Μίκης Θεοδωράκης (Mikis Theodorakis)

W

wat11

Fluent in Kajiurago
Here's another very well known composer, Mikis Theodorakis!

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR7pNmkVjtAWeIwntQTG-K2utjyMTXmbzDDIEgowRVLd1_KR7wAaw.jpg


From Wikipedia:

"Michael "Mikis" Theodorakis (Greek: Μιχαήλ (Μίκης) Θεοδωράκης, pronounced [ˈmikis θeoðoˈrakis]; born 29 July 1925) is a Greek songwriter of over 1000 songs and composer.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] He scored for the films Zorba the Greek (1964), Z (1969), and Serpico (1973). He is viewed as Greece's best-known living composer"

He was politcally active too: "Politically, he identified with the left until the late 1980s; in 1989 he ran as an independent candidate within the centre-right New Democracy party in order for the country to come out of the political crisis that had been created due to the numerous scandals of the government of Andreas Papandreou"

Without further ado, here's a sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxkuH4tcIMA

Sound familiar? We would say flute+strings to this right? :) In some ways, he can be as melodramatic as Kajiura.

From "Z": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kERP0ISYsvs
Again from "Z", an orchestral version of "To Yelasto Pedi": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3pq9OKy2o4
 
He used to be a great man, but I dont like that he has sided with Syriza now.

Music wise I really like his works, which i have heard alot but I dont know many by name, since i hear most in radio
try Ενα το Χελιδονι, its one of my fav songs by him and we used to sing it alot in the school choir in elemetary school
also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLFnyiZiJIo

an equally good composer, if not better, is Manos Ch (or X)atzidakis, he was older than Theodorakis and he's in the grave since 1980s if im not wrong. He had contacted all the songs in Εdo Lilipoupoli, https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Εδω Λιληπουπολη τραγουδια a children radio drama that had stories in theater style and songs which were writen and composed and sung by really good artists

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHQsgG0-a2A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHxzPow0Wqk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-jDFbql45E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xy_ertw_Dw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsR2-fEnwD4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU90vYayjLQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcofXq4I4wE

last song translation:

Narration:
Inside the hot waters a dragon with tail
yawns yawns, he's bored of his life

and a bit further, 3 lobsters are sat.
he aims, grabs them, and puts them inside his pocket

Lobsters:
Dragon, oh dragon were are you getting us,
do you want to eat us, will you salt us and gril us in the oven ?
oh dragon were are you getting us, do you want to eat us,

Dragon:
Dont talk about food, dont shout too much
Get on the bed to scratch my back
Get on the bed to scratch my back
Click to expand...




google translate this: Η εκπομπή, η οποία ήταν καθημερινή, ήταν μουσικά επενδυμένη με τραγούδια ευρηματικότατων στίχων. Η Μαριανίνα Κριεζή ήταν η στιχουργός των τραγουδιών και μια σειρά νέων καλλιτεχνών Δημήτρης Μαραγκόπουλος, Λένα Πλάτωνος, Νίκος Κυπουργός και Νίκος Χριστοδούλου συνέθεταν τις μουσικές, τα οποία τραγουδούσαν οι Σπύρος Σακκάς, Σαβίνα Γιαννάτου, Αντώνης Κοντογεωργίου και Νένα Βενετσάνου. [3]

He was also the director of the ERT's trito programma ( third program - a radio station promoting classical music) . when it opened after the Junda, and organised it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrZs7o_QL84
 
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Athens was in a huge social and political upheaval; some people thought Alexis Tsipras could make a coalition that would work. i am inclined to be a left-wing advocate myself actually. idk how you stand on this matter but at least Theodorakis doesn't support Χρυσή Αυγή or Golden Dawn. never mind the politics though.

i loved Εdo Lilipoupoli! the music feels so innocent and the instrumentation and vocals sound so good.

also found this on Μάνος Χατζιδάκις :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6Av6I43qyU which has some touching pieces :)

thanks for all the names! i will look into them.
 
The current left-wings in Greeκ are nothing compare to the 70s ones, since the majority of them are no more progressive, but stuck to the past, and so is Tsipras and his hardcore supporters. I dont like to talk politics since people seem to want to only hear what they want to hear. When Tsipras becomes PM everyone will see what culpit he is, that's all I have to say. Τhat I dont like Tsipras doesnt mean that I like the other parties now in parliament, they are all bad in their own way.

more lilipoupoli songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dje6Gu8uTvk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttsVNII0190
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiVy9hH6crE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99J9yc2drRQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSUi_OB1OsQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOwBTF_MJhE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugIuK9-VLUk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n32ANLHcKH4

First song translation:

(This song is for the yellow colour, while the one with the bear was for the brown, and the one with the peas is for green, and the one with Rosalia for pink)

A chinese (female) swimmer
jumps into the mayonaise,
and swims like a dolphin (=very well)
with a yellow bikini swimsuit

Hit (= swim with) your legs oh chinese for the mayonnaise to not stuck
Hit (= swim with) your legs oh chinese for the mayonnaise to not stuck

A ship that beeps, sails through the mayonaise
and boum boum, with 2 cannons
it thows yellow melons, slices of kaseri cheese and golden omelets

The captain who's on the wheel, eats a slice of lemon
and once he sees the chinese, he too dives into the mayonaise

The mayonnaise overflows and floods the whole world
The mayonnaise overflows and floods the whole world

The houses are painted yelllow, and the sky with the sparrows,
the windows are are painted yelllow, the seas and rivers
and (also the) fishes* yellow like canarins

Chin chan chin chon says the chinese
and from her great fear, she loses one of her > **

Hit (= swim with) your legs oh chinese for the mayonnaise to not stuck
Hit (= swim with) your legs oh chinese for the mayonnaise to not stuck
Hit (= swim with) your legs oh chinese for the mayonnaise to not stuck
Hit (= swim with) your legs oh chinese for the mayonnaise to not stuck
Hit (= swim with) your legs oh chinese for the mayonnaise to not stuck


* it uses the word Lithrini, meaning this fish
** In greece we use the japanese word sayonara for this kind of footwear, I dunno the english name ^^;
Click to expand...
 
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Τhere are apparently some liner notes from 1980 from Xatzidakis in a release I have, if you are interested, I can translate.
 
yes i really do feel for Greece, and i must say that i feel as hopeless as you do. between the two dominating families and seemingly good Tsipras and others, it doesn't look so good. i once heard about a famous fashion designer who was found dead not long ago; he had written a suicide note saying he couldn't cope with the crisis. i had friends who said that everything's stolen from the Greeks, music , language (e.g. by the English long ago and now the abolition of multiple use of stresses on syllables), politics, philosophy and money. i also hear a good deal of hatred toward the Germans due to their rising chairs in the EU and pressures on the Greek government. anyway, i hope for the best in the end...

the more i hear lilipoupoli, the more i like it. i tried to learn Greek once but couldn't due to limited time. this is perfect material! plus the lovely music. we used to sing some Rembetiko songs in the past actually :D but all's forgotten now.

if it's not too much trouble, it would be great! i try to find these things including lyrics and liner notes translated on the internet but to no avail.
 
^ Well I wouldnt say it stealing, but adoption. The fact that the other nations adopted the ancient greek ways for politics, and part of language etc, doesnt make them slaves for greece for ever. It is actually our own fault that we are where we are now, because most greeks always believe the lieing politicians and those that promise the most crap (eg: Tsipras says that he will tear apart the Momentum and that he will renegociate about the debt, but he doesnt say where he will find the money that comes from the momentum now, the Russians ? I dont think so, you saw what happened with Cyprus, where they didnt agreed on loaning them. the Chinese ? Hard to believe, they have their own ways of making sure their money doesnt go to waste too. The Latin America counties he so much loves ? They have pool people themselves, they arent going to loans us. As long as greece doesnt open for foreign and local companies to start activities easily and with low tax, it will never make money on its own, and the current governments, might be saying the same in their species but in reality they do nothing too, and because a big part of Tsipras supporters now are the lazy part of the public sector, his whole party is looking forward to taking greece back to 2008 asap. What they want is for EU or other countries to give us loans without us having to pay them back for eternity, just because our ancestors were building the Parthenon while they were still climbing trees (this is a phrase I hear commonly in Greece the last few years)). Do you see now ? The situation is hopeless. The party I used to vote for got only 1% of the votes in the recent EU elections, while Potami has 7% and I doubt it will get any higher considering that after it was reveled that its elected EUparl members registered to S&D instead of staying in independent, there were many negative comments.

You know, that designer suicided because he lost lots of money because his secretary & wife was abusing money of his company, it wasnt entrily due to the crisis.

I am glad you like them!! :D

I will translate that liner notes text, but the booklet doesnt have lyrics inside. Lyrics in greek for most songs are here

First column are the song titles, second the lyricist, and the third the composer


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-2OdP2Gq3Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbtNcgra1No - Τhe days of the week
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYjcgYNX5Yw - 12 months athlets

and some character songs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-ioOJC155w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c60N6o0bgBc
and the instrumental for the castle song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDSfzxtzvg0#t=496
 
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people have to be really clever. you have to work together, not depending on any politician as that is not going anywhere. tourism is one intact venue Greece has up her sleeve and she must use it well. it's so sad but "δημοκρατία" fails everyone is corrupt and those who aren't don't get listened to. i have a couple friends in Athina and at the time of the riots, i was really scared. the image of Alexis still comes to my mind. Same thing happened to Berkin in Turkey and i saw many posters with Berkin and Alexis side by side saying "you're my brother". i hope it never happens again but sadly it just may... tears everywhere whenever i think about it.

i knew about the designer being cheated out of his money.. but still it was really tragic.

thanks mate, i appreciate it!
 
Liner Notes
Lilipoupoli was result of a liberal and experimental radiophony of Trito (Programma) from the one side, and from the other, of a team of young people with lots of talent that gathered at Trito and worked freely, with love and dignity and self-esteem.
This however did not stand as an obstacle to anger the reactive sub-journalism of the greek media that characterised Lilipoupolis as...communistic.

Maybe that's because for the first time some people were talking to children responsibly, with clear poetic language, filliping issues that turture and hurt this country, and not like stupid teachers and parents who treat children as if they talk to indeveloped and incomplete organisms/persons with painless issues and language necrotic and conventional.

However where I want to focus on is the content of these 2 discs which is the music and lyrics of the Lilipoupolis songs. The music was writen by 3 young/new composers, Dimitris Maragopoulos, Lena Platonos, Nikos Kipourgos - all 3 of them blessed with true music talent, culture, and inteligence, and who together with the imaginative and and technically correct arragements that they themselves did to their songs, sealed melodically this famous broadcast of Trito, in an indelible way. Meanwhile, Marianna Kriezi who wrote all the lyrics, intelligently managed to resurrect greek words of daily use, to reform them and place them as fragile, and young, as if they were born yesterday, inside her imaginative lyrics. All 4 of them acheved a unique and magnificent work of music and poetry for the children and for the radio. An unprecedented and determinant work inside the greek reality.

For these reasons I am justifidly proud that I, first of all, saw the importance of Lilipoupoli, as manager of Trito approximately 5 years ago, and that I today contact as a musician these songs in their first discographic debut. I am therefore certain that I contribute to a result with really high level which doesnt aim only to children but to all of our land's nowadays youngsters' sensibility.

Μάνος Χατζιδάκις,
[Note from the booklet of the first edition of the disc, 1980]
Click to expand...
 
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@wat11 But there's a big difference between Grigoropoulos and Berkin: the first was killed by a crazy policeman after the first attacked him with some rock, and later on, in 2012 there was some incident near to where I live, where 3 20year old guys attacked a polica car and killed 2, and a few days ago they had placed a bomb in a Mall. After they were arrested, it was made known that these guys were friends of Grigoropoulos before he gets killed. So I doubt he was as innocent as it seemed back then. However that doesnt make that policeman a bit less culpit. I believe that generalising is very bad. That a policeman killed that boy, doesnt mean that all police is like that.

But in Turkey, policemen act more as robots that people with mind, and it was made known that the boy was delivering some bread when it was arrested. Comparing 2 cases just because the boys had the same age when killed and were shot by police, is too simplistic IMO
 
the liner notes are really meaningful. it's great stuff. i will try to make a library of the music later on.

yes of course not all police are bad. anyone suggesting that would talk out of sentiment with revenge and anger in mind. many people attacked the police and indeed government buildings with rock and stone but it cannot justify what the police does, "crazy" as it may be. bombing a place cannot be justified either. i think Alexis threw a rock at the policeman in the spur of the moment as did many. people compared Berkin to Alexis since there was an opposition to the government by the people and both were tragedies that came as a result; with age being a factor that only simplified the tragedy which goes in both direction of course, affecting families of all. i wish common sense for all but the truth may be that at times there is none. as far as the extent of the suffering goes, i don't see a difference...
 
Grigoropoulos was the event that started the riots, while when berkin was killed the riots at turkey had long started already. I agree about the family tragedy thing.

You still havent told me where are you from :)
 
It might mark the advent of the riots but as for the causes... from Wikipedia:
"While the unrest was triggered by the shooting incident, commentators[8] described the reactions as expressing deeper causes as well, especially a widespread feeling of frustration in the younger generation about specific economic problems of the country (partly as a result of the global economic crisis), a rising unemployment rate among the young generation and a perception of general inefficiency and corruption in Greek state institutions"

Anyways, let's focus on the music. One of my favs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCFXGanTx4A

i just realized it's composed by Manos Hatzidakis! i actually heard it the first time from Nana Mouskouri :D a friend of mine regarded her as non-Greek and said especially old people don't really like her. which reminds me of something...

i am from Κωνσταντινούπολις :) what place did you have in mind :D
 
^ Yup that's a very famous song. An other one is Ποτέ την Κυριακή (never on Sundays) sung by Melina Merkouri and it implies she never has sex in Sundays XD

That's so cool! Do you have turkish or greek roots ? :)
Well I had no idea from where you were XD

Perhards we should move the Xatzidakis posts to a new thread ? XD
 
Even though i didnt agree with his political views, especially after democracy came back after 1975, his artistic value is undesputed and love his music, as well as Manos Hatzidaki's with whom they were friends too.

https://youtu.be/FwUgp9XDjvQ
He will be missed and its sad Greece didnt have any other younger composer that tried to write music in similar style so far.

But just to make you a little less sad, he died in a really old age (96) and at that point its really hard to live with all the health issues, So personally im not so sad, i think of his death as a natural thing.
 
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such a shame that composing wise there is a decline. but yes he's had a full life so it's not sad in that sense. His music is really quite something.
(from what I understand, he was inconsistent in his views after the junta...despite the persistent attachment to being a communist)
 
Yea at first he was communist, then he went with the center right wing with which he was put as minister twice and more recently he supported the last gov that was supposedly left wing but they were actually a bunch of imposters who only wanted power n money but without actual skill. His last public appearance was in 2018 during the anti- signing rally against the treety with FYROM during which he had a speech against the back then government that he had previously supported. About a year ago he sent a mail to the greek communist party leader here saying his happiest years were when he was communist n thats why he want to be remembered as one after his death.
 
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