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 weren’t 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 mercouri’s 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. meise’s 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.
