Her tour of Cyprus began at the Papadopoulou Theater on the 25th of the month and lasted until January 1946
“The Epic of Saranta” holds a special place in the collective memory of today’s Greeks. Among the cultural media that shaped this memory, song was, perhaps, the most influential. For decades, anniversary celebrations, radio programs, and television specials consistently featured the same songs, creating a shared sonic and semantic landscape surrounding the Greco-Italian War in Albania.
It is difficult to imagine anyone familiar with contemporary Greek culture who has not heard songs such as “Children, Children of Greece,” “Foolish Mussolini,” “We Took Argyrokastro,” and “The Reserve Second Lieutenant.” For many, these musical pieces precede historical knowledge and serve as a filter through which the event itself is perceived. The best-known songs reached us mainly through two female voices. The first is that of Sofia Vembo, who sang them while the war was still raging. The second is the voice of Marinella, who brought them to the forefront—in a different political and social context—in 1973, through the album *Albania*.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
Back to square one!
The most significant of all the songs related to the 1940s is arguably the song “Children, Children of Greece.” The lyrics were written immediately after the declaration of war and had a tremendous impact. Its creation was a personal initiative of Sofia Vembo. She asked her future husband, Mimi Traiforos, to write lyrics to the melody of Michalis Sougioul’s “Zehra,” a melody she particularly liked. The result exceeded all expectations. The song quickly became part of the collective consciousness; it was sung behind the lines, in theaters, on the radio, and, according to accounts, even on the front lines.
The success of “Children, Children of Greece” is also due to the way the song bridges the private and the public spheres. A woman’s voice addresses the soldiers in a motherly tone, while at the same time encouraging “those who love and stay up all night for someone” to face difficult moments with dignity. Thus, war is placed within an emotional framework that makes it bearable, even idealized. Through the song, pain, fear, and loss are transformed into emotion and pride.
Vebo visited Cyprus just before the start and immediately after the end of World War II. The first time, in 1939, she came to the island for a series of performances that began at the “Sianteclair” on March 25—the very day of the anniversary of the Greek Revolution. The next time was in 1945. By then, the Greek nation had gained yet another national holiday, one as splendid as March 25: the anniversary of the “NO.” The new anniversary was marked by Vembo’s voice. With the prestige of this contribution, Vembo visited Cyprus once again…
The “singer of victory,” who had gone into self-imposed exile in Egypt during the occupation and had rallied Greek troops in the Middle East, arrived in Cyprus as the leader of a troupe from Alexandria in November 1945. Her tour of Cyprus began at the Papadopoulou Theater on the 25th of that month and lasted until January 1946. The historical circumstances, combined with Cyprus’s geographical location, allowed “children of Cyprus” to enjoy Vembo before the “children of Greece,” who heard her later that same year when she returned to Athens.
Today, a monument in Chrysalinotissa Park in Nicosia—one of the very few dedicated to a woman—commemorates Sofia Vembo and her historic song. It serves as a tangible reminder of the pivotal role her voice played in shaping the memory of the “Epic of the Forty.” Her songs—most notably “Children, Children of Greece”—remain to this day among the most enduring carriers of that memory.
