Singer Nana Mouskouri, 62, believes women in Vietnam have more chances than those in the West. Here she explains why and reflects on her visit to Vietnam as goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children Fund Woman power. Women and young girls in this country have a lot more opportunities than one would think. I come from a country which has had similar problems in the past and I must say in many senses here, women have more possibilities than in other Western countries and particularly my country. I have the impression they are more appreciated and they participate much more in social life and they are very active in political life which is not always the case elsewhere in the world. Women are so important. They bring children into the world and they care for the children and they are responsible for the children as well.
 
 

I will go with the smile of the children of Vietnam on my face because the children are not only the future but they represent the face of a country. The smile on the faces of the children of Vietnam is an optimistic one. It is a smile that has no sadness. It is a smile that is full of hope because they feel although their parents have suffered, they know that they love them, they care about them and they know they will look after them until they grow up and start building their future. To see how happy these children are is a wonderful feeling. It is the feeling I will take from this country.

Vietnamese people are people of progress. With the help they get, they really try to do the best they can and this is wonderful for the children because what happens is very positive.

I sing a lot of children songs because there is a truth in those songs - an unspoiled truth with no restrictions. It is simple truth in these songs and I have learned a lot by singing them.

Caring for the children. Fifty years ago UNICEF appeared like a rainbow of hope in a Europe destroyed by the war. It appeared with a brave dream of saving the children of the world and providing them with a chance to live in peace. My country, Greece, was one of those that suffered from the terrors of the war. It survived the horror of occupation, hunger and

cruelty followed by the injustice of a civil war. So it was among the first to receive help and care from UNICEF. Through the years this rainbow of hope became a symbol which covered the whole world in all areas and needs. In a restless world, an aggressive, greedy one filled with mines ready to explode and wounds that never heal, in the middle of all this there are innocent children who need a chance to survive and a right to live. And how can we give them a right to live when many thousands each day die from starvation and malnutrition?

What chance do they have to live a normal childhood when millions of them have to work to help and feed their families, when they are exploited and abused and driven to pornography and prostitution? Children need rights and UNICEF fights for their rights.

In the past four years I have had the opportunity to visit and experience many aspects of UNICEF work in many developing countries. I saw hospitals for the underprivileged, shelters for street children, nutrition programmes for the malnourished and care and health facilities for the new born and young mothers. UNICEF is always there. UNICEF has become the most effective organisation and the reference point for defending children and their rights around the world.

Today UNICEF becomes 50 years old and yet it is only the beginning. So long as there is even one child without food, we are hungry. Even when there is just one child without water, we are thirsty. Every child is our child.

I didn't have much time to go around Vietnam but we went outside Hanoi and visited the Ha Tay province. We visited a hospital where vaccinations were taking place and I was very happy to see all the adults bringing their children to be vaccinated. The trust and confidence people have in UNICEF and the vaccination project is really so important. After that we were able to participate in the inauguration of a water pump at a school of 1,000 students which was really a very moving ceremony. In the afternoon, I visited a shelter for children in difficult situations. I would really have liked to have had much more time but unfortunately because of the time of year I wasn't able to. I promise you if I have the invitation and the opportunity, I would leap at the chance to come back to Vietnam.

Nana Mouskouri appeared at a 50th anniversary gala for UNICEF in Hanoi and gave a concert during her visit. On the day she left, she announced at a press conference that seven water pumps would be provided for villages in the Ha Tay province by UNICEF. She also announced the opening of a kindergarten to help working mothers and one month funding for one of the

schools she visited.

With over 300 gold and platinum albums worldwide, international singing sensation Nana Mouskouri celebrates a message of peace, love and hope in her first American television special, NANA MOUSKOURI: CONCERT FOR PEACE, airing on PBS as part of the August 1998 pledge drive (check local listings).

This spectacular concert was recorded in October 1997 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. The Greek singer, recognizable by her square black glasses and center-parted black hair, delivers an emotional, inspiring and very personal performance. Draped in white, standing in the halo of a single spotlight, Mouskouri's angelic voice is in its element.

Mouskouri has recorded more than 1,000 songs in ten languages since 1959. NANA MOUSKOURI: CONCERT FOR PEACE features her singing in Greek, Spanish, Latin, French and English.

Selections include: gospel ("In the Upper Room," "Amazing Grace"), classical ("Malagueña," "Alleluia") and ballads ("Love Changes Everything"), as well as songs from her latest recording, Return to Love, including the title song and the anthem "I Care." "The magic of a song," says Mouskouri regarding the diversity of her repertoire, "is to belong to everyone at the same time for different reasons."

Mouskouri was first brought to the attention of American audiences in 1962 when Quincy Jones produced her first album in the United States, The Girl From Greece Sings. Bob Dylan was so taken by Mouskouri's performance at a 1979 concert that he wrote a song for her. Her "fan club" also includes Neil Diamond, Julio Iglesias and Harry Belafonte, who has toured with her in the U.S. and Canada.

NANA MOUSKOURI: CONCERT FOR PEACE was a command performance for the global leader of the Orthodox Christian Church, His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, known as the "Green Patriarch"for his environmental concerns. In addition to her career in music, Mouskouri serves as Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and is an elected deputy to the European Parliament, where she has made a great impact on humanitarian policies concerning children's and women's issues.

Veras Communications, Inc., co-producers of NANA MOUSKOURI: CONCERT FOR PEACE, also produced the popular PBS specials YANNI LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS and YANNI TRIBUTE: IN CONCERT AT THE TAJ MAHAL AND THE FORBIDDEN CITY.
 
 

NANA MOUSKOURI,chanteuse, is an international success story and symbol, the most successful female singer in the world, and a person whose concern for the welfare of others, particularly children, has made her the embodiment of the committed artist. There are two sides to Nana Mouskouri: "The Singer" and "The Humanitarian."

As a singer, this "woman with the glasses" has sold more than 200 million recordings throughout her career, released 450 albums, and earned more than 250 gold and platinum record awards. She is at home on concert stages in every continent, and sings in English, French, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and the Dutch, Portuguese and Scandinavian languages. She has

been highly praised by critics around the world. In Canada, she is the Goddess of Song...in Boston, they said she could sing the phone book and leave you in rapture...n China, she's known as The Songbird...in Latin America, she's La Nana...in Britain, she's "The Girl From Greece,"...and in her homeland Greece, she's an unquestioned superstar.

As a humanitarian, Mouskouri is Ambassador and Special Representative for the Performing Arts for UNICEF, the only U.N. agency devoted exclusively to children. She is also an elected Deputy to the European Parliament, where she has made great impact on humanitarian policies, particularly in regard to children's and women's issues. Mouskouri combines her UNICEF and EuroParliament work with her concert tours and recording schedules, both of which take her across the globe.

Nana Mouskouri is a great gift to the world.

- Harry Belafonte

Nana's voice touches the soul and embraces the world.

• Neil Diamond

Her house is white as snow, just like the pants and the jacket she wears.

Her eyes are hidden behind the classic spectacles, the same glasses which came in fashion at the end of the nineties. She is 63 years old, but she doesnt even look like fifty. Its impossible for her to hide her strong will, altough she is very nice. Nana Mouskouri, after 14 years back in the Herodus Atticus, in a benefit concert for the Akropolis museum. Melina looks down from above.

The interview:

You said artists live in a lonely world. Do you feel you got any love? Lots of love. From the public that is. The public always was my only Because succes does not mean love. From the time that I

was a child. I noticed that when I sang, the whole world smiled at me. Even my parents.

were your parents strict?

My mother was a very disciplinated woman. And strict. My father was much easier. But, because, he did not became angry easily, he was mad when he was angry. I grew up in Koukaki. If I went in the streets to play.......He didnot want us to play in the streets.

How were you, when you were a little girl?

I was a simple girl. I went to the third Gymnasium of Thileos and I have learned to be serious all the time. My mother who came from Corfu, was working as a little girl, in the house of the family Kapodistrias. The cook and his wife had no children and wanted to adopt one. They didnt adopt her, but they took her with them and she lived together with them and worked in the house. My mother learned from the nurse-maids how to raise children, she learned needle work, how to keep the house clean. Thats why she raised us, my sister and me, strict. She was a woman, who thought that labour was a token of love for life. So that is was I believe. Whatever the work is you are doing, cleaning shoes, working with flowers, or singing, it is a token of love for life.

Do you believe in fate?

Yes, very much so. But I also think fate is the decision you take. And the oppertunities you have to learn. I never had such a special mind. At school, I was a good student, because I studied. My fellow students were better, but I kept up with them, because I liked studying. I was a student and I stayed a student whole my life. I learn from all things.

Do you believe in God?

Yes, very much indeed. And I can say, that the first years of my life, until we left Greece, the happiest of my whole life, were the times I went to church.

For me the church is like a play. It is like a play in which all the people participate. We shared the love which the church gave us. I expected that on sundays or on the great holidays like Easter . But I was never sad. I was optimistic.

Were you never rebellious like all adolescents?

No, I was never rebellious against my family. My life always was very calm. It could be, I was not tame completely. I wanted to do my own will, but always in a gentle way. My only mutiny was when I wanted to escape the discipline of my mother.

While I grew up, she wanted me to be just like her. I decided to do what I wanted. Anyway to try at least. I said to myself, that if I would not succeed, I had nothing to loose.

Did you lead a normal life?

Yes. I lived my life as an ordinary woman, I got married, I got children, I got divorced I went through that too and that is a disappointment in a womans life. I was lucky to get two special children and again a man in my life I never married again but fundamental I think work always was the basic thing in life. Work was the song. And I know, if I had to make a choise, it would be the song. I would prefer sadness, but I could never leave singing. But now we are talking about that, no one ever asked that of me.

Did you found in life what you wanted?

In life you search to find something. But you only replace the things you went through when you were young. My mother had a good husband with only one weak spot. He played the cards. I have a weak spot for music. Its my job. A big weak spot, that doesnt kill you. On the contrary , she is positive. And thats why I always spoke about dreams in my life, about hope, about

love, about optimism. About things that are costructive, but not destroy. My father was a good gambler, but it was not for the provite, but the for the game.

When you are on stage, are your eyes focused on something? On who?

In the beginning, when you go on thestage, it is like you are in front of a big black hole. It is the same for you who write and have a white sheet in front of you. It is the unknown. You are afraid. You dont know if you are capable to communicate. Will the public take what you are willing to give? And in the spotlight you feel so immense. And after a while, when you have started to sing, you have started to fill that hole. With a look, a movement. But usually with a song. I never just look around. I have to focus on a person and through this person I can communicate withe everybody and everything.

Do you feel sorry about something?

In Greece, like in many mediterrian countries, is a lot of responsibility, but also consciousness of guild. We grew up with that. I grew up with the responsibility of work in the house. To help my mother and my father. I was responsible. My whole life I feel sorry. That I would succeed and somebody else would fail. During my whole life I felt uncertain.I was introvert, When I was a girl, I thought I was not as good as other people. I had a lot of boyfriends, they all loved me, they liked me, we played basketball, we talked about music, but when they should look at me as their wife, they looked at others. I was a boy amongst the boys.

Dont you feel like a woman these days? A successful woman?

The most difficult thing for a woman and escpecilly for me in my life, is to accept yourself. The men in my life as a woman brought me a lot of unsteadiness. Because I was fat and I wore glasses. Thats my headiness, everybody say I am stubbern. I want to stay the one I was and I didnt want anybody to change me. Ugly or not, I had to accept myself. But I lost weight! Why did I loose weight? Because Maria Callas lost weight. And I thought, she did it for herself, but also for the public. I noticed the public makes an idol of you. And you have obligations towards your public.

How important is it for you to be in and to work for the Europarliament?

When Mr. Evert suggested to become a member of the Europarliament, I didnt know excactly what my job would look like.

The problems of europe are very important. I was interested in the institution and I became very excited with the idea.

However the Europarliament is a fulltime job. A week in Strassbourg and the other three we have two or three days time for a committee. All of that and above that my singing and all I do for UNICEF, of which I am an ambassador for the poor children in the world. Thats why in spite of the fact I like the work ver much, I dont want to continue my work. I can't.
 
 

PROFILE

Nana Mouskouri (from A tot Z)

Man:the man is for me an eagle. I believed he was my protection. Maybe because my father was a true husband. Mr. Karamanlis was for me the ideal man, because he was a leader. He could do a good job. Thats why I say: eagle.

The eagle has strength, the freedom, the independency and with the help of his wings he can protect. Altough I searched for that in life, I always had the company of men, who helped me in my work, but they were more weaker than I. I didnt found a man like my father.

Glance: I completely follow my intuition and when I see someone for the first time I can tell if I will trust him or not. I have never ben deceived. However, I always give the other to proove that he is not what I think he is. With that I want to say, that I can also make a mistake. I can be very stubbern. Until the moment when I say its over, this is the end. But I trust completely

and that why I have been hurt so often. Betrayal is something that hurts me very much. But you cannot reject something, if you have not given it a chance first.

Gatsos: He was for me wisdom. A wise, righteous, generous person. For me he was the light. Like the sun. After a performance we talked at night, for hours and hours, to explain the dark rooms of the soul. And I got to know myself. Not to judge, but to accept and forgive my deeds. Not only to forgive the others. When Nikos passed away, I missed him so much, because I couldnt talk to him anymore. And I still miss him.

Fame:Is very dangerous. And very fugitive. And it is not neccesary. When people give you their love and you are succesful than the responsibility is even bigger. The fame frightens me, just like the people who want to be famous.

Greece:Is for me the soul. The reason of me living abroad. When you live outside your homeland, you have the responsibility to bare its identity. The Name.

Herodus Atticus: That evening, 14 years ago, when I came to Greece to sing in the Herodus Atticus, I felt I had found my identity again at that spot. When I had sung in Lavrion there is dancing and everybody clapped their hands in the rithm, at that moment I said: Im home again!

Womanhood:I am not the type of make up and decolletee. In my life I am casual, in jeans. I want to feel good. In my head Im much a rock-and-roll type. I like casual clothing, but also the man-style of pants and jacket.

Byoux:I like it when friends give them to me as a token of love. Like the dolls my fans give me and which I still have to look at.

White:For me its optimism. Thats why I love it so much. The truth. And the purity.

Lonelyness:I am very lonely. Because I am always surrounded by people, I know how to handle it. I need it. Because no one can understand what is going on in my soul.

Foreigner, stranger, guest: I love foreigners. Theres a fear of foreigners nowadays in Greece because they dont know. The Greek always were very hospitable. Thats why I prefer the word hospitality instead of the word guest.

Passion:My relationships with people were always full of passion. Girls came to me and said I want you to be my mother and I answered them, my children were at home and another woman was taking care of them. I explained to them it was not logical to feel such a passion for a human being and that only they theirself could give the answer. So much love I give in life, sometimes I feel and have no more love. And then I need my lonelyness.

Sex:The power of attraction is a part of love. Just like music. It is something sacred. It only happend when you are in love.

Song:It always has something magical. It aims to a world full of faces, full of religions, many political interests. An old man and a baby can listen to a song and both can like it.

Moon:I always used to think the moon was not be real, but when you believed in it, he could be real. It is believing in The Paper Moon!

Hatjidakis:Manos was my father and my mother. To him and to Gatsos I thank my birth, that what happened has happened.

Soul:It is a room, which is dark most of the time. When you lighten it up, you can learn a lot out of it. That is what we talked about, Gatsos and me that dark room: a little wine, a piece of bread, a little sugar and the soul opens her dark room immediately.

Maturity: It is associated with the dream. That is why I established a foundation, The Focus of Hope, to stimulate certain values and truths, which I had and which still excists in the world and which young people still have to find. To be a real orphan, I experienced when my friends passed away,Gatsos, Chatzidakis, Melina... It may be, I wasnt close to all in the same way. But suddenly you feel, they are not around anymore and they left you with a responsibility. They gave you something very valuable and you can not keep it for yourself and run away with it, but you have to use it in your way.

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