Coming up in this video.
A little bit of French. Let's say B1 level because I studied it in Russia as well, but it wasn't.
For sure. It wasn't as good as my English. I didn't feel comfortable in it.
It was a bit of a culture shock.
I studied economics, so I joined.
So I started being a TV host first as a as an anchor for New Economic News.
And then I had economics related TV shows.
He is a COVID child. He was born in 2020.
So he's four years old now and he's been to like eight countries already.
He's been to like all my friends know the name.
I'm going to say now is Nikos Iconopoulos.
I'm going to his concert tomorrow.
I've been like 12 times to his bouzouki in two years.
Whatever to perform if I want to make money with it.
Of course, it's a bit too late for me to enter.
The opera stage because you have to start early.
And now to my family as a singer was a challenge.
And it was always much harder for me to sing, you know, in front of my family than in front of a big crowd.
I came to Greece.
I mean, I started, you know, talking to people finding, you know, fellow musicians, DJs.
I joined the band, a rock band.
This is expat experts.
Welcome to this new episode of expat experts.
We are recording from Athens again.
I'm with Lily. Thank you so much for accepting the invitation and for leaving the space for the recording.
Thanks for having me on your podcast.
It's a pleasure.
You're originally from Russia, but you moved abroad pretty early in life as far as I recognize.
Like 18 years old.
You already went to study.
Yeah, 17.
Oh, okay.
Even like being underage.
Paris, then you went to Cyprus, you did? Yeah, Cyprus for the first year of my bachelor's.
Then I transferred to Paris where I finished my bachelor's.
I graduated.
Then I moved back to Russia, to Ufa.
I lived there for a couple of years.
I started my career, so to speak.
Then I moved back to Cyprus where I got my master's.
Then I moved back to Russia and COVID hit.
I stayed there.
Then my first trip after COVID was to Greece.
Basically, that's how I'm here.
Okay, it's quite a lot of back and forward, let's say like this.
Professionally, you are a musician.
Right now, I'm moving more into this direction, but I used to be a TV host in Russia and an English teacher.
My bachelor's in business administration.
My master's is in applied linguistics and TESOL.
I do that as well on the side to support myself because, you know, being a musician...
Art is art. We struggle.
Cool. We will talk more about the music part and the whole, because you sing in a lot of languages and that triggers the curiosity out of me a lot.
Let's do the first part first and let's talk a little bit about your experiences living abroad.
The Expat episode 11 with Lili aka Lillia.
I love it.
I always knew I was going to live abroad.
For some reason, I felt it and it was just a matter of like how and when.
I love learning about different cultures.
I love assimilating into a new country of like learning new ways to live.
And hearing, you know, different stories and living abroad showed me that people are basically kind of same everywhere and it's like there is good people and bad people everywhere.
And yeah, I love it.
I mean, the worst part of like always moving is that as soon as you start getting friends and you have to leave them and they miss you.
But on the other side is you have friends all over the world.
So wherever you come, you feel at home.
Nice.
So you said the very first first move you did it with 17 years old.
Yeah, I just graduated high school.
So I was still 17, but then I turned 18 in November.
Yeah, and I was going to Cyprus for studies.
So it was a studying and you did one year there.
Yeah, one year because it was easiest for me as a Russian to apply to a foreign university.
I didn't have to do like an extra year like you know in Germany or in France.
For example, you need to do this prep courses.
But unfortunately Cypriot system of education didn't impress me much.
I realized that I needed, you know, to probably move somewhere and the place that accepted me and my credits was Paris and a private business school in Paris.
So you transferred like you did one year in Cyprus.
Then you were able to transfer that entire whole year or part of it.
Yeah, I was very lucky.
That's cool. That doesn't happen often.
I think a lot of people need to repeat that or start from scratch or take some subjects out.
But the whole year it's strange.
Nice.
Very cool.
And how was it like because you're really young like?
Yeah, I mean Cyprus was already familiar to me because we used to come there often for holidays for vacations.
My mom loves Cyprus.
She has a special bond with it.
Whenever like and you know before I turned 18 I was down to you know, my parents.
I couldn't travel without them.
So if I wanted to travel, I'd have to go with my mom and she only wanted to go to Cyprus.
So you knew the country before.
I know it wasn't a huge stress for me.
But Paris I've only I had only been there once before moving there.
I didn't know a single person.
I spoke a little bit of French.
Let's say B1 level because I studied it in Russia as well.
But it wasn't for sure.
It wasn't as good as my English.
I didn't feel comfortable in it.
It was a bit of a culture shock.
I could admit.
I mean France and Paris specifically.
Those who know know.
But no, I still yeah, I like now looking back I'm thinking how did I even do it?
Like I was 18 19 20.
I my flats were like my first flat in Paris was like 13 square meters, which is which is a normal flat in Paris.
Yeah, it is a luxury.
But yeah, and I was like would I even be able to do it now?
Maybe not.
Like I didn't know anyone, but I was you know, I was 19.
I loved French culture.
I loved Paris.
I was just so happy to be there to live there in no matter what status but being a student even better like learning and my school my business school was American.
So half of the subjects were in English.
So half of the professors were American and half of them were French and you could choose your subjects and yeah, it was amazing.
What about Cyprus?
Was it in English also?
Yeah in English because you moved there I suppose.
Yeah, which part of Cyprus?
Greek part.
Yeah, so you don't really speak Greek at that point of time.
I didn't used to speak Greek at all at that time.
Moreover, I never was able to learn Greek when I lived in Cyprus because you know, they have a specific dialect and when you you know, even if you study Greek like you learn proper Greek, but then you go out in the streets and they speak something completely different.
So I only actually managed to learn Greek properly on lockdown.
Yeah, when I was in Russia and I had you know, lockdown we did many things.
Yeah, you needed to feel that this podcast started in lockdown.
So yeah, and I thought you know, why not?
I need to improve it.
Finally, I need to like because I have this like unfinished business sort of in my head.
Like I kind of know Greek, but I kind of don't know it and then yeah, I did a lot of Greek and a lot of baking during COVID.
So and then I decided, you know, why not?
Why not Greece?
And yeah, cool.
Very nice.
So the how many how many years you were in Paris then?
Two years two more years because European Bachelor is three years.
But because my school was as I said half American we were able to basically what I did during my last year I took extra subjects.
So I did extra credits.
I wrote one more like Bachelor thesis and they issued a diploma for four years.
Oh wow.
I am a bit of a Hermione myself.
Transferring from one University to the other with complete year then combining two last years in one, okay.
Yeah, cool.
That's not bad.
I am a nerd.
I mean if you're good at studying, that's good for you.
I love studying, yeah.
And you said half of it was in English and the other half was in French.
So you needed to learn French to study.
I mean, I could understand everything with my French.
But of course I needed to improve it to be able to write papers, you know, but the good part is that I was able to choose my subject.
So of course I chose the majority of them were in English because also American professors were kind of cooler.
American professors living in Paris.
I'm seeing the stereotype.
I mean every single one of them was like a special case.
They were such interesting like people with very interesting destinies.
Yeah.
Cool.
So nice.
Like how many languages did you speak back then?
Like well, yeah.
When I moved to Paris, I only spoke, you know, Russian, English and French.
But then in my school, we were supposed to choose an extra language to study and it was either Italian or Chinese.
And I was like, okay.
Chinese. Yeah, but so I was learning Italian in French for me.
That was what's up.
Yeah.
You were learning Italian in French.
In French.
I had to translate into English.
I decided not to even translate to Russian.
I was like, okay, let's just translate to English at least.
But yeah, that was but you know, French Italian.
They're pretty close like Spanish as well. Latin languages.
Yeah, it was it wasn't experience.
Do you remember anything that shocked you?
Like you said that there was a cultural difference.
I suppose also Cyprus was also different like from from being from Russia.
You are from a big city in Russia or you are yeah, quite a big city.
Now we have 1.5 million people.
It is like a capital of our Republic of our state.
This is produced by our home brand that says Bashkir aesthetics.
Yeah, I come from Bashkortostan.
So yeah, and your question was did I notice if it was a shock like both like Cyprus and
Paris at the point of time, what would be the like the thing that you remember the culture shock to be?
Well, the biggest shock for me in like the Cypriot University was like when you during the break you would come out
and then you would go out to like let's say a cafeteria and you pass by and there is just you know,
the sea the Mediterranean at the cafeteria and all the students are just you know, drinking their frappés.
This is something you will never see in Russian University because they are pretty, you know serious about studies in France in Paris.
I didn't have that much of a shock, but I guess the biggest shock was that, you know,
you can just take a subway and you know, 15 minutes and you're like in the Louvre and it's always accessible to you.
And if you're a student, you have your student card and it's almost free and it's just you know,
just direct access to like the world culture, world knowledge, you know, in just like 15 minutes.
Yeah, that was the biggest shock, I guess.
So it triggered you like the you said that you loved the whole like French culture and everything.
Yeah, but yeah, the thing is that we studied French in my high school in Russia, right.
And we had the best teacher.
She really like immersed us into the French culture, but you know, the French culture back in the day like Jo Dasin,
we were singing those songs like Charles Aznavour and you know,
we were learning about the 14th of July and all this, you know, all the stereotypes about French people.
But then I, when I arrived to Paris and I started living there and you know,
we have the stereotype in Russia that French is such a romantic language, it's the most beautiful language on earth.
Then I arrived to Paris and I heard like French people swearing.
I was like that was the shock, I guess.
Yeah. And then I realized actually, you know,
we also have a stereotype about German about it being like this harsh, brutal language.
And then I heard German speak and it's actually so soft and so gentle.
And I heard like this German rap, I don't know if you know the singer Cole.
And it's so like melodic and I was like what? Yeah.
I think in Paris, for example, like the French, if you go to certain neighborhoods, the French is very harsh.
And in Germany, it really depends on the region.
Yeah. There is dialects and accents inside of Germany that are really, really hardcore.
I mean, there is even like maybe northern, right?
The northern are a little bit more like, yeah, harsh in the sense.
The southern are probably the most complex to understand if you learn like hard German,
like the standard normative German.
I luckily lived in Frankfurt, which has one of the most melodic and most French style German things.
So, yeah, it's funny. I don't know, they don't pronounce the double R, for example, all these kind of things.
It's kind of curious. It's interesting.
But we have the same stigma about German.
And when I lived there, I was like it's it vanished.
Like the whole idea that German cannot sound like soft or whatever, which it can and it's nice.
Cool. And then you after two years of studying in Paris, I think I'm lost in the chronology.
I don't know when you went. It's easy to get lost in my life. When do you go back to Russia? Did you go back to where?
I had to learn it myself to be able to remember. Yeah.
That when you went back to Russia or.
Yeah, 2015 or 13. Sorry, I went back to Russia because there was another like crisis and the euro currency rate really jumped up.
Yeah. And it was basically if I wanted to stay in Paris,
I would have to like get like any job that I could get and in order to be able to support myself better.
But at that time, I was already a bit tired of Paris, to be honest, a bit tired of French people.
I love French people. I have French friends.
But how do you say they're not the most xenophilic people.
And yeah, and I in my mind, I already had this like path for myself that I wanted to do something with media,
with TV, and I knew it would be hard for me to enter that market in France because I still didn't speak French at the proper level.
And yeah, and I didn't want to stay in Paris just for the sake of staying in Paris.
So I moved back to my hometown and I started working there for a regional TV channel.
How does this career change? Because now you're a musician and doing the English lessons.
I mean, we will talk later about it, like the last part.
But how do you when do you discover that while studying business and administration in a business school,
you want to go into the TV show?
Yeah, the thing is that yeah, when you look at it like that, it's very confusing.
But me, first of all, ever since I was like three or five, like you could track in my all my like diaries.
It was like with big letters, I was writing, I want to become like a singer, an actress or a TV host.
But I also have my parents.
I have my family and we are like this dynasty of economists.
OK, so my dad was like, get a economics education first and then do whatever you want.
And that's what I did. I see, I see it.
It influenced the whole family. But I never I want to say that I never regretted, you know, learning about economics.
I mean, economics was like my second nature because that's what we always talk about in our family.
So it wasn't hard for me to study.
I really loved it. And I have friends who have followed like paths I wanted to take, like who studied, for example, moviemaking.
I wanted to be a film director also when I was 17 or, you know, who entered other universities.
And I saw that their education didn't really give them that much in terms of, you know, if you want to be a filmmaker,
let's say a theory like theoretical education isn't going to help you as much.
You just need to start doing basically and learn from your mistakes.
So but now at least I know I know how to set up a business in France.
I will never need it. But, you know, I know about marketing, about finance, and that helps, you know,
if you're a blogger, if you're like if you want to be an influencer, if you want to work, you know,
sell stuff on Instagram to understand how, you know, people's minds work and all this.
So I'm grateful very much to my dad for making me like do this.
That you went back to your region when you went back in...
Yeah, that was the biggest like shock also for me. Like switching from Paris to my town.
There is a big shock that a lot of people doesn't talk about it. And it's...
It is, it is.
Going back home.
Almost on the verge with like depression. Yeah, because obviously like no city in the world can be compared to Paris.
Like, I mean, I'm subjective about it, but it's also...
It is beautiful. It is busy. It is like economically on another level than my hometown.
And for me, yeah, I was in a bit of a shock.
But I had my family there, which if I was alone there,
yeah, I wouldn't be able, I guess, to stay for a long time. Yeah.
I can imagine. How do you find the job?
Like, how do you go to a TV show and say, "Hello, I'm a graduated in Business Administration, Economics."
Yeah.
Can I become a TV host for you?
Well, I didn't become a TV host on my first day.
First of all, I also did internships like when I used to come for like the summer vacation.
So, they already knew me a little bit. But also I started out like from the bottom, bottom.
So, first I was behind the screen. I joined the news team and I was just following, you know, the news team.
And I was writing what's it called? I don't know the word in English but basically the news stories.
Then I took some classes with, you know, the speaking coach.
And also, you know, my sort of advantage, my, let's say something that I stood out with, with my resume.
First of all, yeah, I had a degree from abroad and in Russia.
If it's from abroad, no matter from where you are like, yeah, you have an advantage. But also the way I presented myself is I'm an expert in economics.
I studied economics. So, I joined. So, I started being a TV host first as an anchor for new economic news.
And then I had economics related TV shows. Yeah. So, it was all in that area.
Even though deep down I always wanted to be just, you know, like a pure entertainer.
But at that point I couldn't, you know, complain. I took what I could get and I just wanted any kind of experience on TV.
Yes. How many years you spent back home before moving again?
About two years, two and a half years, I guess. Yeah.
And then Cyprus again?
And then Cyprus. Yeah.
How did that come? Like you went for studies again?
Exactly. You didn't like the university system at all, so you decided to go back?
I mean, you know, the point with me is I am this kind of person in my job.
I like to see the result. I like to see the effect ASAP.
So, with TV it was a bit hard because, you know, like you release a show, then you get a feedback after it airs,
maybe like a month later you're already working on something else and you're like you can't really accept like the positive feedback.
You have to be focused on, you know, and as I was on TV, my sister who at the time she was a professor of economics at the university, at our university.
She had a group of professors like in their 80s who randomly decided to learn English.
Well, not randomly. At the time we had like, you know, the BRICS Summit.
It was going to take place in my hometown. So, yeah.
And she was like, do you want to, you know, try and teach them something?
They didn't know anything. And I was like, OK, let me see.
And I started doing that on the side and I really loved it and, you know, I could see the result like almost immediately.
And I mean, those people, of course, they're still educated, really smart people.
So, it's easier to teach them. But still, they're like in their 80s and they were able to go from like A0 to like at least A1/A2.
They were able to like in one month to have some tiny dialogues between themselves.
And I was like, wow, I really love it. Like I'm enjoying and they they really enjoyed it.
And, you know, and I decided, OK, maybe that's what I want to do, because I also wanted to travel.
And my sort of thing was I was going to get a degree in teaching, get some kind of a diploma.
And I was going to travel around and just teach like here and there.
But my plan didn't really work out.
Like I studied masters and I got myself a degree.
But then COVID came by, and I ended up teaching in front of the screen.
So completely the opposite of what I was doing.
And so with singing, it was sort of the same thing, because when I was in Cyprus, I joined the Cyprus Opera Choir.
And I was, you know, as soon as I started singing, I could see that the feedback is even more immediate when you do that.
And I was like, yeah, that's actually what I want to do even more.
Yeah, very cool. So you studied masters at that point of time in Cyprus. It was a masters.
Yeah. One year, one year. Yeah.
Did you catch COVID in Cyprus?
Or that was like 17, 16.
Yeah. So I then I stayed in Cyprus for some time.
But, you know, I cannot stay in Cyprus for longer than one year.
It's a very like closed community and I just feel like the need to travel.
So I went back to Russia and I started teaching there as well.
And COVID, yeah, caught me in Russia.
OK, and then you quarantined for two years.
The full shebang.
And how does it happen that you went here, like in Greece?
Like, yeah, you were in Russia, so it ends the COVID, you passed the time in home,
which is also nice, because it's easier.
The family is there, like at least you have the situation controlled a little bit.
Yeah. And then, you know, my mother, she decides to go to Cyprus for a holiday again.
And I was like, it's the second time this year she's going to Cyprus
and I haven't traveled anywhere yet.
I was like, why don't I join her?
And we went to Cyprus.
And then my mom actually had an idea because at the time,
European countries were not accepting Russians with Russian vaccines.
And she was like, why don't you get like a European vaccine, a Pfizer vaccine somewhere else?
And at the time the two options were the only two countries
who provided that for tourists were Greece and Serbia.
And that's how I came to Greece. That's a weird combination of countries.
Greece and Serbia, and two extremes of the Balkans.
Yeah, I guess they're two most laid back countries in Europe.
And yeah, I was like, OK, Serbia, hmm, not sure.
But yeah, I've never been to Greece and I always wanted to.
I mean, Athens, come on, it's like the cradle of democracy.
And that's how I came here.
And but it was still quite a long process.
It took me at least like two months to be able to register and to get a vaccine.
And then I was able to travel and I started traveling.
I first went to Belgrade because I had to get out of the European Union because of my visa.
So it was Belgrade for one month.
I went to Montenegro for one month and then I came back to Greece.
Yeah, cool. Where does Dobby enter in this whole equation?
Yeah, Dobby is a COVID child, is a COVID pet.
He was born in 2020.
So he is four years old now and he's been to like eight countries already.
He's been to Thailand, he's been to Vietnam, to of course, Serbia, Montenegro.
I mean, he has a good size for travel.
That's the good part.
That was the reason. One of the reasons I decided to get him.
You can carry him on the leap probably in some of the flights.
He has to go down. Yeah, always closed in his bag.
But Dobby is so good on the flights.
He's very quiet. He's just sleeping.
You know, as long as he's with me, he's...
Okay.
Halara, as we say.
Nice. Very cool.
So you traveled more than most of people in the world.
So that's nice. Very cool.
And you moved with him.
Actually, that's...
I know it. I moved my cats from Germany.
They were just for some months not kids of COVID also, but we were lucky.
We were really, really lucky that we got them December 2018, just before the COVID or something like this.
Yeah.
Five months later it was kicking and we were well in lockdown.
So having them, it was giving a little bit of joy in a whole lockdown situation.
So during lockdown, you were in...
Germany.
In Germany.
To be honest, the lockdown in Germany wasn't too bad.
There was no strict lockdown in the sense of like everyone needs to be at home 100%.
I would think that Germans would be strict.
You know what happened in there?
It's probably... It was one of the healthcare systems that was more prepared for this kind of stuff or it didn't hit that hard because they are not the most sociable contact society.
But also I guess they follow the rules, you know.
They follow the rules.
That also helps.
Like when there is rules, they follow them and that helps a lot.
The whole part of like, I don't know, as Mediterranean people we touch, we kiss, we everything, you know.
I mean, I suppose that didn't help at the very beginning with COVID.
So yeah, it wasn't too bad in Germany, to be honest.
Like you could still go out.
You could still take walks.
There was limitation on how many people you could go with and limitation on like you needed to kind of like say,
okay, this is my household, I can move with these people or that people.
So you were allowed to say, okay, this is my family and hello.
And this is whatever like so registering even friends houses as place to go.
And yeah, there was some curfew night, like at 11.
For example, it was like you couldn't go out.
But yeah.
So I know that bringing animals to a new country can be a whole experience.
I don't know how it is between Russia and here.
Like it's the you need to register.
It's pretty chill.
No, registration.
Just all the needed vaccinations.
So yeah, I the hardest experience we had was when we had to move out from Montenegro back to Greece because Montenegro and Serbia.
They are not considered dangerous in European Union in terms of rabies.
So you had to do like an extra tighter test which takes some time.
But you know, it's nothing that cannot be done.
Okay.
Yeah.
Nice.
So you so now you're friends.
Yeah, looks like we are finally friends.
Yeah.
Actually our cat has European passport.
My dog has a European passport.
I don't even have it.
So I was going to ask like does he has a European passport?
He does.
Very cool.
These small things.
What about Greece?
Like you've been here for quite some time or like?
Well, first time I came here was in 21, end of 21.
But let's say I properly moved here.
When was it?
End of 22.
Okay.
Yeah.
Nice.
So as a student with the student papers.
Yeah.
So you studied here also like you did some studies in Greece.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I first year I did I took the course in Greek the official Greek course.
I got my B2 certificate so I could apply to a university because you know,
Greek public universities are free for foreigners as long as you're not Greek.
So technically I'm studying.
I'm not.
Yeah.
I mean one of the reasons why I moved here was because back in the day my fiance was
Greek.
So and to make a student to apply for a student visa was much easier for me than to apply
for this like Greek bride visa.
Yeah.
And at that time, you know the 2022 there wasn't much time to really think like where
do you want to live?
Where do you want to stay like and yeah, that was the most viable option for me.
So yeah, how shocking is it moving to Greece for you?
How was it like because I don't know did you ever have like the romanticism of like in
France in Paris you had this idea.
I guess I expected something like similar to Cyprus.
I mean nothing can shock me as much as Parisians.
So and I mean compared to them Greek people are the nicest people on Earth.
They are very hospitable.
They are very open to a point.
I wouldn't say they're as open as Russians.
They're still a bit closed.
They don't really let in to the close circles.
But I mean they really made it easy.
And I mean they're kind of the polar opposites of French people in terms of when I came to
France, I knew French like at a decent level.
You don't speak it perfectly.
But I was very discouraged and to the point that I started hating French and only now
I realized like I sort of came back to it and I was like no, I actually like French.
I want to study it more.
Whereas in Greece I arrived to Greece.
I didn't really speak proper Greek but as little Greek that I spoke I was so encouraged
by Greek people.
They were so happy that it even encouraged me to study it more.
You know so yeah I guess it was much easier but also now I'm older.
You know I have different priorities in life like I you know other things are important
to me like and I don't let's say okay I focus on the positives more than on the negatives
and every I mean every country has its disadvantages.
You just need to understand like quickly what kind of disadvantages this country has and
how you're going to deal with them because you're not going to be able to change this
society and you shouldn't and yeah you just need to learn to focus on what you love and
love this country for that.
This is what helped me for example.
Yeah, very nice.
So you like it here.
All in all yeah I love Greece.
I mean for me personally I would say that Greece is for me is perfect as a touristic
place still.
Not a place I would love to really live in long term because you know still like bureaucracy
and mentality.
I'm not sure like I was trying to fit in as much as I could but I still see that some
things in terms of let's say work ethics I wouldn't be able to survive here for long.
Yeah I get it cool very nice.
So maybe to close this first part and then we can talk about music.
Okay.
I love I also did a lot of singing in my life so looking forward to it.
Just want to ask you a couple of questions more like I'm introducing this new part of
the episode where I want to talk about recommendations a little bit so in your case I don't know
if there is any before we go to music but for example food that you loved from the countries
that you lived in in I don't know Cyprus something traditional or something French or something
like that.
In Cyprus definitely Cleftico definitely they call it Coupepia which is basically Dolmades.
And also Coupes which is how should I put it it's like minced meat sort of snack in
a form of sort of a sausage I don't know how to explain it yeah but it's baked in bread
crumbs.
Oh wow.
I think something like that exists in Greece as well and you put like lemon on it and it's
the best in France.
I'm gonna break the stereotype for everybody okay.
And I'm not ashamed to say it I hate French food really I don't think I don't think French
have the best food if we're talking about Italy if we're talking about Europe Italy
has the best food for me.
I'm sorry other countries but I'm gonna start a controversy here.
Also Italian wine also Italian bread.
Italians will love it French will hate it so.
I mean okay French bread is on another level when it comes to like pastry but like just
proper like sour bread is you know Italy and Germany by the way but yeah so in Paris and
I'm not the only one who has this opinion it's very hard to find decent food especially if
you're a tourist if you're a student you end up eating sandwiches baguettes you get all
this like carbs kilos you know it's very expensive but if you know a French person if you know
an insider they can take you to this really nice a local restaurants that serve like traditional
French food which I enjoyed much more it doesn't have so much you know this like greasy sauce
is and all this and what I like there it's kind of a similar to what we have in Bashkortostan
it's basically a huge bone and you eat like the marrow the bone marrow yeah I don't remember
the name in French but yeah this is what I like.
I agree I absolutely agree with that yeah what about restaurants and bars let's talk
about Athens for example.
Yeah I mean it's you know what I noticed when you when you meet a like when you meet a guy
when you meet someone in Greece one of the first questions they ask you is like what
bar do you go to which for me was very weird because I'm not a regular bar person first
of all yeah I don't really like like go into bars but even if I go to a bar like I really
can't tell a difference like to me all the bars are the same I'm sorry but what I realized
is yeah in Greece there is this culture they have their own like bars in their own districts.
So I can't really name like a restaurant or a bar but I can name a district so for example
there are nice cafes in the area of Anafiotika with a nice view and you know you can climb
the stairs and there are there are these places.
As for bars I would say also Monastiraki has nice bars Tisio if you want something more
posh more like classy you can come over here to Vula to Vuliagmeni at the sea and the service
is nice and the seats are nice and you pay Paris prices.
Yeah well but it's worth it yeah yeah it's true yeah.
What's your favorite Greek dish?
Greek dish well let me think about it I mean gyro kebab everything that is done in a soup.
Yeah I'm not gonna Zatziki and of course the horiatiki salad is the best I mean the best
of the best I cannot name a better salad ever anywhere even in Russia we have so many salads
but horiatiki is the best.
If you try to do horiatiki outside of Greece it doesn't taste the same way.
No you don't have the quality of the vegetables and fruits and everything.
What about drinks what do you like because it's another thing that Greeks also have like
their preference Ouzo, Tsipouro or Raki or whatever.
If they're from Crete they only drink Tsipouro.
Exactly and it's just like no no I'm a Tsipouro person.
Well I don't really drink alcohol that much but I really like this.
I guess it's called I don't know like is it like a liquor or some kind of a digestive they
bring with mastic and the same way I like limoncello.
These are basically only two like alcohol drinks that I like.
Okay entering a little bit into music but without going too much detail before we do
the second part of the episode.
Is there any band any music recommendation that you have from the countries where you
lived or from your hometown?
Oh my god so many I can like I can give a list it's easier that I send a list.
I mean first of all my region is a birthplace of many famous rockers so that are that are
famous and were famous during like the early 90s.
But now in this day and age you know we have like this recent popularity of hip hop and
rap artists and coincidentally biggest hip hop and rap artists in Russia also come from
Ufa so Mörgens Shtern, Thomas Mraz, Faze.
Yeah I mean I'm not the biggest fan let's say I respect you know their work I love some
songs but yeah I'm sure like my friends could name even more.
As for Cyprus of course Michalis Hadjiannis, George Michael, Yorgos Michaelidis or what's
his real name was.
Who else from Cyprus?
I'm not sure if minus one is a Cypriot band or is it a Greek band it's like a rock band.
Yeah in Greece oh my god there are so many artists I love like Greek music is I love
it I just love it I mean my mom loves it she brought me into yeah into Greek into loving
Greek music but you know I love you know like traditional pop like my all my friends know
the name I'm gonna say now is Nikos Ikonomopoulos I'm going to his concert tomorrow.
I've been like 12 times to his bouzouki in two years.
I am a hardcore fan yeah I am but also you know Remos also you know Mazonakis also the
classics like Terziz like also Pantelidis but also I love rock bands like Melises like
who else that guy the the guy who translates Italian songs into Greek and he's like the
voice judge I always forget his name yeah Panos Mousourakis yeah and what other bands
are there.
I really love Franz Ferdinand and you know that Alex Kapranos is of Greek as well I mean
yeah like these are that come to mind first but yeah the Greek Greece has a very big scene
for musicians yeah okay talking about the scenes of musicians yeah should we do the
second part and go into it?
Hey there everyone I hope you are enjoying this episode until here I just want to ask
a favor of you if you could subscribe to the channel if you're in YouTube there should
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just go to the profile and please subscribe.
The expert living in Greece as a singer.
Welcome back to the second part let's say like this you are currently doing some still
teaching some English but basically focusing on singing career.
Really really trying to make it work.
Musician like like do you play instruments or you basically sing?
I well I am a vocalist I started in an opera choir so my instrument is voice but I do play
some ukulele and some piano but really really basic nothing to be really proud of just to
accompany myself you know when I practice something or for warm-ups yeah.
How did it came all of this like where does it I mean you said that when you were little
you were saying you're a singer-actor.
Yeah yeah I always wanted to sing I was always you know into music but as I said my family
they are they're also into music they are all creative in their own ways but because
they are economists it's a bit strict let's say atmosphere so for self-expression I was
like paving the way for you know the next generations like my both nephews now are playing
like bass and lead guitar and you know my sister is writing.
Poems my older sister she is I can call her lyricist but lyricist but she also studied
like in music school my mama also did they both studied piano my father is a huge fan
of rock music yeah my grandfather used to play Kuray Kuray is like our traditional flute
let's say my grandmother was always into you know dancing so but you know our main let's
say topic in our family was economics so yeah I've always wanted to do that and my first
step out of like my comfort zone into what I really wanted to do was in Cyprus when I
just really wanted to see like am I actually good at singing like do I have what it takes
and the only it so happened the only really professional coach vocal coach happened to
be a Bulgarian opera singer who had her own choir and she was like we came as a group
of friends but I was the only one who stayed for real and she was like yeah you actually
have a pretty big range and she like invited me to her choir as a soprano so as I said
as with TV I was just happy to sing whatever I wasn't really that into opera let's say
like my sister is but you know I mean it's still nice music it's really it's it counts
your nerves you know and yeah but then of course I realized if I want to perform if
I want to make money with it of course it's a bit too late for me to enter the opera stage
because you have to start earlier you have to you know and I also okay I have a big range
but I knew like I could never do opera at the level of let's say Maria Callas or you
know Anna Netrebko so and deep down you know they call me my friends always call me like
on my Instagram it's also written I am lilyusha pankusha because I always liked punk music
punk rock, pop punk you know classic rock I also love just pop and you know like like
I love many genres but deep down I knew that I wanted to do something a bit more energetic
hardcore yeah without being hardcore yeah I mean whatever I do it still turns out to be
a bit softer than intended but just because of my voice yeah soft rock soft punk let's
say yeah so when did it started becoming like you did this choir thing like experience in
in Cyprus but at some moment you decided like when it's the moment that you say like no
not that's the focus now I want to do this well as soon as I started I was like I really
want this to be my focus but I didn't know at the at the moment how to actually switch
because you know there's also a lot of stigma about being like a singer a female singer
so they don't people don't when you say you're a singer you know they think you're some
kind of a I don't know not a serious person let's say and also you know coming out to
my family as a singer was a challenge and it was always much harder for me to sing you
know in front of my family than in front of a big crowd okay which is weird but yeah but
yeah we did some you know we performed a bit with my opera choir I really liked it it was
mostly for charity events and little by little I was like I want to I want to do it professionally
but you know again COVID hit and for entertainers yeah it was not the best yeah and you know
I had to continue teaching while not really enjoying that too much but as soon as you
know COVID regulations sort of went back I realized okay I can actually go back to it
and try try making it work and but of course at the same time I would just you know record
my covers I would post them on my YouTube channel I would do some would post some content
on Instagram on you know TikTok not the biggest TikTok fan I'm told for this I think but but
you know you can't avoid it if you want to be an entertainer yeah and as soon as I came
to Greece I mean I started you know talking to people finding you know fellow musicians
DJs I joined the band a rock band okay it's just you know four boys and me and there are
three Panos's one Thanos and Lily Panos Panos Panos Thanos Lily wow yeah so we do mostly
like 80s covers okay we do what they like and then I met an agent who would try to get
me jobs you know in like bouzoukiya places for warm-up or you know in some lounge restaurants
but as I said it's a bit specific the the industry the music industry itself and the
music industry in Greece so yeah like my latest performance was actually among the Russian
crowd Russian community and I did some it was like a 90s themed party so I did some
Russian songs from 90s yeah I mean uh you know of course as a musician as an artist
as a creative person you always have this like creative energy you need an outlet you
want to do much more than you can but for now I'm happy with what I have you know because
what I realized from like you know listening to people who you know made it and yes it
takes a talent at least one percent yes it takes hard work like 98 percent but there's
always this one percent of luck in every success story so no matter how you look at it and
you know I try to do whatever it takes from me I like I work on my voice I work on my
talent so to speak I you know try to find ways to perform to make connections I'm actually
proud of myself like for making it this far in only two years in Greece I mean if I were
let's say a 19 year old Lily I know I would have been more shy to you know to go out yeah
to go out yeah exactly but you know I always keep it in mind that there is this luck component
whether I have it in my life or not it's not up for me to decide really it's out of my
hands if I have it great if I don't have it I'm really happy with what I've already done
and I'm planning to do with my projects I know people like I'm not that exposed let's say
to that many people yet but people who listen to my music they appreciate it and that's
what matters and even if it's just one person who said that they really you know like my
voice or they just put on my songs you know to soothe themselves for me that's like the
biggest reward cool what's the name of the band yeah that's the biggest problem because
we don't have a proper name even yet I'm taking any suggestions I mean you have three banners
on the Thanos yeah I think that's a very good name like Lily and the boys yeah Lily and
the O's yeah cool and what's which you said you do like mainly covers yeah mainly covers
yeah very cool and then you have like your own projects as a side of that my own YouTube
channel where I also release my covers of like my vision is that I really like music
of different countries and I just want to share it with people and to show that you
know music is universal and it is possible to like Greek music it is possible to like
music in Russian of course in English in English is the most popular and but my other project
is you know songs in my native language which is Bashkir and the problem I see in that that
I'm trying to solve is that there are like this cannon let's say recordings of the songs
which were made let's say in the 80s 90s with with like a proper voice with a proper instrumental
but unfortunately in not so great quality and you could you cannot really access them
online it's like you have to search for them okay but they are very popular and a lot of
people nowadays they are making covers and but unfortunately they are making there you
know in an attempt to be unique they use instrumentals that are a bit let's say too pop too I don't
know how to explain it yeah yeah so it loses the original you know soul so what I'm trying
to do is record these songs the way I feel like they should have been recorded but in
a better quality so you know you know other generations could also you know come and listen
of my people and hopefully appreciate yeah that's really cool that's really nice I mean
if you are able to revive something and bring it keep it the ascents on the originality
with me were recorded it is a bit of a sore subject like our you know ethnic minorities
in Russia because nowadays not so many people less and less people speak those languages
even I don't actually speak it because my parents spoke Russian to me I was raised in
Russian only my grandparents you get my parents they do but also let's say not so freely or
they speak it only with my grandparents so I even feel a mix of you know shame slash
annoyance at myself that I didn't really make the time to learn my native native language
so yeah oh never never say never no there is always time of course of course cool very
nice do you do you write your own songs like you have the process of writing I don't yet
I do write my own songs with the help of AI do you know you could do this now yes you
can even create songs directly with AI there is tools for doing the whole song yeah I like
writing lyrics I just you know because I never had a proper like the music theory education
so I had this insecurity of am I even able to write a proper song and you know I think
all performers have this like especially if you start out as a performer who sings covers
or if you don't write your own songs let's say Nikos Ekonomopoulos he writes his own
songs but you know he doesn't show it to anyone because he's unsure if they're gonna be as
good so yeah but with the help of AI I realized that my lyrics could actually work in the
song so who knows who knows but yeah for now I think I'm better at performing than writing
yeah do you have a process though how do you work in your own songs like you try them
out and then at some point you decide that is it good when I write my well not writing
but performing them or like saying okay yeah what song to choose yeah it's like oh yeah
it's like I get on this vibe for example my cover or my Greek cover the way I recorded
it it was crazy because I was just in Montenegro and I had to go to Serbia and I was gonna
go myself I was driving and I realized that I know some guys in Serbia I know a great
music studio and I was like as long as I'm in Belgrade I mean I might as well record
something and I was already starting on the road and I called him up I was like hey Milos
do you have time for me like tomorrow he's like yeah yeah yeah like what do you want
to do and I was like I need to choose a song what song do I choose and I had this song
in mind that I was like I feel I was feeling comfortable in and I felt like at the moment
I really wanted to talk about what it talks about and I was like yeah it's that song and
I was like can you find me good musicians yeah yeah yeah and I was already getting like
cut off because it was you know the mountain roads and and I arrived and he you know brought
me this great professional guys and even the lead guitar he told me oh I actually love
Greek music I love bouzoukiya and you know I'm very proud of the arrangement that we
did because I also guided them I was like you know go wild and we did this rock cover
and I don't know if it's not too humble of me to say but I feel like the instrumental
is much more interesting than the original I'm not talking about the voice because Nikos's
voice is you know hyperliponi but you know I really like the instrumental cool very nice
so one of the things that did also happens if you check your YouTube channel is that
you sing in languages that are not your mother tongue yeah besides having the project that
you're trying to to recover this you even sing songs in languages that you don't speak
at all yeah yeah yeah some some let's say well I mean let's say Turkish it's very close
to my mother tongue to Bashkir so yeah but I mean no I speak in I sing in English French
Italian Russian Greek Bashkir Tatar Turkish a little bit and you know one more which was
Spanish yeah Spanish but Spanish I feel like it's kind of easy to sort of mimic if you
really you know try to do it if you learn you speak all these languages no I don't
speak Spanish at all but you can make it out of Italy yeah yeah yeah of course yeah very
nice do you have any projects going on right now like like any new songs that you are working
on like something that you are? No I mean it's like I'm in this I'm always keeping
it in mind but you know for me it's important to know to have a good studio and good musicians
and for now I'm still searching for you know for musicians that I like and it's also important
to vibe on the same song so yeah as soon as I as I meet someone I'm very quick I'm like
let's do something let's go let's start a band I have like several bands going on but yeah
I mean they're still in the very like beginning shape but but yeah I'm now I'm in this kind
of vibe that I'm very let's say active at you know finding jobs finding venues performing
and in order to record I think you have to be in a bit different mood you have to you
know take it easy and really like feel the song and so that it comes out the way you
want to. Cool how is it the whole part of like because I always imagined it like being
the worst of the worst like finding jobs finding gigs finding places where to play how is it
here in Greece like? Well in Greece as I think in any industry in Greece connections matter
so yeah that's all I'm gonna say. No no having the cousin of a cousin of a cousin who knows
that who owns a bar there and then they have this night. Yeah yeah yeah so it's like easy
and hard at the same time but I had I went to so many auditions I went to like two auditions
where they accepted me they were like yes you're gonna you're gonna start at Bazooka
like next week and then this club doesn't even open or you know the owners don't agree
between themselves who if they even want to have music in their venue like in their restaurant
for example or you know or they end up hiring you know a relative it's all like a part of
the process I'm not even talking about like the darker sides of this that's not for your
podcast. I can imagine. Yeah so and I'm trying to avoid all this and if it doesn't work it
doesn't work it's fine it will work out sooner or later like I'm not I'm not discouraged but
I do feel like sometimes I'm in this La La Land movie. Okay I see. Without being depressed.
Cool that's a good part. Yeah it's really difficult I mean I am like I moved around
some circles one of the funny parts when you said like that Covid stopped when I said before
that in Germany there was no like strict lockdown and you could actually say like okay this
is the family house so you could go to that place you could register up to three households
thingy like circles of houses that you will be visiting and one of the ones was one of
my best friends in Frankfurt one of my best friends in Frankfurt which happened to be
also my vocal teacher and singing teacher so. What kind of style are you are you a rock
singer I imagine by your tattoos. No no not at all actually I actually started a little
bit like the same opera singing musical. You're tenor. I'm a tenor. I imagine yeah. I did
like classic a lot of like not 100% classic more like in musical theater. I've been in
choirs. What is your favorite musical? That's a very difficult one I don't know I really
love one but it's a local one it's a catalan production what's it called? It's called Maricel
okay and it's a production of a very very good. Is it about a girl? No it's a but there
is a love story inside of it let's say like this but it's talked about the Christians
and the Muslims the wars in between Valencia and like the regime of like what was Al-Andalus
the Arabic part of Spain during the. Yeah. Andalusie. Yeah. Yeah. Bois Mier Notre Dame
de Paris. Exactly. So it's a story inside of a pirate boat of Islamic pirates who has
captured some Christians and it's a love story of a Christian girl and the pirate captain
and it has buried. I really want to check it out. It's in YouTube actually if you want
to check it out big recommendation it's in catalan but if you speak French you will understand.
I don't mind I don't mind even if I don't get it. French and catalan are really close
so if you speak French a lot of French people understands more catalan than Spanish some
of the time so yeah so I did that and then with Frank which was this vocal teacher that
I had very good friend of mine until now actually. In Frankfurt he was the first person who grabbed
me and opened the spectrum so I listen a lot of punk I listen a lot of rock I listen a
lot of ska music I'm always into around ska. Do you know Locomondo? Yeah of course I've
seen them a couple of times here and yeah basically he teaches complete vocal technique.
Oh yeah CVT I had a CVT teacher here as well yeah yeah it's the best now. I love it like
because he can tell you like okay your position like this and the whole masses and with him
we did very big repertoire from songwriters from Catalonia to punk rock singing to Celtic
punk I don't know to rock to indie to more like things with it also like some classical
songs but we I opened with him it's when I really exploded in the sense of like now I
can do different kinds of music that it's not this kind of like always more like classical
music or opera singing which I loved it it's yeah it's very very cool. Okay what is your
most favorite favorite aria like a tenor aria that you did? I don't know that's a very
interesting one. I think it's really sad because it's like probably like the most common response.
It is for a reason I mean the same for me is like Omnibabino Caro I mean come on yeah
it is classic for a reason. Yeah I think it would be Nessun Dorma. Are you gonna see Placido
Domingo like on the 10th? No I'm not probably not going I went to see I mean I love Josep
Carreras with Placido. Have a little bit of a dilemma with Placido with the whole sexual
abuse and the whole situation I had there. So it was more an ethical discussion I would
have I would love to see them yeah but at the same time ethically was like should I
show or not? I really loved I saw Placido once in Russia when he came to Moscow to Krokos
City Hall I don't know if you heard we had this tragedy there with me and he was amazing
like I really loved how he holds the crowd but also he did one song in Russian. Oh really?
Which was really it sounded really weird but everyone loved it. Ochi Chorneye I don't know
if you know the song. Ochi Chorneye. Ochi Strazneye. Yeah I think I probably know. Yeah and I mean
yeah he conquered everyone but yeah this controversy I haven't followed it too much but like in
those topics I prefer to you know unless it's proven I try to I don't want to break the
image of I really don't want to think bad of him yeah. He was just judged and condemned.
He was judged yeah. He was condemned. It was like okay I don't know it's like the whole
thing I went to see Andrea Ocelli last year really really nice here I love when they do
the Epidauros Athens Epidauros I went to Tosca two weeks ago I'm going to La Traviata in
two weeks in the theater of the Dione it's really nice below the Acropolis it's really cool. I went to see Tosca there like a couple of years ago they had it there yeah. So Madame a Butterfly last year. I'm going to see Nabucco next year in the Arena of Verona. Okay yeah oh yeah there you're gonna be swimming in opera. Yes sure so yeah I am in this repertoire although at home for example I'm not the person who
listens to opera I was kind of entering this world and I think a lot of people had
it like okay you enter some kind of the classical and whatever because it's a
kind of way of studying music then at home like people listen punk and I have
a lot of friends who are like opera singers and none of them really listen
to opera in their free time and none of them dress like opera singers like yeah
you assume that I was a rock singer because of Tattoo so yeah exactly exactly
now my favorite genre is ska I'm always into the ska environment as well yeah
what do you define yourself like how do you define your music genre wise right
now when you're singing? What I sing well it depends also if it's like just for a
venue like for a restaurant for a lounge bar it's like basically soft jazz soft
pop. If it's with a band, then it's, you know, classical rock, punk rock, pop punk.
If you ask me what is like, lily is a genre, it's a genre of its own.
Yeah, I see. That's good. I mean, if you are capable of like,
switching and dancing between styles. I mean, not that many styles still, but
I feel like, you know, now we're in this meta modern century, let's say. So we can't really
think of ourselves as our ancestors thought of themselves. Like, we have all this information,
we have all this history culture behind us. It's very hard to create something new, something fresh,
especially in music, it's just seven notes. So you have to like reinvent music basically, so
you're bound to like combine genres to be able to give birth to something. Yeah, that's cool.
Maybe just to last couple of questions time wise, probably. What about video clip? I think I saw
some kind of video clip and marketing. How do you do that? How do you deal with the whole video clip
perspective? Is it something that you're really interested or it's more like, okay, I need to
do a video clip because of promotion. It's a little bit of I have to do it. But as I said,
I always wanted to be like a movie maker and I wanted to be like not even a film director,
but I wanted to make it to produce music videos. Right now, I wouldn't say that's my greatest
passion. I really like making, you know, short videos, I don't take myself seriously. But,
you know, at this point in time, I cannot afford like a proper, you know, video maker, studio and,
you know, all this huge team. So I have to produce everything by myself. But, you know, I'm enjoying
it. I have friends who helped me. Like I have a very good friend who's a photographer who, you
know, I have a good friend who had the latest iPhone. And then there was me like directing
everybody. Cool, yeah, so I mean, I don't take myself so seriously. And I also look at it,
you know, objectively. I'm not Lady Gaga. I'm not a Beyonce. I'm not at their level yet. So
I don't have this level of resources. So I do, you know, the best with what I can get. Yeah,
yeah. But right now, I mean, you can produce podcasts with two iPhones and you can do very,
very, very, very professional video clips. If you have an idea and that's good enough. Like
that's the most important thing. If you're not inspired, then it's probably not going to work out.
Cool. Yeah. Nice. So probably the last question, I mean, the most important one is where people
can find you. Like where are you? What is your presence right now? Mostly on Instagram. It's
@lilmardan and anywhere you can find me by this tag. On YouTube, it's Lilia.mp3. On SoundCloud as
well. Basically on any platform. Also, one of my covers is available like on Spotify
and other music distribution platforms. You have to search for Lilia, L-I-L-I-Y-A. It's called Kuznurim.
It's in Bashkir and it means the light of my eyes. Oh, well. Yeah. Nice. So with the light of my eyes,
I think it's a good end of the episode. I will of course put all the handles and all the social
media in the description of the episode. And Dobby has a TikTok. It's called Dobby the Gentleman.
The small gentlemen. Who doesn't like gentlemen? Or take some time to like men.
Well, thank you so much. Thank you. For your time. It was a pleasure. It was really nice talking to you
and discovering your life and your passion and hopefully bringing some new listeners to your
music. This is Expat Experts. Support this podcast by listening us in Potamu and subscribe in Spotify
and YouTube.