Manos Hadjidakis 1925-1994

Hadjidakis was one of the greatest music composers of modern Greece. He was born in the northern town of Xanthi. In 1932 his parents divorced and he moved to Athens with his mother and sister. During the war years he supported his family by working as a port labourer, ice seller, brewery employee and nurse.
At that time he enrolled the university of Athens to study philosophy and started advanced lessons in musical theory at the National School of Music.
He also took drama lessons and met with a number of influential people of the the Greek literature, music and arts scene.
His first works were music for theatrical plays like Glass Menagerie, Antigone, Blood Wedding, All God’s Children Got Wings, A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, etc.
He continued his career writing music for films where he met Melina Merkouri who became a life long friend. Some of the best known international productions he worked on were: In the Cool of the Day, America-America , Memed my Hawk and Never on Sunday for which he received an Oscar award for his music in 1960.
During his lifetime he served as a director of the State Orchestra and the Third Programme of the Greek radio. He also published Tetarto, a highly influential cultural magazine, founded both the Sirius record company and the progressive Orchestra of Colours.
Hadjidakis’ adaptations brought discredited Rebetika songs to the wide public and introduced bouzouki to
Greek mainstream contemporary music.
His pioneering work combining folk and classical sounds and the nonconformist attitude to art and public affairs left a powerful cultural legacy.
The most famous of his recorded works include Magnus Eroticus, Gioconda’s Smile and Reflections performed by the New York Rock & Roll Ensemble.

He died in June 1995 of heart disease and diabetes.