Michael "Mikis" Theodorakis (Greek: Μιχαήλ (Μίκης) Θεοδωράκης; 29 July 1925 - 2 September 2021) was a Greek songwriter of over 1000 songs and composer. He scored for the films Zorba the Greek (1964), Z (1969), and Serpico (1973) and was viewed as Greece's best-known living composer. Politically, he identified with the left until the late 1980s; in 1989 he ran as an independent candidate within the centre-right New Democracy party in order for the country to come out of the political crisis that had been created due to the numerous scandals of the government of Andreas Papandreou and helped to establish a large coalition between conservatives, socialists and leftists. In 1990 he was elected to the parliament (as in 1964 and 1981), became a government minister under Constantine Mitsotakis, and fought against drugs and terrorism and for culture, education and better relations between Greece and Turkey. He continued to speak out in favor of left-liberal causes, Greek-Turkish-Cypriot relations, and against the War in Iraq. He had consistently opposed oppressive regimes and was a key voice against the Greek junta 1967-1974, which imprisoned him. (Read more at Wikipedia)
Links To Peel[]
Peel would first have become aware of Mikis Theodorakis during his time in the United States. Theodorakis composed the music for the 1964 film Zorba The Greek, which was a big box-office hit in the US. It is not known whether Peel saw the film; we know from his writings that he was a cinemagoer, although not a film buff. However, he would certainly have heard the theme tune "Zorba's Dance", which became a popular instrumental, was often played on the radio, and was recorded in the USA by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.
In 1968 the Mikis Theodorakis Ensemble played a series of concerts in London and were reviewed on Melody Maker's folk page[1] Peel may have seen them then, as they performed at the Savile Theatre, where he had hosted a Cream concert in 1967, for five weeks. He played tracks from Mikis Theodorakis, featuring the singer Maria Farandouri (who had appeared in their London shows), on his Night Ride show in 1969, and also in the following year, when the opening track on the 18 April 1970 Top Gear was by Theodorakis, after the Greek songwriter and composer had gone into exile in Paris earlier in the week. Not much information is known on how Peel got hold of the record, which was not among the Theodorakis LPs issued in the UK at that time, but as the composer had become a fashionable name among those who opposed the Greek military dictatorship, the DJ may have found it in one of his preferred London record shops, which stocked imported albums.
Shows Played[]
Theodorakis Farantouri O Antonis 1974
- 1969
- 07 May 1969: Ο Αντώνης (Andonis) (LP - Μαουτχάουζεν / Έξη Τραγούδια (The Ballad Of Mauthausen / Six Songs)
- 1970
- 18 April 1970: Ο Αντώνης (Andonis) (LP - Μαουτχάουζεν / Έξη Τραγούδια (The Ballad Of Mauthausen / Six Songs)