In October 1973, amid Greece’s dictatorship, newspapers carried an improbable headline: “Mikis Theodorakis’ songs permitted.” For years, the composer’s music had been banned, surviving only in tavernas, homes and clandestine clubs. Exiled in Paris, Theodorakis met regularly with young record executive Makis Matsas, who recalls those encounters in a new memoir included in the album-book “Mikis Theodorakis” by Melissa Editions. “Back then, Mikis was an unattainable professional dream,” writes Matsas, now 88. He recounts a bold proposal: a contract stipulating that if he failed to free Theodorakis’ songs within 10 months, it would be void. The composer agreed, offering a new work, “18 Lianotragouda tis Pikris Patridas,” secretly recorded in Athens with Giorgos Dalaras and a debuting Anna Vissi. Days later, Matsas persuaded officials that banning music only fueled resistance. Newspapers soon confirmed the unthinkable: The songs returned, briefly, before renewed censorship. That October marked a rupture – proof that Theodorakis’ music was never merely art, but a political and social event. The album-book captures his vast universe: composer, thinker, poet of sound and ideas.
