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M y Sweet Canary // Synopsis
' M y Sweet Canary'// The story of Roza Eskenazi
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R o z a Eskenazi sang songs and lived life with
p a s s ion, fire and love.This is the story of three
y o u n g musicians from Greece, Turkey and Israel
t h a t embark on an exciting musical journey, to
r e v e al for the first time, the story of the first
a n d most famous Greek Rebetiko singer.From
I s t a nbul to Thessaloniki and Athens, through her
l i f e and music, we will introduce a world that
h a s once existed and its traces today.
She was the most famous singer of the 30s' in Greece and
Turkey, the Diva of Rebetiko. With her posters displayed
in every Gramophone store, her bohemian looks would drive
even the toughest men crazy. (From the short story
'Roza', by Dinos Christianopoulos)
In a colorful and full of life cinematic and musical
journey, the film 'My Sweet Canary', will follow three
young musicians from Israel, Turkey and Greece, on a
journey motivated by the influence of Roza Eskenazi's
life, as an artist and as a woman, an influence that drew
each one of them, for his own reasons, to play her music
in his native country today.
Tomer Katz, an Israeli Oud and bouzouki player; Martha D
Lewis, a British born Greek-Cypriot singer/composer and
Mehtap Demir, a Turkish singer and musician, will lead us
throughout Roza's life story over the 20th century, a
story that intertwines with their musical journey
throughout today's exotic Rebetiko scenes of Turkey and
Greece, playing and meeting with local musicians and
giving new interpretations to Roza's borderless songs
revived today in bars and dance floors in Athens,
Istanbul, Thessaloniki and around the world.
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M y Sweet Canary // Synopsis
Roza's personal story, spread from her Jewish Sephardic
origin in Istanbul and Thessaloniki, and on to Athenswhere she rose to fame at the end of the 20's, becoming
the first and most recorded Rebetiko singer with more than
500 recorded songs in Greek, Turkish, Armenian and
Ladino- and up to the tragic end of her life, will be
told by her friends, family members, the musicians who
followed her and, for the first time, her biographer.
The Rebetiko music lies in the meeting point of the east
and the west. The "Greek Blues" as it is often referred
to, emerged from the hash dens and prison cells of Greece
at the beginning of the 20th century. Documenting the 3
musicians through their cultural, geographical and
musical journey, the film will reveal the social and
political aspects of the Rebetiko phenomena as well.
Through the life story of Roza Eskenazi, we will
introduce a world that once existed and follow its traces
today, as well as the mutual and personal search of the
three musicians that joined together in a bond made
possible by Roza Eskenazi, and the Rebetiko music.
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