That’s what my kids thought they heard on this wonderfully obscure DG album by the catalogue-resistant Agnes Baltsa.
Whatever she’s singing, in whichever language, it’s irresistible.
From Georgina McGrath: I’m very sorry to share…
We have been notified of the death this…
From the general manager’s self-admiring Sunday sermon in…
press release: Royal College of Music student, Robyn Anderson has won a place on the Berlin…
Session expired
Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page.
Catchy tune. Beautiful voice. But now I want TZATZIKI! Haven’t had any since the pandemic. No Greek places anywhere around. Maybe next year.
It’s easy: you smash with a spoon a piece of garlic with some salt, cut a cucumber into small cubes and add it, then put yogurt (low or full fat, according to you taste) and finally pur some olive oil and stir. Keep it for a while in the refrigirator, and enjoy it! Greetings from Greece! (I once interviewed Agnes Baltsa. She kept everything low key, but she had the most fabulous Dior bag I had ever seen in my -then young- life. I found the tape of the interview last week, while refurbishing the house. Time flies.)
I forgot the herbs
(dill)! Very important!
Thank you!
Thanks, Aria da capo, for the recipe, and thanks for remembering about the dill! Greetings from San Francisco!
You forgot the mint !!! [EMI Greece 1970-77]
Baltsa für die Seele
This also does the job.
https://www.apostels.de/en/product-range/zaziki/
My fear is that we may soon be running out of gyros.
Trader Joe’s sells tsatsiki-open during pandemic
A joy. I am dancing!
JUST SIMPLY F A B U L O U S!!!!
Hardly an obscure recording for those of us that have loved La Baltsa for decades! One of her best, and pity there weren’t more like this.
Totally agree. I found this album many years ago in a small shop in Rio de Janeiro. Became one of my favourites immediately. The arrangements are fabulous, and Baltsa’s voice sounds amazing in this repertoire of songs that had been recorded before by famous Greek singers, like Manolis Angelopoulos.
I have in my collection what appears to be the same album, entitled ‘From Greece with love’ (474 812-2). I shall re-listen later today.
The DG catalogue number for “Songs My Country Taught Me” is 419 236-2.
Very easy to date the cover of the DG record in the 80’s…
She is easily the best Carmen I ever heard or saw.
I got this soon after it came out, just on an impulse since I was studying classics (and, of course, was deeply impressed by Baltsa herself). What a delight it is. Thanks for reminding me about it: time to hunt through the boxes of records and take it for a spin.
My favourite singer. Irresistible on disc and even more irresistible on stage. I had the good fortune to see her many times in Covent Garden in the 80s when she was at the height of her fame and have since seen her in this recital in Munich, Vienna and Tokyo. She is due back in the Vienna State Opera on 29 September with this programme!
I’ve been a huge Agnes Baltsa fan since she burst through to Americans during a Vienna State Opera gala where she sang Cenerentola’s famous rondo. My ears certainly came to attention. Balsta made a lot of good recordings, many of which I own. I have cassette tape of this collection of Greek songs. Baltsa’s tangy, resinous timbre is beautiful and arresting. I heard her twice. She debuted at the Met as Octavian. She returned to sing CARMEN opposite Carreras, but the critics were not kind, and she withdrew and returned home to Europe where she felt she was much more appreciated. Years later, in her early 60s, I heard her as a superb Klytemnestra in ELEKTRA at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence. She looked great and said she was on her way back to sing Isabella in L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI. She was 62! Brava.
Amazingly I was listening to this wonderful album today before seeing your post. Is Slipped Disc going in for telepathy now? Baltsa is such a totally physically committed singer. I can’t count how many times I have watched the DVD of her Carmen at the Met with Carreras as Don Jose.
I’ll just add my name to the roll of Baltsa lovers in the comments section.
And this song is fabulous! Viva La Baltsa!
BTW, Norman, what is “catalogue-resistant”? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?