Bonnie Tyler Sang in Greek Back in 1992. The Song Still Hits.
In 1992, Bonnie Tyler collaborated with Greek pop star Sofia Arvanitaki on a rock duet that caught the country completely off guard. The song, "Pethaino stin erimia (The Desert Is in Your Heart)," dropped during an era when pop and laika dominated Greek radio, and a full-throated rock track with two powerhouse women at the mic was the last thing anyone expected.
The man behind the music was Michalis Rakintzis, who composed the track while keeping a careful balance between instruments and a spirit of experimentation that always defined his work. Tery Siganos wrote the lyrics, weaving Greek and English together so that Tyler's verses weren't a direct translation of Arvanitaki's, but carried the same weight and meaning.
Skai described it as possibly the best Greek song of the '90s, and it's hard to argue with that.
The song opens with 20 seconds of intro that gives nothing away, then the beat builds and Arvanitaki's steady, booming voice arrives. Rakintzis drops extra notes between the verse and chorus, Arvanitaki cries out in desperation, and then Tyler enters in English, her raspy signature tone locking in perfectly with everything already laid down.
Both singers had voices that could fill a room without a microphone. Together, the result was something that stood apart from everything else on Greek airwaves at the time, and it still holds up. Skai described it as possibly the best Greek song of the '90s, and it's hard to argue with that.
