OUR Indra Kane she seems to be doing well. Not because she was born this way, but because after each “fall” she tried to make her “get up” stronger. This dynamism came to her because of what she loves: going on stage to sing or embody a role.

The singer and actress brings this comfort when she speaks to you in a straightforward manner and unashamedly denounces everything that is necessary: ​​about racism and stereotypes that follow her skin color, about how women treat their bodies, about the scourge social media, but also dating and relationship triggers today.

Always with the necessary dose of self-criticism. Because it’s the only way to move forward. And with a lot of psychotherapy, as he rightly mentions a couple of times in our conversation.

This is Indra Kane:

I was born and raised in Kipseli to an African father and a Greek mother. Now Kipseli is multicultural, but when I was born in the 80s, it was not quite like that, a big wave came from the 90s. Now it is perhaps the most multicultural area of ​​Greece.

What “worries” me is that the average Greek is impressed to see a person of my skin color who speaks fluent Greek. Yes, because I am Greek.

My father learned the Greek mentality so much that apart from the African food he cooked from time to time and a few cassettes of African songs that he had and which we listened to on Sundays, there was no other strong African element in my life. She’s been here since ’67, so over the years it seemed like “the more Greek you are, the more you die.”

I knew very well that I wanted to be a singer. It goes without saying that everyone, without exception, dreams of an international career. Subconsciously, my color may have guided my choice, and I chose English in the first place. However, since we do all foreign genres in Greek, why not r’n’b in Greek?

In “Rapunzel without a fairy tale”, which I’m doing now, and this is a children’s theater, I find it very important and touching that schools with black students come and they will see themselves on stage for the first time.

Children are much cleaner than us. There isn’t a single kid who doesn’t mind having two black women on stage in the show. They see history. They won’t comment that two black women are playing black women.

There are some stereotypes: if you are black, then you sing well. This helped me a lot. Of course, at the same time it raises the bar much higher. I heard, say, by listening that “you are not singing a black man.” Or they suddenly expect that because I am a black singer, I must have the skills of Whitney Houston. Um, no. It’s like walking up to a white singer and saying, “Why don’t you sing like Callas?”

There is a tendency to look for a black role. In everything that I did, for example, on television, I played black and nothing else. I know that when they want to take a black role somewhere, they will call me.

Greek television has also had problems with historical series. where black roles cannot be justified. But in what is happening today, the history of blacks in Greece makes sense.

I don’t even think they’re turning things down because they’re non-commercial, because they’re commercial after all. I remember the series “I Agapi Irthe Apo Makria”, which was about the love story of an Albanian with a Greek woman, and it made a splash – and it was a time when racism against Albanians was more intense.

At work, I’m not exactly faced with racism, there are just some stereotypes. Nothing to do with what’s going on outside, where you listen to gossip.

I heard from “that you’re sitting on a cartget up so the Greeks sit down” until a lady, a 17-year-old boy, caught me on the bus and started telling me that we blacks had come and were stealing their men. And no one said anything to her.

The only time I was scared was when I went to the Golden Dawn meetings. -and I was so “lucky” that I fell three times. I remember their eatery in Kipseli and from early childhood I knew that there were colorful guys there. At some point, still videotaped, I went to a video club in Fokionos Negri. I go to pay to leave and the employee tells me not to leave because there are a bunch of gold diggers out there. And for a while I sat in the video club.

Another time I was driving past Larisa station. and they handed out leaflets in cars. And a woman came up to the window, I look at her, she looks at me, and I just rolled up the window.

When they entered Parliament, I wasn’t more afraid on the street, but somehow I began to worry about how they got there. Most people won’t make racist comments about blacks in front of you, but they will be about Albanians or Pakistanis. And there I began to think about many people.

I think if it weren’t for the racism and stereotypes that haunt me because of my skin color, it wouldn’t have taken me that long to find and get out. I would be more assertive and definitely less angry. But by no means do I carry it as a burden.

What you do on stage, you want to show in real life, but something is holding you back. This is also very true for me because I was a very shy and withdrawn child. And when you go on stage at the beginning to direct it yourself, you see it as a role. In recent years, I have managed to put into my life what I get, because I want to be like that. I always knew that I had dynamism in me, but somehow I screwed up and made a “humble daisy”.

I got to the point where I said: either I die with all this, or I turn everything upside down. And I did. Of course, you make people so upset because you make fun of them, but there is no other way. And there are those who appreciate it, of course.

The ideal would be to find yourself without reaching the bottom and without getting up. But I think it always happens. Either you make a decision, or you drown and get lost. And we did not come into this life to perish.

When it comes to body positivity, in order to love your body, you usually first have to hate it a lot. Personally, I’ve just reached a point of unimaginable exhaustion. The thought of my body played like a magnifying glass behind everything I did, behind every decision I found difficult to make, at work, at home, anywhere.

Sometimes I look at my belly and say that it means I had a good time. and I ate what I liked. I used to have a very guilty attitude towards food, but at some point it ended. I have so many other things I can’t keep it in my head all the time.

Sure there are days when I wake up and eat my horrors it will never go away. But it’s enough for me to admit it and say to myself “today you ate your horror, live with it.”

Women have grown up thinking we have to be a certain way to be liked. That someone has to come and “choose” you, so you have to be the last bitch. But no matter what you are, there will be a person who will like you, and he will be right.

Do people flirt? It is pathogenic that we consider chatter to be flirting. And we may not even make it to life. I mean, what have we been talking about for so long?

In relationships, I have a feeling that there is no desire for a common development. We are all looking for an ideal that will fit perfectly into our own theme – which will not happen – and in the end we give up effort very easily. It’s also important to be aware of your own shortcomings rather than waiting for someone else to “fix” you.

As much as I love them, social media breaks my heart even more. I use them, but it annoys me that someone will say something. And he can say it on his social media, but he’ll also be on mine to do it. I see all this whining and I don’t see it aside, let’s demand something, this is a couch revolution. We talk so much about substantive things, and we are all extremely superficial.

Everyone says that we should have education. I had just come here from a children’s play at the theater and the two teachers were having a normal conversation while we were playing. Will these teachers teach children to appreciate anything artistic?

Inclusivity is definitely a bit more because “some boxes need to be checked”. But although it has become fashionable and everyone talks about “pink washing”, it doesn’t matter, it serves a very good purpose. Here we have experienced many other mods. I’m also of the opinion that the more something bothers you, the more likely it is for the better.

In Greece, I believe with optimism that in order for people like me not to talk about its color and to explain the obvious, it will take at least another 30 years. But it will happen.