“The persistence and permanence of a spiritual creation is a form of immortality. It is a victory over death. The greatness of art is that it can reach us where death cannot … There is nothing more necessary and precious to man than Freedom. If you do not have food, if you do not have knowledge, if you do not have comfort, then you suffer. If you do not have freedom, then you do not exist”.
Mikis Theodorakis
“Everything in Mikis is in the superlative degree. Nothing that is written about him is true”.
Ioannis Ritsos
“Mikis Theodorakis combined the national with the universal. He is impossible to eliminate from Greek life and will forever remain a national cultural symbol. With respect and emotion, on behalf of all Greeks, I bid Mikis Theodorakis farewell. He will always be present, a flower in the mature memory of all of us”.
Katerina Sakellaropoulou, President of the Hellenic Republic
米基 ， 你 不会 离开 ， 你 和 你 的 一起 一起 永存 永存
你 是 我们 中国 人民 朋友 朋友 ， 我们 永远 纪念 你 你
“Miki, you will always be alive through your music and your work!
You are a friend of the Chinese people and we will always honour your memory”.
Xu Kai, Chinese teacher of Greek in China
“No composer in world history has become so famous while alive”.
Gail Holst, Adjunct Professor, Cornell University
“Mikis Theodorakis wrote some of the most important music of the 20th century. He is not only a unique composer but also an authentic writer and poet of great sensitivity and creative power. He thus emerges as one of the most important figures in modern history and his brilliance is universal.
Guy Wagner, professor, writer and biographer of Mikis Theodorakis from Luxemburg. In 1983 he founded the International Theodorakis Foundation FILIKI, with branches in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany. He wrote the book “Mikis Theodorakis: A life for Greece”.
Mikis Theodorakis’s journey to eternity was accompanied by countless testimonies and events around the world. The same message everywhere: Mikis Theodorakis and his work will continue to live in the hearts not only of Hellenism, but also in the hearts of the citizens of the world who fight for the great human ideals.
Researchers of his work inside and outside Greece bring to the surface evidence that highlights the enormous importance of the heritage left to us by the timeless, unique, valuable and, above all, deeply Greek, work of Mikis Theodorakis. It is our duty to do what we can to inform the world of the precious heritage he has left us.
TRAVELLING WITH MIKIS THEODORAKIS
I had the great fortune to meet Mikis Theodorakis as early as in 1962 when I saw his monumental play “The song of the dead brother”, at the Kalouta Theater in Athens, for the first time. I was 18 then. What shocked me was the message for the unity of the Greeks against the sufferings of the civil war.
In 1964 I travelled to Sweden where I completed my studies at Stockholm University. Then, I worked as a journalist and TV producer with the Swedish State Television, from 1975 to 1988, when the then management of the Greek State Television, ERT, invited me to Greece to help organize the tv channel ET 3 as the Director of Television.
All these years, as a journalist, I had the opportunity to follow Theodorakis to many countries, such as Spain, South Africa, the Scandinavian countries, Poland, Germany, Serbia, Northern Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey, as well as in many cities of Greece.
The collaboration with him resulted in the creation of a series of television documentaries, radio shows and articles. The aim was to highlight the “Mikis Theodorakis phenomenon”, as many inside and outside Greece have called him. When, in fact, I asked the late Swedish Prime Minister, Olof Palme, “why such passion about Mikis Theodorakis” he replied: “Because Mikis Theodorakis is, as far as we know, the only one who has influenced the world public so much with his cultural, social and philosophical work”. It should be noted that at his funeral, the family chose to say goodbye to Palme with Mikis’ song “A song for Freedom”. The picture was unforgettable: The coffin in the place where Seferis and Elytis had spoken. Next to the orchestra, the amazing Finnish singer, Arja Sajonmaa, singing Mikis’ song in front of leaders from all over the world. https://tinyurl.com/2z73ry7c
During the years i followed Mikis Theodorakis around, I was collecting material that was the basis for writing a book entitled “Mikis Theodorakis – My religion is Greece”. The book was published in Greek, English, Russian and Chinese
[1].
I close with an excerpt from the article by Gullög Nordquist, professor of classical archeology and history of antiquity, about Mikis Theodorakis in Hellenika magazine, November 2021:
“The list of works by Theodorakis is bigger than that of any other composer. His songs are regularly heard on Swedish radio. In art music, Axion Esti, with lyrics by Nobel laureate Odysseas Elytis, is the most famous work in Sweden. We can also name seven chords and other orchestral music, as well as seven operas, not to mention all the songs, the cantatas, the chamber music, the music of the cinema and the theater and his books. Theodorakis always defended his views, even when they were “annoying” and from time to time he had to pay dearly for them. He was a dedicated man who fought for human rights, Greek-Turkish cooperation, environmental issues and peace. His music was loved and there is a lot to discover. “Mikis Theodorakis is alive though gone…”. Published in Hellenika magazine, 178, November 2021.
Georgios Logothetis
Journalist – writer
Mikis Theodorakis in Sweden
Three Greek immigrants in Gothenburg, Georgios Zapartas, Stelios Matsoukatidis and Minas Roukas decided to organize two concerts in honor of Mikis Theodorakis, one in Stockholm on December 12, 2021 and one in Gothenburg on December 13, 2021 in collaboration with the MIKIS THEODORAKIS ORCHESTRA.
The concerts were a great success. They were organized in collaboration with the Hellenic Tourism Organization EOT, the National Federation and the House of Culture of Greece, under the supervision of the General Secretariat of Hellenes Abroad. In his speech, the Greek General Secretary, Ioannis Chrysoulakis analyzed the timeless significance of the work of Mikis Theodorakis and stressed: “Where Theodorakis’s music is heard, Greece is also heard.”
Among the spectators were also Olof Palme´s sons. Mikis Theodorakis and Olof Palme were close friends and Palme held a strong position against the military junta in Greece. The concerts were presented by the journalist and writer Alexandra Paschalidou and the actor and former MP Tassos Stafyllidis.
Arja Sajonmaa participated in the Stockholm concert. It has been 50 years since Mikis first met Arja in Helsinki and asked her to be a part of his world tours.
The following is an excerpt from what Arja said to Georgios Logothetis after the death of Mikis Theodorakis:
– Arja, what does Mikis Thoeodrakis mean to you?
-Everything! He ”took” me from Finland as a young student and made me a professional artist. In the beginning he was my hero! Further on he became my Maestro and finally my friend. A great friendship, a loving relationship at a level hard to describe. Love for art, poetry, music.
-You say that Mikis Theodorakis is not dead, that he will live forever.
-It is true! He is not dead! He will continue to live forever and we have to continue to spread his work like a flame. His work for human rights.
-What was it that made such an impression?
-His extreme pathos for creation. He composed during travels, on the bus, the boat, the airplane. On the Norwegian mountains during extremely difficult circumstances. He even wrote operas without a piano in hotels, on the bus, in coffeehouses… He always thought of the art. The same as when he was exiled on Makronisos. On simple pieces of paper blown by the wind, or messages passed through the doors in the Averof prison. He even wrote while bedridden after severe torture. I was impressed, furthermore, by his philosophical ideas on UNIVERSAL HARMONY, which he developed in his books.
P.S. Arja Sajonmaa has written a very interesting book on her cooperation with Mikis Theodorakis entitled: ”A young naked woman –The encounter with Mikis” Piratförlaget 2001.
Ingmar Rhedin, teacher and translator of a.o. Mikis Theodorakis’ songs and books, was also present at the concert. In an interview in the Greek television he said “Mikis is immortal” and added: “Mikis Theodorakis opened Greece up to the rest of the world like no other before. He connected modern Greece with the great artists of antiquity. Apart from being a world-renowned composer, Theodorakis was a writer with over 50 books as well as a philosopher, whose ideas are taught at the Faculty of Philosophy at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Mikis and I worked together and traveled together to many countries for the “post-symphonic” work of AXION ESTI. In France, Germany, Norway, Spain, Vienna, all over Europe and America. As artistic director of the city of Gothenburg I had the opportunity to invite 30 choirs from all over Sweden and a symphony orchestra. We then performed 23 concerts in different cities throughout Sweden. Wherever we went everyone was excited. This means that if you are faithful to yourself and your traditions you are not only Greek. You are Swedish, Norwegian, American, you are international. And this is the issue with Mikis. We have presented AXION ESTI in Swedish for 30,000 and 52,000 people! Unbelievable but true! Wherever we went it was a great success. Huge success! The spectators and the choir cried with AXION ESTI when they heard about the fate of the Greeks. That is why Mikis is immortal, as the author Theodoros Kallifatidis wrote in the newspaper DAGENS NYHETER on September 2, 2021».
”Ärkeängels vägar” is the title to Mikis Theodorakis’ autobiography, translated into Swedish by Ingemar Rhedin, Askelin och Hägglund, 1988
Georgios Logothetis’ book on Mikis Theodorakis can be found in Google Books:
In Greek https://tinyurl.com/23jphabx
In English https://tinyurl.com/6ydj7r7a
In Russian https://tinyurl.com/vnv9nye8
The Russian version is particularly relevant given Mikis Theodorakis’s struggle for freedom and against all forms of violence.
