Eleni Karaindrou

Eleni Karaindrou is a Greek composer, born in the village of Teichio in Phocis, Central Greece, on November 25, 1941. She is best known for scoring the films of the Greek director Theo Angelopoulos.
Karaindrou moved with her family to Athens when she was eight years old, and she studied piano and theory at the Hellenikon Odeion. She also attended history and archaeology classes at the university. During the time of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 she lived in Paris, where she studied ethnomusicology and orchestration, and improvised with jazz musicians. Then she began to compose popular songs.
In 1974 she returned to Athens where she established a laboratory for traditional instruments and collaborated with the department of ethnomusicology of the Greek national broadcasting company. In 1976 she discovered ECM Records, and appreciated the creative freedom offered by the label. This was a period of high productivity for her; she was also introduced to music for the theater and the cinema. Karaindrou has stated that her own personal style emerged in working on soundtracks and that the relationship between images and movements created a new space for her to express emotions.