“The last time I was at his house Theodorakis he was amazed. At the end of August, a few days before his death, he spoke poorly, almost babbled. I leaned over and said, “Mickey, I want to prepare all your projects.” Moved, he answered me “come on, you know,” she recalls today Maria Faranduria few days before a tribute concert called “Mickey, that familiar stranger”.

At this concert he will present the first all-Greek performance of the song “Survivor” written by Takis Sinopoulou. Maybe it was sung many times abroad, but in Greece M. Faraduri performs the cantada song for the first time and does not hide his excitement. Because even during the life of the leading composer, she always sought in her concerts to highlight those of his works that were rarely presented to the general public.

“Of course, the conditions should have helped too. They cannot be presented at a popular concert; the support of such an institution as the Athens Festival, the Lyric Stage, the Concert Hall is needed. Large cultural organizations help. The general public is supportive of his folk songs and epic composer, but Mikis has written great works such as Spiritual Journey, which was presented last October in Lyriki, and many have discovered a musical richness they did not know. Equally important are the “Mauthausen”, also the symbolic “General Song”, etc. Many young musicians from the field of classical music discover this side of it for themselves. He wrote many inspirational works.” notes on “K” international performer on the occasion of her concert on 4 February in Megaro.

The poem “The Survivor”, written by Takis Sinopoulos, one of the greatest poets of the first post-war generation, was set to music by M. Theodorakis in 1969, while he was in exile in Zatuna. He writes about this period in a diary of exile published in Mikis Theodorakis. The poems are set to music. Volume 2. Symphonies – Metasymphonics – Oratorios” (Ypsilon publishing house): “Summer is coming soon. In the morning in IJeorge, by the fountain. This is great. With Maki (an assistant who showed a human attitude), we cross somewhere the border of a cheese factory. We go and lie down on a rock facing Mainalo. Dimitsana shines brightly at our feet. High on the dry slope of Mount Zigovitsy, it rises slightly above the gorge. There’s a hidden school above Lussio, inflated, full, humming happily. I walk back and forth through the pages of the Anthology. I am staying at Takis Sinopoulos. “Survivor” has something about me. What about us”.

In another note, the composer emphasizes: “In Sinopoulos’s poem there is a breathless cry of pain for a man who touched me so much that I set it to music … “O Epizon” was a great success abroad. It was sensationally sung by Maria Faranduri.”

existential anxiety

The poem “Survivor”, written by Takis Sinopoulos, was set to music by Mikis Theodorakis in 1969 while he was in exile in Zatuna.

“He is a poet who deserves more people to know about him,” says M. Faranduri and continues: “T. Sinopoulos wrote the poem in 1959, and ten years later the composer read it and was touched by the existential anguish it contained. poet, he expressed the feeling of a meteor. These were the years of post-civil Greece, after the civil division, when so many families were lost that brothers fought brothers. Sinopoulos, without taking all this politically, expresses his personal anguish, and Mikis saw in the poem his own conclusion, since he was exiled.

Why was it never played in Greece? “He didn’t organize it. Then at concerts abroad we called it rock. It refers to cantatas, “river songs”, as he described them. “I have to rewrite them, otherwise some young people must be inspired,” Theodorakis said.

As happened now with Achilleas Vastor, who orchestrated and took over the musical direction of an ensemble consisting of outstanding musicians: David Lynch, Michalis Porfiris, Kostas Konstantinou, Heraklis Zakkas, Nikos Spatas, Vangelis Karipis, Achilleas Vastor. ERT choir participates.

In addition to “Survivor”, which closes the first part of the concert, M. Faraduri and baritone Tasos Apostolou will perform Theodorakis’ songs from the cycles “Odyssia”, “Poetics”, “Asmat”, “Serenata”, “Mauthausen”. “, “Ballances”, as well as songs with lyrics by Andreas Calvos, Konstantinos Cavafy, Federico Garcia Lorca, Yorgos Seferis, Odysseas Elytis, Giannis Ritsu, Manolis Anagnostakis, Nikos Gatsos, Lefteris Papadopoulos and Manos Eleftheriou.

Our conversation with the famous singer took place a few hours before her trip to Bremen for the concert. Her program also includes concerts at the Munich Philharmonic, and then in Zurich. In each of her concerts abroad, the program includes, among other things, songs and works by M. Theodorakis. “Abroad people love his work very much. They call him a melodist. “The Last Composer” wrote German newspapers when he died. The need for Germans to listen to Greek music began with Mika. He opened the way.”

“You do many different things,” I comment, because in May Faraduri has another concert at the Olympia Theater with songs from the repertoire of the world theater. “This is how I forget time,” he says goodbye to us, laughing, “I fool him.”