Danai Stratigopoulou (Modern Greek: Δανάη Στρατηγοπούλου) (8 February 1913 – 18 January 2009) was a Greek singer, writer, and university academic. She acquired recognition in the literary world for translating the works of the Chilean nobel laureate Pablo Neruda into the Greek language.[1]
Danai was born in Athens but grew up in Paris and Marseilles, France where she studied political science, orthophony and phonetics, whilst she developed her career as a singer. In the early years of her career as a musician she collaborated with a number of Greek musicians. In 1935 she interprets the songs of the modern music composer Attik (Kleon Triandafylou) and subsequently recorded and popularised many of his songs.
Throughout her career as a musician, she devoted herself to interpreting Greek folk and popular songs. She earned awards and decorations for her singing and compositions at national and international music festivals and during the Second World War she fought in the anti-Nazi and anti-fascist resistance.
In Chile, Stratigopoulou held an academic post at the University of Santiago de Chile as an educator in Greek folklore and phonetics. It was during her residence in Chile that she composed much of her musical work (which totalled about 300 songs), and published a number of literary works and poetry.
Stratigopoulou formed a personal friendship with the Chilean poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda and would spend time at Neruda's residence in Isla Negra where she read and discussed poetry. Her vast knowledge of Neruda's work and literature and language led her to become an important translator of Pablo Neruda's Spanish poetry into Greek. For all her cultural work in Chile, she was decorated by the Chilean Republic.[1]
