OAKLAND, CA – It’s not every day you come across a Greek-American woman who is also a chanter – let alone one who has dealt with great loss at a young age. For Efrosini Phillips, who goes by Frosene, chanting became a way to navigate grief and heal over the years.
When Phillips was a young child, she grew up idolizing her father, Perecles (Perry) Phillips, who was a choir director at the Ascension Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Oakland, CA.
From as young as five years old, she would watch as her father conducted the church choir singing beautiful Greek Orthodox hymns. As she was growing, she learned piano and violin and would often join her father, which allowed for her love for music to develop.
In an interview with The National Herald Phillips shared: “He would teach me the Greek songs and the melody, and then he played the rhythm and it quickly became ingrained in me.
Phillips also attended Sunday school every weekend and began doing traditional Greek folk dancing lessons, which helped keep her love, pride, and respect for her Greek roots and culture alive.
Over the years, Phillips shared how she also formed a Greek band in her early twenties along with friends. They were called The Arcadians, and it lasted for about three years.
“We used to play at local festivals and other kinds of events, and it was a really fun experience,” she said.
“And I have to tell you, I am not fluent in the language. I can read it though, and I went to Greek school, and I have been singing all my life.”
At the age of 26, her life then took an unexpected turn, when she lost her husband, James Maniatis, to cancer. Describing the result of this difficult experience, she shared how it reshaped her understanding of life at an early age. “It taught me about life very young,” Phillips recalled. “It felt like the rug was pulled out from under me – like I was a 70-year-old in a 26-year-old’s body because” death is not usually part of a young person’s life.
“This was my first death experience in my family” she said. “You can either embrace it or live in darkness… and I managed to navigate it and come out stronger.” “I learnt that it’s part of life, and I feel like in our culture, the rituals and practices, I grew to love, such as the 40 day and one year memorials, and I grew to understand the value and wisdom in those things as I moved through it.”
Several years later, she faced another heart-breaking loss, with the passing of her father in 1991. He was someone she not only had a deep love for, but he was responsible for shaping her life-long relationship with music and the church.
After experiencing this loss, she decided to take her love for Greek orthodox music one step further and become a female chanter.
It first began as a personal tribute to her father, and then gradually became her calling, which now sees her singing at funeral services and supporting others who are dealing with grief like she was. “Music is so healing and having personally walked through the passage from life to death in my own way, I’ve found inspiration in the people around me – through what they said and did,” Phillips said. “I have that same gift to share, something that might uplift someone else. And if you don’t use your gift, I think it’s a sin.”
Frosene singing with her band Mediterranean Soul. (Photo: Courtesy of Sarah Landis)
Following all the barriers and hardships she faced, Phillips decided to continue singing and chanting, and creating music in honor of her late husband and father.
She annually participates in a female-led Holy Tuesday chanting service at the Ascension Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Oakland.
“We have not missed a Holy Tuesday since 1978,” the Greek-American chanter and singer said.
In her career, Phillips shared how she has recorded ‘Eternal Memory – Greek Orthodox Hymns and Sacred Music Offered in memoriam’, as well as Holy Week and Easter excerpts and the Greek Orthodox Divine Liturgy featuring Rev. Fr. Thomas J. Paris, of blessed memory and the Ascension Cathedral Liturgical Choir.
When asked what Frosene Phillips loved most about chanting and singing Greek orthodox music, she simply responded: “it’s my place of peace.”
“I feel like I’m just the vehicle and it’s passing through me and I feel like it is almost healing to everyone else and me,” she expressed.
“The breathing and the interpretation – that’s all transcending. And with church music, it’s so spiritual and holy – it’s not a performance.”
To learn more about the talented and inspiring Frosene Phillips, as well as listen to her incredible voice, and her father’s discography, visit www.pereclesmusic.com.
