Savina Yannatou

Greek singer, born in Athens in 1959, who sings the sacred and mystical folk traditions of the Mediterranean, the Balkans and Byzantium. She comes to them as an artist rather than from a liturgical role, and her voice carries devotional song across the languages and faiths that share that sea.

Her records draw on Byzantine, Greek and Near Eastern tradition. Virgin Maries of the World gathers devotional songs to the Virgin Mary from many cultures on one album, and Songs of the Mediterranean does the same for the sea itself. She works with the ensemble Primavera en Salonico, and a substantial part of her catalogue is on ECM, the label that has also carried Arvo Pärt. She tours internationally.