Dinata

"Dinata"
Song by Eleftheria Arvanitaki
from the album Meno Ektos
Released 1991
Genre Laika
Label PolyGram/Polydor
Songwriter(s)

Dinata or Dynata is a song from the album Meno Ektos; its music was composed by Ara Dinkjian, its lyrics written by Lina Nikolakopoulou and it was first sung by Eleftheria Arvanitaki while Arto Tuncboyaciyan features in non verbal singing and percussion in some versions and performances of it; it mixes the influence of Balkan, Greek and Armenian music with electronics. This song, among the others on Meno Ektos, made Arvanitaki a big name in Greece; a notable performance of it by her was at the closing ceremony of the 2004 Athens Olympics, during the fireworks and after the flame had been extinguished.

Song title meaning and etymology

The Greek word δυνατά, dinata or alternatively dynata, can be interpreted as either a neuter plural adjective meaning "strong", "powerful", "possible" or "loud", or as an adverb meaning "strongly", "powerfully", "loudly"; although this word in this song has probably as per the lyrics context and at least in some verses, the sense of possible, being sung loudly at the refrain it can be thus understood as acquiring at that point the (meta-)meaning of loud or loudly; hence possibly the various differing attested translations. The word shares a linguistic root with English words like dynamo and dynamic, i.e. they are all derived (at times through dynamis) from the ancient Greek verb δύνασθαι, dynasthai, i.e. "to be able, strong enough to do".[1]

Alternative versions

"Homecoming"
Song by Night Ark
from the album Picture
Released 1986
Songwriter(s)

Various versions of Dinata exist. The song or rather the music was first published in 1986 as an instrumental piece by Night Ark (see below), whence its "official" English title, i.e. Homecoming.[2]

Night Ark

Ara Dinkjian is a founding member of the band or instrumental jazz quartet Night Ark; their most famous piece is Homecoming which can be first found on their 1986 album Picture.

French

A French version of the song was recorded by Demis Roussos on the 1997 album Mon Ile with French lyrics by Koraz.[3]

Track listing

  • French single
  1. "Dinata" (Radio Edit) - 3:37
  2. "Dinata" - 4:12
  3. "Mon Ile" - 4:16

Antique

"Dinata Dinata"
Single by Antique
from the album Mera Me Ti Mera
Released 11 November 1999
Format CD single
Genre
Length 3:17
Label
Songwriter(s)
  • A. Dinkjian
  • L. Nikolakopoulou
Producer(s)
  • C&N Project
  • Adebratt
Audio sample
  • file
  • help

"Dinata Dinata" was covered by Greek-Swedish duo Antique. It was released in November 1999 as the second single from their debut album, Mera Me Ti Mera. It reached the top 10 in Romania and Sweden.

Track listing

  • German and Swedish single
  1. "Dinata Dinata" (Radio Edit) - 3:17
  2. "Dinata Dinata" (Extended Version) - 4:25
  3. "Westoriental Trip" - 4:07
  • Swedish single
  1. "Dinata Dinata" (Radio Edit) - 3:17
  2. "Set Your Body Free" - 5:28
  • Swedish promo single
  1. "Dinata Dinata" (C&N Project Mix) - 7:45
  2. "Dinata Dinata" (Jonas S. Club Mix) - 5:06
  3. "Dinata Dinata" (L.O.L. Brothers on a Mission Mix) - 5:14
  4. "Dinata Dinata" (Radio Edit) - 3:18

Charts

Chart (1999) Peak
position
Norway (VG-lista)[4] 19
Romania (Romanian Top 100) 8
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[5] 8

Turkish

A Turkish version of the song was released by Sezen Aksu with the title Sarışınım on the 1988 album Sezen Aksu'88.

References

  1. ↑ Lemmas "dynamic". "dynamo". Online Etymology Dictionary. Lemmas "δυνατός". Missing or empty |title= (help) "δύναμη". Babiniotis dictionary. Lemmas δυνατός, δύναμις, δύνασθαι. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
  2. ↑ Meneshian, Raffi (2007). "Ara Dinkjian". Life in the Armenian Diaspora. Archived from the original on 2013-01-19.
  3. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/release/4977435
  4. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Antique – Dinata". VG-lista.
  5. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Antique – Dinata". Singles Top 100.
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