Dimitra Galani – Pavlina Voulgaraki: The first… inglorious meeting and their landmark collaboration

They say that neither of them are the same person after this year’s “Vox” collaboration, which they even sealed a few weeks ago with the release of the song “My Heart” (Cobalt Music Eclectic). It would be a little or perhaps unfair to observe that the Dimitra Galani and the Paulina Voulgaraki they just had good chemistry, good collaboration, a successful -artistically as well as financially- successful partnership.

In fact, the two songwriters look like they mirrored themselves in each other. With honesty, bravery and genuine curiosity. Mostly with innocence. After all, it is from this that they draw their ineffable strength – and rather their inspiration and courage to make art – which they provide you with for a long time, even if you spend only an hour of the day with them observing them conversing.

Gala: I was reading about your first acquaintance, when the Paulina she was a teenager.
DIMITRA GALANI: He was Paulina’s father Minister of Culture then, he had invited us to their house in Sounio. It was very nice. Paulina, who was going to 2nd High School, passed by, saw us and passed us. Just don’t bother. There I understood that this is a very powerful entity.
PAULINA VULGARAKI: And I was also a big fan. But then I had other priorities. I said hello from afar and left.
D.G.: Much later I began to follow her artistically. What first attracted me was that she writes her own songs. I am fascinated by songwriters. I have a weakness for them. It touched me that a young kid is not only starting out in music, but struggling with his own material.

G.: Does dual status also raise the bar?
D.G.: In my opinion a lot. When a man writes lyrics and music he is not afraid to be naked, to expose his soul.

G.: Paulina, what did you admire at that time? Galani;

P.B.: I can’t take it back. I remember listening to her songs a lot, as well as Pavlos Sidiropoulos and Arleta. Coincidentally, which wasn’t coincidental after all, I was drawn to people writing their own songs. I was never told something by a great voice by itself, behind which there was not a person who could captivate me.

D.G.: The singer in Greece, however, is a very familiar face. He is always by your side. In your joy, in your pain, in your relaxation. He is almost a family person. You are “his Dimitra”, you are “his Paulina”.

G.: I guess you both live with this intimate approach.

D.G.: Not only do I live it, but it’s extremely emotional. After 54 years of singing, when someone comes to me and says “I’ve cried with you” or “I’ve fallen in love”, I get very emotional and feel blessed. Where you are sitting, a positive thing comes to you from people you don’t know. They think and talk about you as something precious.

G.: When did you each discover your gift?

D.G.: I think family plays a huge role, the way a field is laid for you to move. On the other hand, we have heard of tremendous talents who suffered tremendous oppression and eventually found their way through the trauma. You will tell me, we all exist through our traumas.

G.: Without trauma is there art?

D.G.: Not even a louse exists without trauma.

G.: Yes, but we live in a world that camouflages wounds with a fake perfection. I mean through social networks.

D.G.: This is the tragic end of man’s first contact with technology. It’s a sad picture. Technology, however, does not mean this at all. It is a flight, a human takeoff that will do even more good. I believe this as an optimist. Of course, the danger comes from the hands into which it will fall. What scares me is how easily everyone exposes their lives anymore. What charm do you find to expose your most special moment?

P.B.: I have a profile on Instagram. And I keep deleting and re-downloading the app on my mobile. Because the times when I use it I get upset that I can’t live up to the standards of friends and acquaintances. People who I always see happy, eating, exercising, always having a good time. Think how insecure I am that I end up thinking I’m worthless.

G.: For an artist to gain attention in an age of infinite information and stimuli, what must he do?
P.B.: I think in the age of diversity there is an unspoken compulsion to pretend you have something super-different. Whereas the fact that you are human and vulnerable automatically makes you different from everyone else. Authenticity right now is not enough. To stand out you have to adopt an extreme persona in any direction. This is what I notice.

G.: Were things simpler in the old days?

D.G.: For me these are completely unknown. Absolutely though. I am of the opinion that there is a pile in which people who have a creativity deposit something. I have the impression that people approach this pile and choose what they want. Aren’t you going to tell him that you have written the sky with stars? He will hear what he wants and needs. I want to believe that these conditions still work.

P.B.: That’s how he unlocked me. When I was at a loss and didn’t know what to do, he told me: “Don’t try to do anything else. You are perfectly what you are.” That calmed me down.

D.G.: What you broadcast will go to the right people.

G.: Lesson of life;

D.G.: It’s something that experience has taught me. I too had my anxieties. I was like why don’t I make a smash hit when my other colleague does? You know why; Because it wasn’t me for that.

P.B.: Well, how? You have given us smash hits.

D.G.: Yes, but I was never into gold, platinum and diamond records. You know, I once thought it would be very easy for me to throw away such a success. And I made a couple of stupid attempts, which were laughable because they didn’t convince anyone. I passed this paddle alone, but there were people who gave me light. I was, you see, very lucky. The first people I met were Gatsos, o Moutsis and immediately after Old manThe HadjidakisThe TsitsanisThe LoizosSpanos, o Hadjinassios. You have to be very stupid when you meet such personalities not to soak up every moment with them. But it was another era.

G.: So was it a matter of period?

D.G.: It was the condition. When I met Mutsis, I didn’t quite understand who he was. I had a complete ignorance of danger that allowed for innocence. What I miss in our time is the power of innocence. Because innocence presupposes strength. To be innocent you have to be very strong. And wide open. Innocence, you know, requires openness.

G.: You, Paulina, how would you say you feel? Innocent or suspect?

P.B.: Not at all suspicious. I’m still a bit of a mess and I have to find the strength to understand who I am. Do you know how much I understood through Dimitra? Most importantly, authenticity does not involve randomness. I thought the original artist does what he can. But I learned that even when he doesn’t know who he is, he knows who he wants to be.

D.G.: What you say really moves me.

P.B.: It is as if I was transformed through the collaboration with Dimitra. Not because he taught me a lesson. I watched her just be herself. In the first live I had no heart. I was going with hers. I was codependent.

D.G.: That’s why he wrote “My Heart”.

P.B.: If she felt strong, she felt strong. If she felt vulnerable, she felt vulnerable. Through this process I found my own voice and I think I am closer than ever to what I want to be.

D.G.: And just that you distinguish and choose, it means a lot. It doesn’t matter what other – more or less important – people will give you, but what you will get. You know, the old musicians, especially the bouzouki players who couldn’t learn bouzouki at the conservatory, would pick up the instrument, sit on stage and steal what they could from the experienced players by observation. If you ask great soloists, no one ever showed them. Bad lies, life is good when you know how to observe it.

G.: It sounds difficult.

D.G.: Yes, for people who have talent and a strong personality. That’s where you have to discipline yourself. If there’s one good thing about this story, it’s that it keeps your ego in constant check.