Theodorakis, Mikis (b. 1925)

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THEODORAKIS, MIKIS (b. 1925)

Greek music composer.

Born in 1925 in Chios, Mikis Theodorakis spent his childhood in Peloponnese where he was acquainted with folk music and the music of the Greek Orthodox Church. During the Nazi occupation, he registered at the conservatory to study composition and at the same time he joined the youth organization of the resistance movement. During the Greek Civil War (1946–1949), he was arrested in 1947 and deported first to Ikaria and then to the Makronisos internment camps; he was released in 1949. In 1954 he graduated from the Athens Conservatory and was admitted to the Paris Conservatory.

His first compositions were symphonic works, but when he returned to Greece he was attracted by popular music. From the late 1950s, Theodorakis set to music poems from renowned poets like Yannis Ritsos (1909–1990; Epitafios, 1958) and the Nobel Prize laureate Odysseus Elytis (1911–1996; Axion Esti, 1960), combining elements from symphonic, ecclesiastic, and popular music. He won international acclaim and success by composing the original score for the film Zorbas (1964). At the same time, he was actively involved in politics and in 1964 was elected deputy of the United Democratic Left.

Theodorakis's political beliefs became a source of musical inspiration and at the same time his songs became a point of reference for the Left. For that reason, when the military junta took power (1967–1974), his music was banned. He went underground and together with other activists founded the Patriotic Antifascist Front (PAM). He was arrested in 1968 and was placed under house arrest in an isolated village in Peloponnese and later transferred to prison. Due to his international status, several committees pressured the regime for his release and finally he was allowed to leave Greece in 1970. Until the fall of the dictatorship in 1974, he traveled extensively in Europe giving concerts and holding conferences and meetings to sponsor the effort for the restoration of democracy in Greece. He continued composing, and among the great works of those years is Canto General (1971) based on poems of the Nobel Prize laureate Pablo Neruda (1904–1973).

In the 1970s Theodorakis's music enjoyed tremendous popularity. This fact reflected the cultural hegemony and the rising political influence of the Left after several decades of repression. In 1981 he was elected a deputy of the Greek Communist Party. In the 1980s, together with Turkish intellectuals, he championed the cause of a rapprochement between Greece and Turkey and formed the Committee of Greek-Turkish Friendship. However, his moves in the Greek political arena caused significant controversy. Disappointed by the corruption scandals surrounding the socialist government of Andreas George Papandreou (1919–1996), he led the effort for reconciliation between the conservative New Democracy Party and the communist Left in order to remove the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) from government. His next step was to lend his support to New Democracy, and when the party came to power (1990–1993), he became a minister in the new cabinet. Throughout the 1990s he continued to combine concerts with political causes like the reconciliation between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia, the reconciliation between Greece and Turkey, and the condemnation of the NATO bombing of Serbia. He also continued composing; in the late stages of his life he turned from popular to symphonic music and operas.

See alsoGreece.