Manos Hadjidakis - Aliki My Love (Original Movie Soundtrack) '1963; 2017

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About Manos Hadjidakis
Manos Hadjidakis (as his name is usually spelled in English) is perhaps modern
Greeces greatest composer and songwriter, rivaled only by Mikis Theodorakis for
the title. Hadjidakis helped usher in a new era of Greek music in the post-WWII
era, elevating the earthiest strains of Greek folk and popular song into
respected art forms. In the process, he found tremendous popular success in his
home country, chiefly through his work as a pop songwriter, and became familiar
to international audiences through his movie soundtracks, winning an Oscar in
1960. He also composed contemporary classical pieces for ensembles small and
large, often inspired by Greek poetry, and wrote for theater and ballet. Many of
his songs, larger compositions, and recordings are considered classics in
Greece, and cornerstones of the countrys modern popular music. He remained a
highly respected intellectual and cultural figure in Greece up until his death
in 1994. Hadjidakis was born in the northern town of Xanthi, Greece, on October
23, 1925. He started piano lessons at age four, and later learned the violin and
accordion as well. In 1932, his parents divorced, and he moved with his mother
to Athens. His father died in a plane crash in 1938, leaving the family in a
dire financial state only worsened by the German occupation in World War II.
Hadjidakis worked a succession of odd jobs to support his family, but also
managed to study advanced music theory and composition as a teenager, also
enrolling at the University of Athens to study philosophy (circumstances
prevented him from finishing his degree). In 1943, he met the revered surrealist
poet Nikos Gatsos, who would go on to become his favorite lyricist and work with
him on the vast majority of his vocal compositions. Hadjidakis first found an
outlet for his compositional ability when he connected with the Art Theatre of
Athens, and contributed music to its 1944 production of Alexis Solomos The Last
White Crow. He would work with the Art Theatre for the next 15 years, scoring a
number of canonical plays by American and European writers, and also began to do
the same for the Greek National Theatre starting in the early 50s. He wrote his
first film score, for Free Slaves, in 1946, and the following year published his
first contemporary piano piece, For a Small White Seashell. In 1948, Hadjidakis
gave a high-profile academic lecture praising rembetika (sometimes spelled
rebetico), the popular folk song form that was the province of the urban lower
class and was regarded as borderline immoral by the conservative intelligentsia.
The countrys musical establishment was scandalized, but Hadjidakis had mapped
out the path that would make him one of modern Greeces most cherished musical
figures. As a composer, Hadjidakis embraced rembetika on his 1951 piano work Six
Folklore Paintings, which adapted rembetika melodies into a more artful
presentation, and was also presented as a ballet (one of four he composed from
1949-1957). In the meantime, he had begun to compose music for theatrical
productions of classic Greek tragedies, starting with Aeschylus Orestes trilogy
in 1950; normally, such a job was reserved for scholarly academics. He completed
one of his major modern classical works in 1954s The C.N.S. Cycle, a song cycle
for piano and baritone vocalist. The following year, he scored the motion
picture Stella, which would prove to be one of his major successes in that area.
Starring actress Melina Mercouri, whom Hadjidakis had known from her days in the
theater, sang the song portions of the soundtrack, and would become one of
Hadjidakis most sympathetic interpreters. In 1959, Hadjidakis began working with
the young, up-and-coming Nana Mouskouri, for whom he would supply material on a
regular basis; he also helped introduce the music of Mikis Theodorakis to the
Greek public by arranging his song Epitaphios for a Mouskouri recording session.
The following year, he reunited with Mercouri on the Jules Dassin-directed film
Never on Sunday. It was a breakthrough international hit that won Hadjidakis an
Oscar for his title song, which became a smash success in many parts of the
world. In 1962, he staged the controversial musical Street of Dreams, now
regarded as a landmark of Greek theater for its frank subject matter, and
completed revisions on his score for Aristophanes Birds, which subsequently
ranked among his finest compositions. Hadjidakis scored two more internationally
prominent films in Elia Kazans America, America (1963) and Jules Dassins Topkapi
(1964), and struck up a lengthy partnership with choreographer Maurice Béjart
of 20th Century Ballets, who collaborated on the composers forays into ballet
from then on. Hadjidakis also founded the Athens Experimental Orchestra in 1964,
which provided a vehicle for his own work and that of avant-garde Greek
composers like Iannis Xenakis. However, even as Hadjidakis interest in
experimental music grew, so did his interest in song structure; his 1965 work
Mythology found him ranging farther and farther afield in his traditional
songwriting, fusing elements of symphonic, Turkish Byzantine, and ancient Greek
music with modern rembetika.

In 1966, Hadjidakis traveled to New York for the Broadway premiere of Illya
Darling, the stage version of Never on Sunday. He wound up staying there until
1972, in part because of the repressive military junta that took over the Greek
government. While in America, he completed several more major compositions,
including the piano piece Rhythmology and the song cycle Magnus Eroticus, which
set 12 Greek poems modern and ancient to music; still fascinated by popular
song, he also recorded the LP Reflections with the New York Rock and Roll
Ensemble. Hadjidakis returned to Greece in 1972, and when the military
dictatorship fell, he took a number of high-ranking cultural positions:
directing the State Orchestra (through 1981) and the classical-oriented channel
of the national radio (1982), as well as becoming deputy director of the
national opera (until 1977). He started several music festivals and competitions
in the late 70s and early 80s, and in 1985 started his own record company
(Sirius) and cultural magazine. In 1989, he founded and directed the Orchestra
of Colours, a symphonic group devoted to unconventional works. By this time, he
was suffering from heart problems, which would eventually claim his life on June
15, 1994. ~ Steve Huey

Tracklist:
01. Manos Hadjidakis - Aliki
02. Manos Hadjidakis - The Welcome March
03. Manos Hadjidakis - The Villagers Serenade (Instrumental Version)
04. Manos Hadjidakis - Meeting at the Wind Mill
05. Manos Hadjidakis - Lullaby (Instrumental Version)
06. Manos Hadjidakis - Alikis Cha Cha; The Drinking Chant
07. Manos Hadjidakis - Oh Susanna; Spartan Dance
08. Manos Hadjidakis, Aliki Vougiouklaki - Lullaby (Vocal Version)
09. Manos Hadjidakis - The Villagers Serenade (Vocal Version)
10. Manos Hadjidakis - Aphrodite
11. Manos Hadjidakis, Aliki Vougiouklaki - The Siren Song
12. Manos Hadjidakis - The Magic Isle (The Wedding March)

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