Mikis Theodorakis' music

Among the music we listened to and danced to at my aunt's house last sunday evening were the songs of the famous composer, Mikis Theodorakis (1925- ). He is best known outside of his native Greece for his film scores for "Zorba the Greek" and "Z." "Zorba's Dance," so full of exuberant energy, is the piece of his music that most North Americans would immediately recognize. (Wasn't the restaurant in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" called Dancing Zorba's?)

I would be hard pressed to say whether Theodorakis is a popular or classical composer. He draws on Greek folk idioms, but his music has both an emotional depth and intellectual expansiveness that would make it difficult to classify as popular per se. Yet, unlike many 20th-century classical composers, he does not shy away from singable melodies -- or catchy tunes, as some would put it. The bouzouki is the instrument featured most prominently in his compositions.

I suppose my favourite of his melodies are a song translated from Greek as "Paper Kites," and the various songs from his score for the documentary, "Island of Aphrodite," written about my father's native island of Cyprus.

Theodorakis has always been a political activist, mostly associated with what is conventionally called the left. He was arrested during military rule in Greece (1967-1974) and went into exile for the duration. The movie "Z" has an obvious political message related to this period in his country's history. After the fall of the colonels, Theodorakis returned to Greece and became involved in politics once more. Somewhat uncharacteristically he served in the conservative government of Konstantinos Mitsotakis at the beginning of the 1990s.

Most recently he entered the fray with several statements against the recent US action in Iraq, as seen in this website. He is without a doubt Greece's greatest living composer, and his music is well worth hearing -- and sometimes dancing to.