Athens Playlist no.1

In honor of the upcoming musical tribute to famed composer, Mikis Theodorakis in October… oh, you haven’t heard of him?  You may very well of heard his music even if you don’t recognize his name.  Thanks to him, most of the modern world has at least one song that comes to mind when they think of Greek music. It was Mikis Theodorakis that composed the score for the Oscar winning film, Zorba the Greek.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeNsr_nQEfE[/youtube]

But in the interest of getting you better acquainted to Greek music, I’ve compiled some other songs that gets the hearts of Greeks racing. The sound of the Bouzouki in a minor key combined with a soulful human voice pulls them out of their chairs and their arms start to sway, fingers snapping, and they begin to dance.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCyr2esDa7E[/youtube]

Watch what can happen when Greeks hear their own music, the music that holds their history and their passion. The first song, “San Apocliros Yeirizo” or (roughly translated) “The Return of the Disinherited” segueways immediately into a second called Tragoudi tis Ksenitia or “Song of the Immigrants,”  written by Theodorakis. Both of these songs touch the reality of many Greeks who were forced to leave their homes in Greece because they simply couldn’t afford to stay. Expulsion, poverty, and heartbreak are three major themes in Greek music.

One of the forms of Greek music that subscribes to these themes is called Rebetiko, and one of its greatest song writers was Vassilis Tsitsanis. “Sinefiasmeni Kyriaki” or “Cloudy Sunday” is one most Greeks know by heart and will boldly sing out loud at a performance.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaPFrdW1WAo[/youtube]

Another Theodorakis song, “To Feggari Kanei Volta” or “The Moon takes a Walk”  as performed by Yannis Parios at the ancient theater under the Acropolis, the Herodus Atticus.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B5oqXpZr18[/youtube]

Some great songs were immortalized in Greek films of the 1950′s and 1960′s, a golden age for Greece. This one is from the film “The Red Lanterns.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ne7FXitcTA[/youtube]

A  contemporary of Theodorakis was Manos Hadzidakis; he’s considered another of the cultural giants of Greek music. This song became so popular it crossed the ocean and was sung by Doris Day and Miss Piggy, but this is the original version as crooned by the great Melina Mercouri in the film, “Never on Sunday.” This song is a love song to the Port of Piraeus and the Olympiacos football team, the club of Piraeus.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnOox2Rmaow[/youtube]

If you’re interested in more, go to the NileGuideAthens station on youtube and listen to my top ten list of Greek music.

I’ll let the great philhellene, Miss Piggy, do the honors of bowing out this post.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2_uYBhcG00[/youtube]