{"id":14133,"date":"2021-09-15T08:54:26","date_gmt":"2021-09-15T07:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/the-dedicated-life-and-music-of-mikis-theodorakis\/"},"modified":"2021-09-15T08:54:26","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T07:54:26","slug":"the-dedicated-life-and-music-of-mikis-theodorakis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/the-dedicated-life-and-music-of-mikis-theodorakis\/","title":{"rendered":"The dedicated life and music of Mikis Theodorakis"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Mikis Theodorakis (1925-2021) has left the mortal plane, and one can only imagine he is flying the red flag in the heavenly realm \u2013 agitating alongside the great working-class heroes of history. He has been remembered warmly by the socialist world, by his own Greek party (KKE) and almost every other socialist party, while having little or no discussion from the classical music world, with the exception of a dedicated obituary in the Guardian<\/a>, an honorary mention from Andre Rieu<\/a>, and some nice anecdotes from composers who knew him personally. <\/p>\n

For those who do not know the work of Mikis Theodorakis, his legacy and impact are hard to describe succinctly. However the simplest comparison artistically would be with composers Hanns Eisler and Alan Bush, as well as the writers Vladimir Mayakovsky and Christopher Caudwell. Like them, he was a composer whose output fitted the needs of the particular struggle or circumstance.<\/p>\n

Like Hanns Eisler, Theodorakis made huge contributions to film, classical concert music, and agit-prop works. Theodorakis\u2019 music for Zorba the Greek<\/em><\/a> is what made him famous:<\/p>\n