Mikis Theodorakis, the renowned Greek composer and Marxist firebrand who waged a war of words and music against an infamous military junta that imprisoned and exiled him as a revolutionary and banned his work a half century ago, died on Thursday. He was 96.
He was known for his stance on human rights issues, and he is considered one of the most prominent international figures supporting the Palestinian cause, and he frequently appears in his concerts with the Palestinian keffiyeh.
The Musician Mikis Theodorakis declared that Israel is the root of evil in the world.
As for the Palestinian national anthem, the Palestinian national anthem came before independence, as the first unofficial Palestinian national anthem was the (Mawtani) anthem of the Palestinian poet Ibrahim Toukan. Lebanese Mohamed Fleifel.
For the modern anthem (Feday), it became circulating in the year 1972 AD, and it was adopted as the national anthem of the Palestinians by a decision of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization in that year. For generic Palestinian names. The author of the song of redemption (Al-Fida’) is the poet (Saeed Al-Muzayin), known as the boy of the revolution, the founder of the first contemporary Palestinian magazines issued under the name (The Palestinian Revolution), and its composer is the great Egyptian musician (Ali Ismail). With regard to the Greek musician Mikis Theodorakis, his most important contribution to the musical redistribution of the national anthem in 1981 was a symbolic step through which he expressed his solidarity with the Palestinians and their just cause, while the Palestinian composer (Hussein Nazik) arranged the last musical arrangement for the national anthem in (2005)
The cause was cardiopulmonary arrest, according to a statement on his website. News reports in Greece said he had died at his home in central Athens. His family said in a statement read on Greek state television that his body would lie in state, and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis declared three days of national mourning.
Mikis Theodorakis was received by President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia, the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and President François Mitterrand of France. The Swedish leader Olof Palme, the West German chancellor Willy Brandt and Mr. Theodorakis’s old friend Melina Mercouri, the actress who had become the Greek minister of culture, pledged help. Artists and writers around the world became his allies.
By 1973, facing international pressure and a restless civilian population, the junta’s hold was shaky. A student uprising in Athens escalated into open revolt. Hundreds of civilians were injured, some fatally, in clashes with troops. Colonel Papadopoulos was ousted, and martial law was imposed by a new hard-liner. In 1974, the junta collapsed when senior military officers withdrew their support.
Within days, Mr. Theodorakis returned home in triumph, welcomed by large crowds, his music playing constantly on the radio. “My joy now is the same that I felt waiting in a cell to be tortured,” he said. “It was all part of the same struggle.”
