In memoriam Mikis Thedorakis

I have to write something about him passes away. Legendary Greek composer who keeps a war of words and music against a shameful military junta that imprisoned and exiled him as a revolutionary and banned, Mikis Theodorakis, died.

For long years, he had always taken up seriously art and music and intercultural dialogue. He was a cultural ambassador. Many of you know him of Zorba the Greek. But my story is different.

When I was a child, we used to listen to music on cassette and our family have a huge cassette archive. (As you know, it’s a very retro item among young people right now) My family’s interests in music were political figures’ protest music. So we had lots of Zülfü Livaneli’s, Ahmet Kaya’s, Grup Yorum’s and etc. cassettes.

I met Theodorakis through Zülfü Livaneli. They recorded an album together in Turkey. It’s called “Güneş Topla Benim İçin”. It means in English probably “collect the sunshine for me”. I loved this album. The album had Aegean-Mediterranean vibes. What luck, a few years later we moved to Bodrum, the most beautiful town of the Aegean. Then I met lots of Greek people. We were “komsus”. We are still komsus. 😉

He was a person who deserved respect not only with his artistic personality but also with his political stance. He was trying effort to establish a bridge of peace, especially between the Turks and the Greeks.

In recent days just before he passed away, he has joined some far-rightist meetings. I didn’t understand how this happened. Like everyone else, I was very upset about that. But this could not overshadow his glorious past. Like many of us, We memoriam him with the hope of peace and a better life. Because he always struggled with these ideas.

KKE released a statement yesterday. Apparently, Mikis Theodorakis sent them a letter before he died. He said:

❝ I want to leave this world as a communist ❞

He was a Marxist and pro-peace. Turks, Greeks, Cypriots, and all humanity will miss him.