλά στο πρώτο " Αμάν - Αμάν" αισθάνεται ένα ρίγος να τον διαπερνά. Όταν αναζήτησε πληροφορίες για την ιστορία της τραγουδίστριας, βρήκε ελάχιστες. Αποφασίζει να καταγράψει τη ζωή της. Η αποστολή του δεν ήταν εύκολη. Υπήρχαν ελάχιστες αξιόπιστες πηγές για την Ρόζα που τραγoύδια της ακούγονται ακόμη ως σήμερα.

Ο Roy αποφασίζει να κάνει ένα ντοκιμαντέρ για την Ρόζα και τότε συνειδητοποιεί πως στην περίπτωσή της, η μουσική ήταν επιβλητικότερη από την εικόνα. Η ιστορία της έπρεπε να ειπωθεί μέσα από τα τραγούδια της και η ταινία θα διαμορφώνονταν απ΄αυτά. Ταξίδεψε στην Ελλάδα και την Τουρκία, έψαξε να βρει τους συγγενείς της, επισκέφτηκε τα μέρη που μεγάλωσε και έλαμψε η Ρόζα και έγινε δέσμιος της διαχρονικής γοητείας της ρεμπέτισσας.

Ξεκίνησε σαν χορεύτρια και κατέληξε η πρώτη και σημαντικότερη τραγουδίστρια της Ελληνικής

ρεμπέτικης μουσικής. Η Ρόζα που μάγευε και σαγήνευε με τη φωνή της, που είχε όλους τους άντρες στα πόδια της και έδινε ένα κομμάτι της ψυχής της σε κάθε τραγούδι.

H σεφαραδίτισσα θρύλος του ρεμπέτικου, γεννήθηκε ως Σάρα Σκιναζί. Παιδί μιας φτωχής εβραϊκής οικογένειας της Κωνσταντινούπολης βρέθηκε στις αρχές του αιώνα στην Θεσσαλονίκη η οποία τότε βρισκόταν ακόμη υπό Οθωμανική κυριαρχία. Λίγα χρόνια αργότερα μετακομίζουν στην Κομοτηνή, αλλά όταν η Ρόζα επιστρέφει στην Θεσσαλονίκη αρχίζει να φλερτάρει με το πάλκο που ήταν και το όνειρό της. Ξεκίνησε σαν χορεύτρια και κατέληξε η πρώτη και σημαντικότερη τραγουδίστρια της Ελληνικής ρεμπέτικης μουσικής. Η Ρόζα που μάγευε και σαγήνευε με τη φωνή της, που είχε όλους τους άντρες στα πόδια της και έδινε ένα κομμάτι της ψυχής της σε κάθε τραγούδι. Η Ρόζα που ερμήνευσε πάνω από 500 τραγούδια σε περισσότερες από πέντε γλώσσες και έγινε η πρώτη τραγουδίστρια που πέταξε για ηχογράφηση στην Columbia. Μια γυναίκα που έγινε θρύλος και κληροδότησε ένα ολόκληρο έθνος με τη λαϊκή φωνή και τα τραγούδια της. Πέθανε στην Κηπούπολη Περιστερίου, στις 2 Δεκεμβρίου του 1980. Την έθαψαν σε έναν πρόχειρο τάφο στο Στόμιο της Κορινθίας. Το 2008 τα μέλη του πολιτιστικού σωματείου του χωριού συγκέντρωσαν χρήματα και πρόσθεσαν έναν μαρμάρινο σταυρό, που έγραφε «Ρόζα Εσκενάζυ, Καλλιτέχνις»

Ο μεχρι πρότινος ανώνυμος τάφος της Ρόζας Εσκενάζυ, στο Στόμιο της Κορινθίας

Μετά από 18 μήνες έρευνας, η ταινία «Καναρίνι μου γλυκό» - Η ιστορία της Ρόζας Εσκενάζυ, έκανε την παγκόσμια πρεμιέρα της ανοίγοντας το 13ο Φεστιβάλ Ντοκιμαντέρ Θεσσαλονίκης, στις 11 Μαρτίου 2011 προς τιμήν της Ρόζας, που μεγάλωσε και έζησε στη Θεσσαλονίκη, αλλά και προς τιμήν της πόλης αυτής, που διαχρονικά αποτελεί το σταυροδρόμι της Ανατολής με τη Δύση.

O Roy Sher συστήνει την Ρόζα Εσκενάζυ και τη μουσική της τόσο στην Ελλάδα όσο και στο εξωτερικό μέσα από το μουσικό ταξίδι που καταγράφεται στην ταινία. Μια ταινία που με εικόνες, γεγονότα, συγκίνηση και πολύ μουσική ξεδιπλώνει μπροστά μας την ιστορία της προκατοχικής περιόδου της Ελλάδας μέσα από τη ζωή της. Η πολυεθνική καταγωγή της, η μουσική της διαδρομή, η καριέρα της και το ταλέντο της, της έδωσαν τη δυνατότητα να κάνει γνωστό το τεράστιο ρεπερτόριό της σε ένα κοινό μεγάλης κλίμακας από την Ελλάδα, την Τουρκία, αλλά και παγκοσμίως όπου υπάρχουν Έλληνες και Τούρκοι αλλά και λάτρεις του μουσικού αυτού είδους.

Η μουσική παράσταση είναι μια αναφορά στη μουσική και τη ζωή της Ρόζας Εσκενάζυ. Δίνει τη δυνατότητα στο θεατή να γίνει μέρος της ταινίας και της μουσικής ιστορίας της Μεσογείου. Περιλαμβάνει μέρη μουσικά, κινηματογραφικά και αφηγηματικά και στόχος της είναι να μεταφέρει συγκινησιακά το κοινό στην Ελλάδα, την εποχή του ρεμπέτικου του '30. Το μουσικό πολυεθνικό γκρουπ «Καναρίνι μου Γλυκό», αποτελείται από 12 μουσικούς και δημιουργήθηκε το 2009 – 2010 κατά τη διάρκεια της παραγωγής του ομότιτλου ντοκιμαντέρ. Οι μουσικοί που αποτελούν το γκρουπ προέρχονται από την Ελλάδα, την Τουρκία και το Ισραήλ και την Αγγλία συναντήθηκαν και ταξίδεψαν στη Μεσόγειο, ακολουθώντας τα ίχνη της σύγχρονης ρεμπέτικης σκηνής της Τουρκίας και της Ελλάδας παίζοντας σε ζωντανές εμφανίσεις στην Κωνσταντινούπολη, τη Θεσσαλονίκη και την Αθήνα. Οι νέες ερμηνείες που προέκυψαν στα διαχρονικά τραγούδια της Ρόζας Εσκενάζυ από τις συναντήσεις αυτές, επιβεβαιώνουν για ακόμη μια φορά ότι η μουσική και ο πολιτισμός μπορεί να γεφυρώσει το χώρο, το χρόνο αλλά και την ιστορία.

Εσκενάζυ Ρόζα, Δημήτρης Σέμσης & Ευάγγελος Τομπούλης.1932

Προχθές, Πέμπτη 6 Νοεμβρίου, η Ρόζα έκανε την πρεμιέρα της στη Βρετανία στο Cineworld του Λονδίνου. Στις 23 Νοεμβρίου η Martha D Lewis που συμμετείχε στο ντοκιμαντέρ του Roy, γιορτάζει την κυκλοφορία του δίσκου που αφιέρωσε στην Εσκενάζυ με μια μεγάλη συναυλία στο φεστιβάλ τζαζ του Λονδίνου. Η Ρόζα όπως αναφέρεται στην ιστοσελίδα του My Secret Canary ήταν η κυρία των ελληνικών μπλουζ, μια Μπίλι Χολιντέι της Ελλάδας.

Ψάχνω να βρω τον Roy για να μάθω πώς αισθάνεται που τρία χρόνια μετά την πρεμιέρα στην Θεσσαλονίκη, ο φόρος τιμής που απέτισε στην ελληνίδα ρεμπέτισσα, συνεχίζει το ταξίδι του. Η Ρόζα κάνει τους ανθρώπους στην άλλη άκρη της Ευρώπης να χορεύουν τους αμανέδες που τον συγκίνησαν στην Ιερουσαλήμ και αυτός έχει βγάλει τον σκύλο του βόλτα στο πάρκο της Ιερουσαλήμ. Στο τηλέφωνο ακούω ένα ενθουσιασμένο παιδί να μου μιλά λαχανιασμένο:

"Mετά την πρεμιέρα της Ρόζας στην Αγγλία, με κάλεσαν στο εδώ στούντιο του BBC για να μιλήσω για το πρότζεκτ. Ο δημοσιογράφος είχε δει το ντοκιμαντέρ με προσοχή και είχε ετοιμάσει τις ερωτήσεις του. Άρχισα να φοβάμαι πως θα ήταν δύσκολο να θυμηθώ την ιστορία της, τα τραγούδια της, την ψυχή της και όσα έζησα όσο δούλευα το " Καναρίνι μου γλυκό". Αυτή την περίοδο δουλεύω ένα έργο που αναφέρεται στην όπερα και τώρα έπρεπε να επιστρέψω στον κόσμο της Ρόζας. Με το που ξεκίνησα να μιλώ για αυτήν όλα επέστρεψαν στο μυαλό μου. Θυμήθηκα τα πάντα, σαν να συνέβαιναν εκείνη τη στιγμή. Όλη η διαδρομή μου και τα ταξίδια μου στην Ελλάδα, όλοι οι μουσικοί από την Τουρκία, το Ισραήλ και τη χώρα σας, όλοι οι άνθρωποι που συνάντησα και μου μίλησαν για εκείνη, όσοι μοιράστηκαν την αγάπη τους για τη Ρόζα, ήταν εκεί. Προσπάθησα να σκεφτώ τι μου είχε αφήσει όλο αυτό το ταξίδι. Όταν όλα έχουν τελειώσει και η γιορτή φτάνει στο φινάλε της αυτό που τελικά μένει είναι το ίδιο το ταξίδι. Αυτό ήταν και το δώρο της σε εμένα. Για αυτό και μόνο Ρόζα σ' ευχαριστώ."

www.mysweetcanary.com

greeknewsagenda.gr

http://www.greeknewsagenda.gr/2014/11/roza-eskenazi-celebrated.html

Roza Eskenazi Celebrated Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Roza Eskenazi was the queen of rembetika, the Greek blues, a genre that sprang up in the Aegean’s port towns in the 1920s. She was an amazing talent, yet until now, her music and the extraordinary details of her life have remained relatively unknown.

However, a new album that pays tribute to her music, and the documentary film My Sweet Canary'/ The story of Roza Eskenazi , directed by Roy Sher, will celebrate the “Canary of the Aegean.” The documentary is a colorful cinematic and musical journey, full of life, that follows three young musicians from Israel, Turkey and Greece, on a journey motivated by the influence of Roza Eskenazi's life, as an artist and as a woman.

Eskenazi recorded about 500 songs, becoming one of several Greek artists – and the first woman – to be flown to the US to record for Columbia. She sang in Greek, Turkish, Armenian, Arabic, Yiddish, Ladino and Italian, writing her own compositions, too, including My Sweet Canary. Misirlou, one of her songs from this time, would appear on the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.

The story of her life and career encompassed two world wars, an elopement, a long-lost son, the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, German occupation, wartime resistance, imprisonment, and of course extraordinary music.

The UK premiere of My Sweet Canary is at Cineworld, London, on Thursday (11.06). Homage to Roza will be launched at the London jazz festival on November 23.

See also The Guardian: Roza Eskenazi: canary of the Aegean & My Sweet Canary Trailer

wandsworthguardian.co.uk http://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/news/11581538.Wandsworth_Cineworld_shows_feature_documentary_My_Sweet_Canary/

Wandsworth Cineworld shows feature documentary My Sweet Canary (From Wandsworth Guardian) Molly O'Shea

Thursday 6 November 2014

News

Wandsworth Cineworld shows feature documentary My Sweet Canary

Wandsworth Cineworld shows feature documentary My Sweet Canary

Cineworld Wandsworth is to release the award-winning international feature documentary, My Sweet Canary, from November 7.

Sirected by Roy Sher, the production focuses on the fascinating life of the iconic Greek-Jewish singer, Roza Eskenazi.

The film follows three young musicians, Mehtap Demir, Tomer Katz and Martha D Lewis, as they explore the musical journey the Queen of Rembetika made in her life, and the history of rembetiko music. Rembetiko, also known as the Greek Blues was inspired by the experiences of refugees, the unemployed, impoverished and criminal underclass.

Born in Istanbul’s Jewish Quarter, Roza led a fascinating life during a career spanning two world wars.

She survived an upheaval involving about 2m of the Greek-Turkish population, became a single mother at 15 and escaped persecution by the Nazis.

Mr Sher says: "The biographical portrait I had originally planned would be balanced and harmonised with a distinct musical path, sometimes playing in the background, sometimes surging to the forefront, but constantly

present throughout the film."

Wandsworth’s release follows a UK premiere, in aid of the Leukaemia Cancer Society, on November 6 in Enfield.

My Sweet Canary is accompanied by a CD launch called Homage to Roza by Martha D Lewis at the London Jazz Festival.

The documentary has already been screened in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, India and Europe to great critical acclaim.

Visit cineworld.co.uk/cinemas/london-wandsworth.

pappaspost.com http://www.pappaspost.com/roza-eskenazy-one-greeces-greats-finally-gets-due-london-premier-documentary/

Roza Eskenazy, One of Greece’s Greats Finally Gets Her Due in London Premier of Documentary By admin

She recorded over 500 songs in her time and was the first Greek female singer to be flown to the United States to record for Columbia. One of her songs would even appear on the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic Pulp Fiction and still today, many of her songs are repeatedly performed on CDs and in nightclubs by Greece’s top songs.

Yet, Roza Eskenazi was buried in an unmarked grave in a tiny village where she spent the last years of her life and most young aficionados of Greek music today have probably never heard of her. But they certainly know her songs.

Her due as one of Greece’s greatest and most influential singers came this week when a documentary paying tribute to her life, and international legacy, was premiered in London— and will follow with a week of screenings at the Cineworld Theaters.

The film is called My Sweet Canary and tracks the life of the singer via the journey of a group of musicians who travel to Greece, Israel and Turkey, exploring the locations and cultures that impacted the legendary Eskenazi’s career.

Roza Eskenazi was born Sarah Skinazi in Constantinople to a rag dealer father and a mother who worked odd jobs, including housekeeping. The Greek Jewish family eventually relocated to Thessaloniki, which was still part of the Ottoman Empire and under a heavy Turkish influence, culturally. This impacted Roza growing up and would eventually influence her music, as would her dual Greek and Jewish heritage.

Her family refused Roza’s desire to be an entertainer. She rebelled and became a dancer, first— then a singer. In her teens, she ran off with a man much older than her and eloped while simultaneously pursuing her passion of singing.

She changed her name to Roza Eskenazi on the stage and got her big break in the late 1920s while singing in a nightclub and was “discovered” by famed composer and record label boss Panagiotis Toundas. He signed her to her first record deal in late 1929, leading Eskenazi to immediate success, not only ensuring Eskenazi’s own fame but propelling a genre called “rembetika” into the Greek mainstream.

She sang in seven languages— Greek, Turkish, Armenian, Arabic, Yiddish, Ladino and Italian, writing her own compositions, too, including My Sweet Canary, or Καναρίνι μου γλυκό, one of the most popular and reproduced Greek songs of all time, which she released in both Greek and Turkish at the time.

She quickly became known as the queen of Rembetika— the seedy, drug-ridden music of Greece’s poor and desperate underclass— a sort of Greek blues, which would ultimately become the foundation of all popular Greek music that we hear today.

Many of her songs were controversial, touching the very soul of the newly arrived refugee immigrants that were kicked out of Asia Minor who had settled in Aegean island coastal towns. Several dealt with drug abuse and addiction— including Πρέζα όταν Πιείς (“When You Take Heroin”), which was banned by Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas.

Her fame spread throughout the Greek world, including throughout the immigrant communities in the United States, where she would perform several times throughout the 1950s.

She became embroiled in the history of the era she lived in and was represented by the nation she sang for and

the cultures that defined her— Greek, Jewish and Ottoman Turkish.

During the Nazi occupation, Eskenazi ran a nightclub in Athens. Despite her Jewish heritage, she managed to escape deportation thanks to a fake baptism certificate procured via the Greek Orthodox Archbishop and police chief who were working in collusion to save the city’s Jews.

It was also well-known and controversial at the time that Eskenazi had a public affair with a German officer.

But Roza Eskenazi was hardly a traitor or even a collaborator. She hid resistance fighters and British agents in her home and saved the lives of many Jews – including her own family – until she was finally exposed in 1943.

She spent three months in prison before being released, thanks to campaigning by her German lover. She spent the rest of the war in hiding, fearful that she might be arrested again.

In 2008, the director Roy Sher began making a documentary about Eskenazi’s life and music. He enlisted the support of Martha D Lewis, a British-born Cypriot composer who this week released Homage to Roza , her very own rendition to Roza Eskenazi’s classic songs in a remastered, jazz approach.

Sher got a Greek (Lewis), a Turk and a Jew to tell Roza’s story through the journey and through song, traveling to countries whose cultures impacted Roza’s career, and coincidentally, where her songs are still being sung.

They visited the Greek community in Jerusalem, then went on to Istanbul, Thessaloniki, Athens and Piraeus.

“What was interesting,” Lewis told The Guardian in an interview , “was that the people in Turkey think the songs are theirs, as do the people in Jerusalem and Greece. But what the film dares to say is that they belong to all of us. In fact, what makes these songs is the fusion of those three cultures.”

At one point, Lewis found herself on stage singing Eskenazi songs with 12 other musicians, of Israeli, Greek and Turkish heritage. “We were singing in different languages,” she says. “Roza used to say she was nationality-less, because she embodied so many different cultures. And there we all were, in a loving and peaceful environment, playing her songs together.”

My Sweet Canary Regional Listings

visitbirmingham.com

http://visitbirmingham.com/what-to-do/festivals-events/stage-screen/my-sweet-canary/

My Sweet Canary 7 November, Cineworld My Sweet Canary is an award winning feature documentary about an iconic Greek-Jewish singer born in the 1890's

On 6 November 2014, Roy Sher’s award-winning international feature documentary about the life of the ‘Queen of Rembetika’ – iconic Greek-Jewish singer Roza Eskenazi – will receive its UK premiere. My Sweet Canary follows three young musicians – Mehtap Demir, Tomer Katz and Martha D Lewis – as they trace the exuberant musical journey that Roza made in her life and explore the history of rembetiko music.

The UK premiere, in aid of the Leukaemia Cancer Society, will be followed by a UK release by Cineworld in Tickets can be brough via Cineworld at cineworld.co.uk Birmingham from 7 November 2014, opening the doors to local communities. The documentary has already been screened worldwide throughout Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, India and Europe to great critical acclaim.

DJ Ritu

29/10/2014 10:32

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GOIN' GLOBAL GIGS GUIDE - A World In London Oct 13th - Apr 30th: Brunei Gallery - SOAS Concert Series incl.Olcay Bayir, London Klezmer Quartet, Jyotsna Srikanth, plus more! www.soas.ac.uk/concerts Oct 30 - New Empowering Church - Fofoulah album launch Oct 30 - Hammersmith Apollo - Pink Martini Oct 30 - Kings Place - Mosi Conde Oct 31 - Kings Place - Amira Kheir Nov 1 - Kings Place - LIFEM: Carmen Souza Nov 1 & 2 - Hackney Empire - Grand Union Orchestra Nov 2 - Chats Palace - Rad Orch/Eva Abraham Nov 3 - Old Queen's Head - Namvula Nov 4 - Rich Mix - Najma Akhtar + DJ Ritu Nov 6 - Cineworld Enfield - film preview 'My Sweet Canary' Nov 6 - Ajani Grill Hornsey - Chico Chica Nov 8 - Fosters Project - Kuch Kuch Bollywood Club Nov 8 - Barbican - Sachal Jazz Ensemble Nov 9 - Jazz Cafe - LIAF - Bangalore Dreams, Susheela Raman, Krar Collective, DJ Ritu ++ Nov 9 - Scala - Tamikrest Nov 11 - The Forge - Sounds & Souls for the Sahara with Sandblast Arts.

Nov 15 - Rich Mix - Somi Nov 16 - Roundhouse - Tinariwen + Yasmine Hamdan Nov 18 - Rich Mix - Pascuala Ilabaca Nov 20 - Village Underground - Tony Allen Nov 21 - The Dome - Club Kali Nov 23 - Purcell Room - Kasse Mady Diabate Nov 23 - Kings Place - Martha D. Lewis Nov 27 - Rich Mix - She'koyokh + Los Desterrados Nov 28 - Rich Mix - Mosaiques Fest Nov 29 - The Drift - Kuch Kuch Bollywood club Dec 11 - London Jewish Cultural Centre - She'koyokh Dec 13 - Fosters Project - Kuch Kuch Bollywood Club

http://www.djritu.com/news_industry_fullStory.php?nID=19

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jlifemagazine.co.uk http://www.jlifemagazine.co.uk/latest-news/news/september/october-2014/my-sweet-canary-comes-to-cineworld-in-didsbury.html

My Sweet Canary Comes to Cineworld in Didsbury Monday, 20 Oct 2014 7th November sees the release of My Sweet Canary in Manchester.

My Sweet Canary, coming to Cineworld in Didsbury on 7th November,follows three young musicians – Mehtap Demir, Tomer Katz and Martha D Lewis – as they trace the exuberant musical journey that Roza made in her life and explore the history of rembetiko music (also known as the ‘Greek Blues’).

Born in Istanbul’s Jewish Quarter, Roza led a fascinating life during a career spanning two world wars and four cultural capitals – Istanbul, Thessaloniki, Athens and New York. She survived the upheaval of the Greek-Turkish population exchange of 1923 involving around 2 million people, and became a single mother at 15. She also escaped persecution by the Nazis in the Thessaloniki occupation that resulted in mass deportation to Auschwitz of the Jewish community which made up around 20% of the city’s population in the 1940s.

Roza incorporated the countless ethnic influences that she encountered on this journey into her soulful performances of rembetiko music and was at the forefront of the genre’s breakthrough into popular culture. As well as exploring Roza’s life, the documentary looks at how, like other urban subcultural musical forms – such as the Blues, Fado and Tango – rembetiko grew out of particular urban circumstances and evolved to reflect the harsh realities of marginalized communities at that time, inspired by the experiences of refugees, the unemployed, impoverished and criminal underclass.

CINEWORLD DIDSBURY, Parrs Wood Entertainment Centre, East Didsbury, Manchester M20 5PG

For more informaiton, visit Mysweetcanary.com

Homage to Roza Coverage

thejc.com

http://www.thejc.com/arts/music/125768/she-was-voice-jewish-blues

She was the voice of the Jewish blues

By John Nathan, November 20, 2014 Follow The JC on Twitter Next week, the British Greek-Cypriot folk singer Martha D Lewis releases a CD whose inspiration is one of the great, overlooked solo artists of the last century. Homage to Roza revives the music performed by the Istanbul-born Roza Eskanazi who carved a career singing Rembetiko music, a style also known as the Greek blues.

"There may be singers with a better voice or technique but there is something unique about the way she interprets a song," says Israeli film director Roy Sher, whose documentary about Eskanazi, My Sweet Canary, is also released this month. "You can put Rembetiko up there with American Blues, Portuguese Fado, Spanish Tango - all the music that came from people from the economically lower echelons of society. You can find equivalent music throughout the Middle East. It's the music of the people," explains Sher.

Eskanazi's career took her from Turkey, to Greece, the Maghreb countries, and America, where she was signed by Columbia records. "When she opens her mouth, you can actually hear her life story being realised," says Sher.

She survived the German occupation of Salonica and the genocide of its Jews because a Gestapo officer was in love with her. "All this was in the voice," says Sher. "Many great singers paid a high price for their art. And this was Rosa's secret. She was willing to give up things you and I would not. At 16, she put her son in an orphanage because she wanted to sing." www.mysweetcanary.com Last updated: 1:42pm, November 20 2014