One of the great composers of our time. I was connected with Mikis by a long-standing friendship that started on his initiative in 1991, exactly 30 years ago, when he had invited me, as a person and not as a journalist, to participate, with his own people, in the premiere of the ballet "Zorbas", in Warsaw Opera. Since then I had attended, always on his own initiative, participating as a member of his mission, almost all his international excursions. I collected a lot of information about the man and the composer, which were attributed to my book "Mikis Theodorakis, the ecumenical" (Kastaniotis publications, 1st & 2nd edition, 2002) about which he had said during his presentation.
"I ruined my life by fighting the mummies that others set up in my name, demanding that I look like them for a lifetime. Deep down, they only loved themselves. […] Costas Serezis sees and records the events as objectively as possible […] I thank him for doing me the honor of dealing with my work and my person. This moves me and makes me very happy, because everything he does he does responsibly, seriously and above all beautifully ".
The universality of Mikis Theodorakis, as I documented it in my book, was pointed out by the then Minister of Culture Evangelos Venizelos as follows:
"KS wanted to summarize MT in this very nice and I would say very loving book that presents the ecumenical Mikis, because its essence is his ecumenical look. I congratulate him for his sensitivity and initiative ".
And the leading critic Costas Georgousopoulos: “MT grafted the tree of the East with the fruits of the West. And this is what the KS testifies eloquently, with love, with honesty and with journalistic precision ".
It may be considered inappropriate to refer to crises, even briefly, in relation to my own book at the moment, but I do it because through them the personality of Mikis emerges, and my relationship with him, from which I hold a vacant stock. memories and information. From this book I quote three pages, the chapter with which I complete the edition.
For MT I have also organized, from time to time, various events in two equal parts: With a speech of mine (different each time) and in the second part interpretations of his songs in the style of classical music recitals. In all the events I have organized so far in the second part participated Aliki Kayaloglou accompanied by piano or classical guitar. For the first time he was in Limassol for a charitable purpose, in the presence of all the political leadership of the place, which was the "yeast", which provoked the composer to publish in Kalamata by the Hellenic French Association of Messinia, in Pn. City center, the jewel of the city, where the people, who did not secure a place, gathered on the street, and in the Greek Center of London, where an exhibition from my archive was presented.
This summer, due to some friends who lived in neighboring Kiato, I passed, for the first time, a few days of vacation in Vrachati, where MT has his summer house, and where he hosted celebrities and even Mitterrand.
The event prompted me to suggest the organization of an event for MT, which was embraced by the owner of the famous hotel "Alkyon", where I was staying, which has nice gardens and a perfect Conference Room. The event was set for October 23, with the participation of the great pianist and composer Stefanos Korkolis, closely associated with MT, who appointed him,
in a way, as the "guardian" of his work, and with interpretations of songs of MT by Sofia Manousaki, a new voice, so subtly sensitive and robustly convincing at the same time. Honor for my effort the development, which will crown my initiative in the best way.
I do not know yet if the sad development will cancel the event,
although I believe that, on the contrary, it will emerge as an honor-tribute to the composer who painted with the sounds of his music and the breadth of his activities an entire era, not only in Greece. He may be gone "full of days", after he turned 96, and in shocked health, but the death of such a personality can only cause pain, for those who know what such a loss means. I bear my personal pain with the awareness of such a loss and with gratitude for what I received from it.
Costas Serezis
Following are visuals from my archive, as well as the photo above.
I suggested to President Glafkos Clerides to formally invite and honor
MT in Cyprus and he went even further by awarding him
the Medal of Excellent Offer.
Another souvenir photo at my house
With M.Th. in the living room of Pablo Neruda's house in Isla Negra, Chile,
in 1993, on the Pacific coast.
