Marina Satti will represent Greece at the 68th Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in the Swedish city of Malmö in May 2024, state broadcaster ERT announced on Tuesday.
The music of the 36-year-old artist is mostly characterized by combining traditional Greek, Arab, Balkan and Anatolian sounds with urban elements, rhythm, and production.
It was the third time ERT proposed her to participated in the Eurovision, “but it was now I felt ready for it,” Satti told media.
The song to be performed by Satti has yet to be chosen. ERT, her record company, Golden Records and Minos EMI, as well as Satti herself are open to ideas and have invited songwriters to submit their proposals starting submissions on October 25, 2023.
Marina Satti was born in Athens to a Sudanese-Arab father and a Cretan mother. She was raised in Heraklio, Crete, in a culturally diverse environment that had a significant impact on her musical development as well as on the multicultural nature of her artistic career.
She began classical piano training at an early age and classical vocal training in high school. She enrolled at the National Technical University of Athens to study architecture without graduating.
In 2008, after studying with the baritone Panos Dimas, Satti earned a first degree in lyrical monody with honors and a first prize. One year later, she earned a second degree in advanced classical studies, while also studying jazz at the Nakas Conservatory. In 2010, she completed semesters in jazz composition and also in contemporary writing and production at the Berklee College of Music through a scholarship.
In 2017, her single “Mantissa,” inspired by traditional music of Epirus, western Greece, went viral on YouTube, clocking up 54 million views to this day.
Greeks on social media hailed Satti’s participation a the Eurovision, admitting that Greece has not done well in the last couple of years.