On the 100th anniversary of his birth (July 29). Miki TheodorakisThe Ministry of Culture reports 2025whom “The Dedicated Year of Miki Theodorakis”.
This is the statement of Culture Minister Linas Mendonis
“Today, July 29, the birthday of Mikis Theodorakis, the Ministry of Culture announces 2025 as the “Year of Merit of Mikis Theodorakis” as it celebrates the 100th anniversary of his birth. Our initiative is a minimal tribute to his legacy, but also an opportunity to re-evaluate his life, a multifaceted program of activities, to revive his work. Mickey’s songs and music accompany us from our youth, of course, evoking emotion and upliftment, reminding us of our History, which is enclosed in its melodies, but also shaped together. When approaching his creativity, the public debt demands that many aspects of him should be highlighted: Composer, fighter, politician, thinker, citizen. His life and work are the indelible cultural heritage of Hellenism, emphasizing its universality. Mikis Theodorakis’ music uniquely expresses people’s deepest desires, from the concerns of everyday life to the resolute consolidation of an open, inclusive, democratic society.
I will only say that the composer is blessed… No matter how much the winds beat and wave him, like a sea foaming in a thousand ways, but all this happens on its surface, because it remains calm a little below. , beautiful, blessed. This is how my life has been. In preference. Joy and pain. Red and black. Love and hate. Triumph and disappointment. Light and dark. This has been my life. (…) I lived it peacefully, confident and blessed”. Let’s follow his words.”
Mikis Theodorakis, a unique personality of our modern history, embodied a completely personal, collective model, meteoric creativity with his irrevocable and continuous political activity. His talent is revealed throughout his competitive career. He experiences the division of the Civil War, exiled to Ikaria, then a leading member of the left in Makronissos, leading the creation of the Patriotic Anti-dictatorship Front after the imposition of the April dictatorship. He is arrested, imprisoned and deported. After his release from prison in 1970, he gave concerts all over the world and provided valuable services in educating the world public opinion against the colonels. Post-politically, he was re-elected as an MP from the KKE, then served as a minister in the government of Konstantinos Mitsotakis with the New Democracy party, continuing his vocal and influential public intervention before retiring from active politics. the imperative of resolution and reconciliation.
“He lived a passionate and intense life. He consistently and passionately served the values of freedom and justice, but above all the unity of Greeks,” said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, saying goodbye to him, noting that Mikis Theodorakis “turned music from an individual experience into a mandate.” for collective action”.
He was introduced to music through an Orthodox liturgical member he heard from his grandmother in the provincial towns where his civil servant father was transferred, and even from the clergy in the churches where he sang. After his apprenticeship at the Athens Conservatory, he studied in Paris. His creative way is characterized by excessive impulsivity in the melody, the strengthening of deep-rooted emotions against rationality, and the synthesis of melodic richness with competitive content. The power of Miki’s melodies, sometimes of epic proportions, hides his native heritage of Byzantine organ, folk song, rebetiko and Western influences, opening up music to the masses and high-quality poetry, perhaps like no other modern composer. set to music.
An inexhaustible personality, a unique and engaging storyteller, as well as an experienced master of speech. For Greek music and Music for the masses up to Debt, diaries 1967-70, 1970-74the Martial Culture and, of course, his flamboyant resume Archangelos streets. He left us a voluminous body of writing, almost always full of energy and concern, artistic, political and social pursuits intermingled. A corpus of texts to be re-studied regarding its creation and functioning.