As news of his passing on Thursday swept through the nation, parliament held a
moment of silence.
"Today we lost a part of Greece's soul. Mikis Theodorakis, Mikis the teacher,
the intellectual, the radical, our Mikis has gone," said Culture Minister Lina
Mendoni. A towering man with a brooding look and a shock of wavy hair, Theodorakis evoked
a progressive, democratic vision of Communism and of the world through his
music. But his political struggles, including imprisonment and torture for his leftist
views, reflected a different side of Greece rarely seen by visitors.
Ο Θέμης Καλλός συναντά τον Μίκη Θεοδωράκη λίγο μετά το πέρας της συναυλίας του μουσικοσυνθέτη στο Town Hall του Σύδνεϋ το 1995 Source: Supplied
hit starring Anthony Quinn as the lovable rogue who dances barefoot on a Cretan
beach - to the thumping intensity of "Romiosini" (Greekness) a series of rousing
songs of identity and resistance.
"His body of work was a constant confrontation with injustice and defeatism, of
new struggle and resistance," the Greek Communist party KKE said in a statement.
His tunes gained widespread popularity, becoming anthems of the left and earning
the disapproval of the right, meaning they were often banned.
Ο Μίκης στην Αυστραλία έγινε και ...νονός Source: www.mikistheodorakis.gr
left-wing popular forces after World War II, he was arrested and tortured in
July 1947.
Under the military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974 he was jailed and
tortured again.
In later life he served two stints in parliament, for wildly different parties.
"I'm not a communist or social democrat or anything else. I'm a free man," he
once told Reuters in an interview.
The above from SBS News
Μίκης Θεοδωράκης Source: AAP Image/AP Photo/Nikolas Giakoumidis
