If holiness is the result of the manifestation of “Love and Affection” for our fellow man, then it is not an exaggeration to think that Mimis Plessas can be included, over the years, in the pantheon of the “saints” of Greek Music Culture.
When, at the beginning of May 1984, I sent him a kind proposal to include his name among the founding members of the OLYMPOS-Global Spiritual Centre Association, alongside the names of composers Stavros Xarchakos, George Theodosiadis, George Hadjinasios and others. He enthusiastically replied that he considered it an honour to have his name included in the list of the Founding Members of the OLYMPOS Association.
We met at the CARAVEL Hotel where he came accompanied by two of his friends to sign the Founding Member card.
The flame of his soul exuded a truly divine origin. His soul was flooded with Greece!
I remember his words at the time: “Listen friend Paul. I, simply, am a composer, I do not belong in any way to any recording circuits, no label has a contract with me, I do not belong to any political party, I do not seek to be supported in my work by any political mechanism, no newspaper, no publishers, no strange groups of promoters. I sign, as a simple member, the Statute of the Association you are founding, for one basic reason only: that the Association you are founding will strive in time, in the adverse Greek reality, to establish in Greece, a world-wide, archetypically Pythagorean, mathematical city dedicated to the service of Letters, Arts and Sciences. These three values are my Greece!”
I remember my good friend Mimis attending several lectures at INDIANAPOLIS University, organized by our Association, in the first decade of the new century.
I remember his enduring dedication to the altar of Music, his endless triumphs with his continuous awards… , I remember his modesty and humility of reception at the awards that Greeks and foreigners alike bestowed upon him, I remember his modest words, accompanied by the applause of his fans, while every word he spoke was a tribute of affection and practical love, both for his colleagues and for his fellow human beings.
This skilled model of a man, called Mimis Plessas, accompanied me throughout all the years of our acquaintance, with his benevolent smile always the protagonist. At the 8th World Congress of the OLYMPOS Association, in October 2016, at the War Museum of Athens, under the subtle title “THE USE OF KNOWLEDGE”, Mimis Plessas took a distinguished part, playing the piano and winning the warm applause of a select audience, with his works performed by the performer Spyros Kleissas.
Mimis Plessas took the breath of Life from this difficult world, to continue to breathe with the power of Eternal Life in the society of Angels.
I close my wound reverently, in memory of a man who came to serve with absolute respect his appointed purpose, which, for a whole century, he served with absolute consistency, faith, love and religious piety.
His music and songs will soothe for the coming times the souls of the Greeks in our homeland and in every corner of the world where there are Greeks.
Videos:
Mimis Plessas’ speech at the 8th International Forum Humanitas on “The Use of Language”
https://youtu.be/qai3S3aRfgE
Mimis Plessas’ message on the greatness of the Greek Language:
https://youtube.com/shorts/
