Angeliki Papazogolou had her life drastically change three times before the age of 45. She was forced to relocate from what had been the vibrant, sophisticated city of Smyrna to a crowded, poor neighbourhood of Athens. She lost her eyesight because of a genetic condition. And she became a widow when her husband, the noted Rebetiko composer Vangelis Papazoglou, died of tuberculosis during the Nazi occupation of Greece.
Angeliki was born in 1899 in Smyrna, the daughter of well-known santouri and violin player Dimitrios Maronitis. By the age of 11, she was performing alongside him. At 16, she was regularly performing at music halls throughout Smyrna, singing everything from rebetiko to popular light European music.
As the result of the population exchange in 1922-’23, she and her family wound up in the Kokkina neighbourhood of Athens. In 1924, she met Vangelis Papazoglou, already established as a composer, and three years later they were married. But her eyesight had already started to fade and in 1929 she lost her sight completely and stopped performing, reportedly at her husband’s request.
She didn’t stop singing, though, as there are seven songs, all recorded in 1934. Of those, six are soulful amandes that capture her smoothly expressive, full voice. (One source lists two other recordings of Greek folk songs in 1930s, but I haven’t been able to find those. And on YouTube, there are a couple of what sound like home recordings from late in Angeliki Papazaglou’s life including a mostly a cappella version of her husband’s song The Refugee.)
Over the late 1930s and early 1940s, her life became increasingly difficult. Her husband, faced with the demands of censors, stopped composing music. When the Nazis invaded in 1940, he refused to perform and had to try to survive as a junkman. He died in 1943 of tuberculosis. Angelika survived, but didn’t return to professionally performing or recording. She lived a quiet life in Athens until her death in 1983.
Galata manes (When I see you, I rejoice) was one of the six amandes recorded in 1934, with Kostas Skarvelis on guitar and Vangelis Andrias, nicknamed The Sailor, on violin.
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