Eleni Karaindrou

Who is Eleni Karaindrou?

Eleni Karaindrou is a Greek composer, born in the village of Teichio in Phocis, Central Greece, on November 25, 1941. She is best known for scoring the films of director Theo Angelopoulos.

She moved with her family to Athens when she was eight years old and she studied piano and theory at the Hellenikon Odeion. She also attended history and archaeology classes at the university. In 1967 with the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 she moved to Paris where she studied Ethnomusicology and Orchestration and she improvised with Jazz musicians. Then she began to compose popular songs.

In 1974 she returned to Athens where she established a laboratory for traditional instruments and collaborated with the department of Ethnomusicology of the radio. In 1976 she discovered ECM Records, which was at the time the synonym for in depth research, creative richness and freedom for musical schemes. This was a period of high productvity for her. It was at this time she was introduced to music for the theater and the cinema. She stated that this exposure to cinema was a new beginning from where her own personal style emerged and where the relationship between images and movements created a new space for her expression of emotions.