when michaela meise performed at westgermany at kottbusser tor in berlin-kreuzberg on march 20, 2015, accompanying herself on the accordion, i was perplexed. i knew her first album from 2010, which was about hymns (»preis dem todesüberwinder«, originally released on clouds hill, available as a download and stream through my label from july 2018 on), but what she was playing werent spiritual songs?! i wanted to put this music out on my label: the songs sounded sad, aloof and wistful but also proud, determined and unerring. the album title »i am greek« is a tribute to melina mercouris album »je suis grecque!«, which was released in 1971 when mercouri was deprived of citizenship by the greek military junta. mercouri lived like mikis theodorakis and many other cultural workers in exile. meises album is dedicated to the chanson scene of post-war europe, whose songs were popularly folksy, but also political. some talk about the experience of war, the shoah and labor migration.
