EPITAPH - MIKIS THEODORAKIS arranged by Yannis Belonis | Soloist: Betty Harlafti | ft. chórεs

EPITAPH - Mikis theodorakis / Yannis Ritsos
Arranged by Yannis Belonis

Conductor: Liza Xanthopoulou
Soloist: Betty Harlafti
Ft. Chórεs

Artistic direction of chórεs:Marina Satti
Music direction, instruction of chórεs: Irini Patsea, Simela Emmanouilidou
ERT2, April 30, 2021

The death of driver Tassos Tousis during the tobacco workers strikes in Thessaloniki in 1936 and mainly the photograph of his mother lamenting over her son’s dead body that was published in newspaper Rizospastis the following day inspired Yannis Ritsos to write a series of heart-wrenching poems titled Epitaph.

Mikis Theodorakis set eight of them to music in Paris in 1958. The paradox is that that two years later, in 1960, two recordings of these poems were almost simultaneously released. The one was orchestrated by Manos Hadjidakis and sung by Nana Mouskouri, and the other was orchestrated by Mikis Theodorakis and sung by Grigoris Bithikotsis. It was the latter that went down in history and brought about a real revolution in the Greek music scene. Theodorakis’ setting, which manages to musically portray every single word of Ritsos’ riveting verses, the combination of high poetry with popular (in the sense of people’s) music and bouzouki, as well as Bithikotsis’ moving performance are the key characteristics of a work that is considered a milestone in Greek discography.

In this concert the eight songs are performed non-stop, as parts of an unbreakable song cycle. The lament of the mother (soloist) is combined with the dirge of the female chorus, while the introduction of the song “Mera Mayou” (On a May day) recurs as an obsessive idea (idée fixe) throughout the work, hinting at the final farewell procession.