Sweet, blessed Emmanuel!

I miss him terribly!
It is thirteen years ago on the day (and not 12, as I thought) that Manos Hadjidákis has passed-away. He was one of the 20th century's very best songwriters. Not for what he was mainly known abroad [Never on Sunday, and such, that he came to despise long before the end of his life] but for all that, which he had offered irregularly to his countrymen.

Manos Hadjidákis hated pomposity, indoctrination, oppression of any kind, commercialism, the "fans", the song as a form of lolly-pop consumption... He wanted to provoke, inspire, sharpen -- if that's not an unfortunate word -- our sensitivity. I'd say that he died of a broken heart.

Pity (or, was it?) that he would remain Greek, to the bone, working more-or-less stubbornly around the age-long Mediterranean musical idioms, and the folk-rhythms of his native land.

13 meager years have gone-by; and yet, we still hurt because of your absence. We light a modest bee-wax candle to your memory, Manos.

With Quincy Jones, in-between recording sessions

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Below is one of his most-beloved works. Enjoy it... in sensuous company!

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