News: Kyriakatiki Eleutherotypia Article (July 8, 2007)

In preparation for the upcoming Fly Beeyond Festival, an article on Tori appeared in 7 Magazine in the Greek newspaper Eleutherotypia this past Sunday. You can view the article in the original Greek, or read on for an English translation from Christos Limnios.

[Christos includes the following side note: “About Tori being abused by a family friend: I only knew about the rape. I only found this story in the Greek press, apparently everyone copies this bio-origin unknown.” But we could swear we’ve seen that same thing mentioned somewhere else in the very recent past, and we don’t think it was in the Greek press. We can’t turn it up now, though. Can any of you recall where this has shown up before, or were we on crack?]

UPDATE: Aha, Beverly Camp comes through… Check out the quote from Die Zeit (November 11, 1999) included in the “Black Dove” comments on HereInMyHead.com. Yay, so it wasn’t the crack! (We were probably recalling a recent discussion about that quote on one of the fora.)

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Tori, Just As Persephone
by Dimitris Kanellopoulos

After a sexual abuse from a family friend when she was still a little girl and a rape some years later, Tori Amos could only follow two directions: To be destroyed or to become, since she had the talent, a great songwriter. Fortunately the second happened.

So, we will have the opportunity to enjoy her live in the 18th, on the second dey of “Fly Beeyond Festival” at “The Wall of Nations” at OAKA (ticket price 60 Euros)

With her Air and James perform the same night.

Tori comes out first on stage. And with her new album “American Doll Posse”, split to four different personas. The youthful and reckless Pip, the politically oriented Isabelle, the timid Clyde and the sensual Santa. “They are inspired by the Greek mythology that really fascinates me” she says from Czech Republic. Each one has her own style, up to her own internet blog.“Instead of making four or five records, I prefered to make one with a lot of voices.

Playing with the paradox.

In her concerts, depending on the night, she comes out with a different character on stage. “I think Clyde will be with me in Athens”. As we read in Clyde’s blog, who is infuenced by Persephone, “she met with a lot of emotional disappointments, but she remains an idealist”. “I will also be in Athens” says Tori laughing… “to present songs from the rest of my career”.

She likes playing with the paradox: “My inspiration came from accidental meetings with two persons who I did not know before. A girl in some coffee-shop who confided in me in tears, that her boyfriend had left for the war.

“What can I do”, she said, “than to hate everyone that led us there”.

Amos was born in North Carolina and, as it is said, had the ability to play Mozart inthe age of four. Her first record “Little Earthquakes” came out in 1992 and was a great success. Until now she has made nine albums, with no one resembling the other. With a lot of personal problems, she felt more optimistic when she had her daughter Natashya. “I started see everything through her eyes-it’s so different”.

Tori Amos is a founding member of the American organization “R.A.I.N.N.” against sexual abuse. In the song “Me and a gun” she reffers to her personal experience. She does not want to talk about it a lot: “It’s a tragic experience, a nightame, that spins in your head all the time”.

Her voice becomes heavy. Before she was pleasant, she speaks slowly with a lot of pauses. “Sexual abuse of women is a global problem. We believed that in the 21st century such problems would be resolved. Unfortunately they still exist.”

7 Magazine – 08/07/2007

[Translated for Undented by Christos Limnios.]