Obituary: Mikis Theodorakis (1925-2021)

A national Greek institution, composer and orchestra conductor, Mikis Theodorakis has died after lengthy illnesses. Many readers will know him as the creator of several, mostly instrumental film soundtracks (Z, Serpico, State of Siege and Zorba the Greek), but for Greeks he was the master of melopoisi (the setting of poetry to music), often, though not exclusively, drawing on the work of Leftist poets.

Theodorakis’ most famous melopoises were settings of poems by Odysseus Elytis (The Axion Esti), Giorgos Seferis (Epifania), Yiannis Ritsos (Epitafios) and Pablo Neruda (Canto General). Other notable song cycles include the The Ballad of Mauthausen (1966) with lyrics by playwright Iakovos Kambanellis, and Thalassina Fengaria (1974) with Nikos Gatsos. Distinguished vocalists for these original versions were Grigoris Bithikotsis and Maria Farantouri.

For his obvious political sympathies and participation in the wartime resistance, Theodorakis was imprisoned, tortured then exiled by a royalist government in 1947, first to the remote island of Ikaría, then to the notorious Makrónisos island prison camp (1948-1949). Later he was arrested and jailed by the fascist junta that ruled Greece 1967-1974, and the playing of his music was forbidden. After international outcry, he was released to house arrest on the Peloponnese (1968-70), and then into exile to Paris during April 1970, where despite poor health Theodorakis agitated effectively against the junta. After periods as an MP during the early 1990s, he returned to composing, resulting in his final but noteworthy albums Erimia (2005) and Odysseia (2007). His older music animated anti-austerity protesters during Greece’s 2010-2016 financial crisis.

To capture Theodorakis’ meaning for his countrymen, I quote my fellow music writer, George Pissalides, who grew up under the junta and would play Theodorakis records on a small turntable inside a closet, with overcoats muffling the sound lest denunciation-minded neighbours hear: “He kept us all alive during those dark times.”