Mikis Theodorakis and Georges Moustaki

21 mai 1970
05m 34s
Ref. 00067

Information

Summary :

Work session between composer and Greek politician Mikis Theodorakis, recently freed from prison, and Georges Moustaki, who were set on adapting into French songs that Theodorakis wrote while imprisoned. Each one singing in his own language, the two men played Nous Sommes Deux in duo, while playing guitar and piano.

Media type :
Broadcast date :
21 mai 1970
Source :
Themes :
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Context

Born on 25 July 1925 on the island of Chios, Mikis Theodorakis is one of the biggest artistic and political figures of modern Greece - the universal symbol of the Hellenic cultural renaissance. Very active in the resistance against the fascists during World War II and the following Civil War, Theodorakis renewed with his first musical loves in 1950, obtained his degree in harmony and enrolled in the Conservatory of Paris, in Olivier Messiaen's class.

Although his writing talent was quickly recognised internationally, Theodorakis started his own cultural revolution at the turn of the 1960s, by rediscovering his country's popular music: Epitaphios written over Yannis Ritsos's poems is now considered to be the founding act of Greek music's renaissance. Very involved politically, he took control of the Lambrakis Democratic Youth and was elected to parliament. At that same time, he gained international fame with the score to the film Zorba the Greek (1964).

In 1967, the Colonels' putsch forced him into exile. He settled in Paris and became the symbol of resistance against the military junta until his triumphant return to Greece in 1974. Extraordinarily prolific, Theodorakis had not, during all of these years, stopped composing - operas, symphonies, oratorios, song cycles, theatre and film soundtracks: to this day, his work includes more than 1000 listed works and his discography contains no less than 250 titles.

Stéphane Ollivier

Transcription

Mikis Theodorakis
So if the tone is right, I'll start and see
Georges Moustaki
[not understood]
Mikis Theodorakis
We are we two, we are we two, hum
Georges Moustaki
That's good we are two, that, that's enough
Mikis Theodorakis
We will be two, we will be two
Georges Moustaki
Because you mention it, we are two
Mikis Theodorakis
hum
Georges Moustaki
I'm going to change some things but I take note of the metrics
Mikis Theodorakis
Music [Greek]
Georges Moustaki
At midday, he knocks on the office door, I count the knocks, I count the pain, I am a sick animal in the abattoir, today it's my turn, yours tomorrow.
Mikis Theodorakis
[Greek]
Georges Moustaki
He hits Andreas, this evening on the terrace, I count the blows, I count the blood
Mikis Theodorakis
[Greek]
Georges Moustaki
Behind the wall we meet new people That is, they meet
Mikis Theodorakis
They are him, yes, he comes, because to him, he is in the cell next to me. When he came down from the terrace, that's when the conversation started la, la, you la, la, me [Greek]
Georges Moustaki
In our abattoir you can smell thyme, in our cell you can smell the red sky
Mikis Theodorakis
Yes that's it. That's the tone, alright?
Georges Moustaki
No because I heard in particular the...
Mikis Theodorakis
Yes, yes, yes
Georges Moustaki
(Music)
Mikis Theodorakis
Maybe now it's necessary to define, what the timing is, it's necessary... hum 2 bars, that's all Maybe in the middle 4 bars here in the middle hum
Georges Moustaki
Ah you keep the beat at 2 time, yes Yes, yes. OK, yes
Mikis Theodorakis
2-3; 2-3
Georges Moustaki
You might need to raise the pitch
guitar
Georges Moustaki
sing in French There are still things I want to change