The Era of Melissanthi

NOTOS 3907/8 (1980)

Music: Manos Hadjidakis
Poetry: Manos Hadjidakis

“… How did the name of Melissanthi suddenly come to me? A glass heroine of the interwar period taking arbitrarily the form of a mad mother, lover and sister in the ruins of a ruined city? This story left in me a commotion even now that I have finished the Era of Melissanthi, without knowing if I ended with Her face … ” writes Manos Hadjidakis in his note in the brochure of the album. A completely personal work, his experience and experiences from the German Occupation of Greece during WW II that became poetry and music with Maria Farantouri as the main performer – hence the subtitle on the cover: A musical story with Maria Farantouri.

Maria Farantouri: voice
Vassilis Lekkas: voice
George Michalislis: voice
Stella Gadedi: flute
Choir of the Third Program of the Greek Radio under the direction of Antonis Kontogeorgiou
Rotonda Thessaloniki Children’s Choir under the direction of Socrates Toubektsis
Orchestra under the direction of Manos Hadjidakis

01. Preface
02. Where is Melissanthi?
03. On the main asphalt road
04. Going for rain
05. The rain
06. The face of the night – M. Farantouri
07. I was afraid …
08. I was scared, I was choking on silence
09. The invasion of Melissanthi
10. Almsgiving from heaven
11. A wounded bitch – M. Farantouri
12. Small band on the street
13. The friend we lost
14. The final compromise A – M. Farantouri
15. The final compromise B.
16. Mother and sister – M. Farantouri
17. The invasion of Melissanthi
18. A clock in the chapel
19. The mothers on the burned roofs – M. Farantouri
20. Mother and sister
21. Melissanthi dance that becomes forgotten
22. The cold truth
23. The Epitaph
24. The Forgotten – M. Farantouri
25. Mother and sister

Other Releases:
LYRA MN3907 (1996)