Wonder Woman of the Week: Monika
- Oct 19, 2022
- 2 min read
When most people talk about Greece, they usually discuss the Classical Greeks, the Bronze Age Minoans, or even the Medieval Byzantines; but modern-day Greece is just as fascinating as its historical past selves. This includes its music scene, which has come a long way since the pan flutes of the mythical satyrs. Once such modern musician is helping to grow the contemporary Greek music scene, and she happens to be this week's Wonder Woman. Monika Christodoulou was born in Athens in 1985, and spent much of her youth moving city-to-city with her family as her father worked as a doctor in several Greek cities. During this time, Monika played music in her brother's band Serpentine, before leaving the band when she started college in 2004.
Becoming a major musical hit was not easy for the young solo artist. Monika recorded her own first album at home and released it literally to the streets of Athens- as she personally distributed copies of the album to people on the streets of the city along with releasing an electronic copy on her MySpace. (Boy, remember when that was a thing!) Monika's first major single would be "Over the Hill," which garnered international acclaim and gave her the funds and fame to fly to Berlin to record a second album.
Monika's growing fame gave her the opportunity to record a third album in New York. With her growing fame, Monika became a major symbol for contemporary Greek culture and has performed at several important cultural events for her home country including an anniversary of Greece joining the European Union and developing a soundtrack for a stage adaptation of Sophocles' "Antigone." From personally distributing at-home recorded music to the hands of listeners on the streets of Athens to becoming a symbol of contemporary Greek culture, Monika is a perfect metaphor for the future of Greece- a nation that struggled with the post Cold War Era to become financially stable in a world oversaturated with Western culture. Like with Greece, Monika's future is likely to continue to grow.
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