Manos Hatzidakis
Sound
Biography
Manos Hatzidakis (also spelled Hadjidakis; Greek: Μάνος Χατζιδάκις; 23 October 1925 – 15 June 1994) was a Greek composer and theorist of Greek music, widely considered to be one of the greatest Greek composers and one of the most globally recognised. His legacy and contribution are widespread among the works of contemporary Greek music, through the second half of the 20th and into the 21st century. He was also one of the main proponents of the "Éntekhno" form of music (along with Mikis Theodorakis). In 1960, he received an Academy Award for Best Original Song for his song Never on Sunday from the film of the same name. Hatzidakis was born on 23 October 1925 in Xanthi, Greece, to lawyer Georgios Hatzidakis, who came from the village of Myrthios, Agios Vasileios in the Rethymno prefecture in Crete; and Aliki Arvanitidou, who came from Adrianoupolis. His musical education began at the age of four and consisted of piano lessons from the Armenian pianist Anna Altunian. At the same time, he learned to play the violin and the accordion. After the separation of his parents, Hatzidakis moved permanently to Athens in 1932 with his mother. A few years later in 1938, his father died in an aircraft accident. This event, in combination with the beginning of World War II, brought the family into a difficult financial situation. The young Hatzidakis earned his livelihood as a docker at the port, an ice seller at the Fix factory, an employee in Megalokonomou's photography shop and as an assistant nurse at the 401 Military Hospital. At the same time, he expanded his musical knowledge by studying advanced music theory with Menelaos Pallandios, in the period 1940-1943. At the same time, he studied philosophy at the University of Athens. However, he never completed this course. During this period, he met and connected with other musicians, writers and intellectuals. Among these were Nikos Gatsos, George Seferis, Odysseas Elytis, Angelos Sikelianos and the artist Yannis Tsarouchis. During the last period of the Axis occupation of Greece, he was an active participant in the Greek Resistance through membership of the United Panhellenic Organization of Youth (EPON), the youth branch of the major resistance organisation EAM, where he met Mikis Theodorakis with whom he soon developed a strong friendship. Although he had made a statement on the exigency of Greece's entrance to the EEC (European Economic Community, later: European Union), he believed that within the European realm, Greece would be culturally assimilated completely. In the later years of his life, Hatzidakis explained that his work was meant not to entertain but to reveal. Further, he disclaimed part of his work, written for the Greek cinema and theater, as non-representative contract undertaking of his. ... Source: Article "Manos Hatzidakis" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Known For
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Discorama
The 300 Spartans is an account of the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae, in which the Greek Spartan King Leonidis, played by Richard Egan, led a remarkably small number of Greek Sparta to victory over an invading Persian army led by evil King Xerxes that was thought to number over 25,000. This spectacular conflict gave the Grecians enough time to organize a force to ultimately repel the Persians, and thus change the course of Western civilization.
The 300 Spartans
Arthur Simon Simpson is a small-time crook biding his time in Greece. One of his potential victims turns out to be a gentleman thief planning to steal the emerald-encrusted dagger of the Mehmed II from Istanbul's Topkapi Museum.
Topkapi
The winner of the Miss World Virginity contest marries, escapes from her masochistic husband and ends up involved in a world of debauchery.
Sweet Movie
On New Year’s Eve, a timid bank clerk is mistaken for a notorious criminal mastermind who rules the streets of Athens. Embracing his mistaken identity comes with a price though, as his unwitting white lie begins to unravel.
The Ogre of Athens
A young man is torn between the woman he loves and his loyalty to his father, the leader of a Mexican gang.
Blue
Young teacher Floras arrives to teach a class at a girls’ high school in Athens. His students, daughters of rich Athenian families, are very spoilt making his and the other teachers work difficult. When he starts implementing discipline in his class, the girls use every means to get rid of him. But the most undisciplined, Lisa Papastavrou, falls in love with him.
Maiden's Cheek
Aliki is in love with someone who serves his duty in the greek navy. Wanting to see him, she disguises as a navy soldier and gets aboard her lover's ship. Things get more complicated when she comes accross the ship's captain; her father!
Alice in the Navy
A young Anatolian Greek, entrusted with his family's fortune, loses it en route to Istanbul and dreams of going to America.
America America
Lisa is a student, pretending the sick not to go to school. Her parents are worried about her health and call the doctor to examine her. He realizes her lies but he covers her. Soon, they fall in love and eventually get married. However, after the honeymoon she begins to yearn school and her classmates and she returns to it without saying anything to her husband. Soon, her husband begins to suspect her because of her frequent absences from home and her secret meetings with the professor seem to confirm his suspicions.
Throbs at the Desk
A scheming tobacco farmer sets out to ruin his competition by diverting the local water to his own property.
Dry Summer
An American scholar in Greece sets about improving the local prostitute with whom he is infatuated.
Never on Sunday
A womanizing lawyer spends his holidays in mother's hotel in Corfu. What they do not know is that he has set up an entire trap by his mother and Lanitis entrepreneur, to finally learn what true love. The bait is daughter's trader Diana who plays the role of Mirka.
Date in Corfu
Madalena is a tough seventeen-year-old who is forced to take on her father's ferry business after he dies. She has her many brothers and sisters to support, and there is no one else to do the job. So she rallies her defenses and sets out to give her rival in the ferry business a run for his money. But at the same time, the rival's handsome son is starting to look better and better. Madalena refuses to acknowledge her feelings for him -- though how long she can sustain that denial is the question.
Madalena
Four stories, humorous, romantic or dramatic, are linked by a counterfeit gold sovereign. It is made by the honest engraver in the first story, seduced by the charms of a young widow, and it subsequently passes into the hands of a beggar and a prostitute, a wealthy miser and a newly married couple where the husband is a poor artist.
The Counterfeit Coin
In a poor neighborhood of Athens, next to the coffee shop of Spyros (Mimis Fotopoulos) is a coffee shop that has gained a great reputation and is preparing to move to Kolonaki as it has made a lot of money by telling the cup. In the same neighborhood is a laundress, Kalliopi (Georgia Vassiliadou), who makes a living by force. One day, after an incident in which a customer (Kostas Mentis) humiliates Kalliopi and Spyros intervenes, he comes up with an idea: for Kalliopi to run the coffee shop, since the other one has left.
The Coffee Reader (Kafetzou)
In 1896 it is announced that the Olympic Games will be revived in Athens. A young shepherd, Spiridon Loues, decides to enter the 26-mile marathon. Once in Athens, he meets Christina Gratsos, a young woman from his hometown who is now the personal maid of Eleni Costa, Greece's most glamorous actress. Though he has arrived after the qualification date, Spiridon's athletic prowess so impresses Coach Graham of the American team that he is permitted to enter the contest. Eleni informs the press that she will marry the victor, confident it will be her lover, Lieutenant Vinardos.
It Happened in Athens
The story of a young, wild woman who doesn't want to compromise and settle down. Stella is a restless, rebellious Greek woman who plays with men and enjoys her life as much as she can. But when she meets a young footballer, things get mixed up. She loves him but she loves her freedom too. So it's about time she made an important choice.
Stella
An American secret service agent goes to Greece to investigate a stolen hydrogen bomb. It's connected to an antique coin that belonged to his brother...another agent. Now he's tasked with taking his brother out!
Assignment Skybolt
Based on the story "The Heroes of Yucca," The Invincible Six features a ragtag group of jewel thieves who become the unofficial guardians of a small Iranian village. When bandits attack the village, looking for the body of their former leader and his treasure map, the Invincible Six are there to save the day, wooing the local females and frustrating the new leader of the bandits.