The Food For Thought Network will close the year with its Annual General Meeting, offering members an update on the organisation’s activities and achievements throughout 2025.
A highlight of this year’s event will be special guest speaker Anna Bithikotsi — journalist, author, and daughter of the late singer Grigoris Bithikotsis. Immediately after the AGM, she will present her new book ‘Both Father and Legend: Grigoris Bithikotsis 1922–2005’, sharing personal memories of her father and of composer Mikis Theodorakis, whom she regards as her spiritual father. Through her unique perspective as a daughter, creator, and first-hand witness to an era, she will guide attendees into the world of two artists who reshaped Greek song and cultural life.
The event itself is dedicated to the towering musical partnership of Theodorakis and Bithikotsis, whose collaborations defined the sound and spirit of Greece in the 1960s and 1970s. Bithikotsis (Γρηγόρης Μπιθικώτσης), who passed away in 2005, was one of the most distinctive voices of Greek laiko—the music of the laos, the people. His emotionally charged, unmistakable vocals helped transform laiko, blending its roots in rebetiko with Western romanticism, pop elements, and oriental flourishes.
Theodorakis and Bithikotsis’ joint works emerged as Greece navigated the upheaval of the post–Civil War years, the political instability that followed, and eventually the 1967 military junta.
Grigoris Bithikotsis collaborated with Mikis Theodorakis on several landmark albums, including Romiosini (1966), based on poetry by Yiannis Ritsos and widely regarded as their most iconic partnership; To Axion Esti (1964), where Bithikotsis lent his voice to Odysseas Elytis’s poetic text set to Theodorakis’s music; and Oktōvris ’78 (1978), a later reunion that highlighted their enduring musical relationship. Romiosini became the anthemic soundtrack for the students of the Polytechnic Uprising which saw the end of the Colonels’ Junta.
The AGM will reflect on the Network’s achievements andalso honour two artists whose music continues to resonate across generations
The event will take place online via Zoom on Wednesday, 10 December 2025, at 7:00 PM (AEST), and attendance is free with registration.
