A life for freedom, equality and peace

On 2 September 2021, I was invited to give a talk at a congress in Thessaloniki. On the way from the airport to the hotel the taxi driver asked me what kind of music I would like to listen to. I answered that, as I was in Greece now, I would like to listen to Greek music. The taxi driver burst into tears and told me that Mikis Theodorakis passed away this day. In broken English and Italian, he told me what this musician and national hero meant to the Greeks. When we arrived at the hotel, we were listening again to Mikis Theodorakis’ music for almost another hour. Always live music, always the audience was singing along …

Mikis Theodorakis (29 July 1925 – 2 September 2021), a revered and highly acclaimed musician who became renowned beyond domestic borders for his music to the film “Zorba the Greek”, was a determined opponent of the NATO invasion of Serbia and the illegal US war against Iraq. He was one of the few famous personalities that protested vociferous against these wars. He was often criticised, even by the communists. They said that he had been on the left-wing political spectrum during the Second World War and in the time of the Greek military dictatorship and then switched to the right-wing political spectrum at the end of the 1980s to the Nea-Dimokratia* (New Democracy). From Theodorakis’ biography, from his statements, it becomes understandable why mainstream media had been incorrectly labelling his change of course as a pact with power. Under the Anglo-American-backed dictatorship, the Greek partisans only had the communists in the Soviet Union as their supporters. With other partisans in captivity, under daily torture, Theodorakis had the hope of receiving help from the Russian Communists and their followers. When Theodorakis realised that the political left-wing was increasingly abandoning its ideals of freedom, equality and peace, he resigned from his political office and left the party.
  Thus, Theodorakis henceforth criticised the left-wing political spectrum for abandoning this human desire for democracy, peace and freedom in favour of more power and violence. However, Theodorakis adhered to the fact that he and many on the political left-wing had fallen in the fallacy of having had support for their struggle against the dictatorship in communism. He never made a secret of this. He saw himself on the political left-wing but with the values of social justice and unrelenting advocacy for peace and against war.
  In addition to symphonies, chamber music, choral works, oratorios, ballet music, operas and film music, Mikis Theodorakis also composed more than a thousand songs – again and again on current occasions or in honour of companions – with which he not only conquered the hearts of the Greeks. The joy of his music was paired with respect for his always upright and human integrity. With music he had the possibility to connect people of different political views, to unite for more peace and reconciliation. His music combined European symphonic music – models were Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert – with the traditional folklore of his home country, Greece. He helped to revive the “bouzouki” (a musical instrument popular in Greece; member of the long-necked lute family) which once had been banned by the Nazis and the dictatorship. At his concerts, he always included songs that the audience could sing along with. Music, according to Mikis Theodorakis, is meant to unite and reconcile people. You can find many of his concerts, songs and texts on the internet.  •

* Nea-Dimokratia is a liberal-conservative party in Greece, founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis after the fall of the Greek military dictatorship.