The great Greek composer was 96 years old
With the death of Mikis Theodorakis, which occurred at the age of 96, it fades one of the most popular banners in contemporary Greek history. Active already as a boy in the resistance struggle against Nazism, the musician never shrank, in fact, from proudly defending his political, cultural and musical reasons, in defense of national culture and its ancient traditions. The composer and conductor who already at the age of 17 he established himself in public as the heir of the Greek musical tradition, participated in the Civil War of 1946-49 and met the concentration camp; changed the political landscape, he was part of the national Parliament; active state, after the advent of the dictatorship of the colonels, in the patriotic front, founding state of the pro-Communist party of the EDA, he met prison and confinement undergoing, together with family members, harassment of all kinds and the putting on the index of its production.
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But for the latter the author of Zorba the Greek is remembered (the composition of the soundtrack of the film directed by Michael Cacoyannis in 1964, also known as Sirtaki first in the charts for four weeks in 1965 in Italy). Strengthened by a solid apprenticeship – Theodorakis had specialized in the formidable workshop of Olivier Messiaen in Paris -, the composer has always aimed at the difficult combination of the classical Central European tradition and the Byzantinisms of local folk song, in the awareness of the increasingly specialized conditions of avant-garde music. He has succeeded, conquering unthinkable masses of the cult of his music, especially in the genre of song, where knowledge and invention are translated into the most elementary and accessible form. He has made up hundreds of them. We do not know the title or contents of many, yet it is enough to mention them to discover that we have always known them.
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But his catalog, which he includes, does not live on songs alone operas and ballets, stage and film music, symphonic and chamber works: all pages documenting the easy melodic vein, the rhythmic brilliance and those timbral colors that derive from the particular Greek organology.
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September 2, 2021 (change September 2, 2021 | 11:19)
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