Marina Satti from Greece: "I want people to know Greeks better"

She finally said yes to Eurovision. That's Marina Satti, a well-known name in Greece and is now set to represent her nation in Eurovision.

It took four invitations from the Greek broadcaster for her to say yes. She's finally here and determined to bring Greece to the Final – which according to the bookmakers she certainly will. And who knows, maybe even bring Greece back to the top 10 after a year's absence.

Marina's music knows no boundaries, and ranges from pop to urban, from ethnic to jazz:

– I have no boundaries when it comes to music. If you take a look at my Spotify playlist you will be listening stuff that goes from Kanye West to Giannis Kapsalis to MIA. My goal is to connect musical cultures and elements because I strongly believe that every genre has something to offer, she says.

For Eurovision, after several submissions were sent her way and after a lot of consideration, she decided to take "Zari" to Malmö. The song is highly influenced by urban rhythms mixed with ethnic sounds from Greece, as well as from other parts of the globe, and it'll mark the first time since 2018 that Greece will be represented by a song in Greek.

Marina Satti is a very busy singer with a busy schedule:

– I've had to work a lot with deadlines for the past six months and that was a learning experience for me because, people who know me, know I spend a lot of time on my projects and I cannot finish them without checking a huge amount of times, she says.

Eurovision 2024

Marina didn't attend a single Eurovision pre-party leaving fans anxious to meet her as well as seeing her staging plans for Eurovision which have now been revealed. It seems like she enjoys keeping the suspense up and being unpredictable. As we've said before, it took Marina four invitations to say yes to Eurovision:

– That's true, they asked me three times and I felt readier now. I guess I was, and I am, in my extrovert era, she jokes.

– I felt ready to work on this and actually enjoy the journey. So, when ERT asked it took me just a few days to say yes.

We've seen the snippet from Marina's second rehearsal. She's joined by four dancers and does her whole thing in one take, meaning she interacts with the same camera from start to finish. This isn't the first time for Marina. Back to her music video for her song "Mantissa," she did the same sort of concept.

When ERT asked, it took me just a few days to say yes.Marina Satti

Marina describes her performance as "romantic, agressive and fierce." She confesses to being completely involved in it, and dancing was also part of the promise:

– Of course I will be dancing. Megnun Giasar came up with the choreography and I will be sharing the stage with Eirini Damianidou, Yasin Ametoglou, Huseyin Cetintas and Vasilis Karagiannis. Erasmia Markidi will do the backing vocals.

As for the stage direction, the collaboration was with Fokas Envagelinos, who has massive Eurovision experience. Marina has nothing but great words to say about him:

– Mr. Fokas is a real professional. He's a down-to-earth man and lovely. I feel safe with him and I trust him. He is one of those people who will dare to tell you the truth no matter what, I appreciate that.

Introducing Greece to the world

Representing Greece is Marina's main goal with this participation, and that's in a literal way. She wants people to look at their TV screens and say, "Look at what the Greeks did this year," and decided to bring a song in the Greek language:

– It's massively important for me to sing in Greek and that's also what I do when I tour Europe. I want people to know Greeks better, and I cannot find a better way to do so than to show what we have to offer in music, she says.

– Whenever I hear people trying to sing my songs in Greek, I feel the happiest.

In fact, even the music video for "Zari" is part of that representation:

– The idea behind the music video was to show what people think of us and to play around with all of those stereotypes such as Plato, Socrates, feta, etc. It's an unapologetic projection of what Greece can offer to the world in a funny, yet relevant, way.

For the final set of questions, we stepped aside from the Eurovision world to speak about her career.

You've been releasing music since 2008. But your first, and only to date, released album came out two years ago.

– You're right, I was waiting for the right time. I wanted it to be perfect, even if that made me have to wait a long time, she says.

– I cannot work on a project without putting my whole dedication in it, so before releasing "Yenna" I wanted to be sure it'd be the way I always pictured it to be.

A brand new EP with seven songs is set to be released after Eurovision. A music video for one song has already been shot, but given the rehearsals not even Marina herself has found time to check it out:

– I cannot wait to share my music with you guys, she concludes.

Marina Satti will represent Greece at this year's Eurovision. She'll sing "Zari" in the second Semi-final on 9 May.