"The Great Lover is a folk god who lives in our imagination from the moment we are born" Manos Hadjidakis June 15, 2022 – Posted in: Books

Until now, you thought that great records are heard out loud, but the 33 1/3 series that came to Greece from Oxy publications will prove to you that your favorite vinyls can also be read out loud. However, in addition to the masterpieces of international music that the series presents abroad, the Greek version also includes records of domestic production that made history. Today, June 15, on the occasion of the anniversary of the death of the great Manos Hadjidakis, we read the album "The Great Lover" as presented by Alexis Vakis in the context of the 31 1/3 series and Oxy publications.

Nowadays, everything you want to find and learn about your favorite band, record or genre of music may be all you have to do by typing the relevant words into a search engine, but in the not-too-distant past when a new record came out, all you had to do was dive into the cover and any accompanying insert to soak up as much information as you can. And if even now in the age of fast internet and Wikipedia, the 31 1/3 series has a lot to offer the music-loving public that continues to thirst for backstage details and hidden information.

In the book "The Great Lover" about the classic album of the same name by Manos Hatzidakis, with a foreword by Nikos Xydakis and an afterword by George Andreou, Alexis Vakis manages to compile all the info before/after and during the creation of this masterpiece .

It puts us in the mind of Manos Hadjidakis, we see how he was inspired, how he conceived the creation for this record, what need and what desire pushed him, how he chose the final poems and how he chose the contributors, from Dimitris Psarianos and Fleury Dantonakis and the how the final scores were written, to how the album was recorded in the studio, with an interview with Stelios Giannakopoulos, the man who recorded The Great Lover at Columbia Studios in 1972.

Excerpts from interviews, hunting down the press of the time, conversations with people who were lucky enough to see first hand how this record was made and also reviews of how the record was received after its release make up the precious treasure found in the pages of this book . An extra bonus of this excellent dedicated edition to the Great Lover is the chapter "Kelomai se Gogyla" where Nikos Sarantakos sheds light and answers questions regarding the Erasmian pronunciation of Sappho's poem set to music.

The Great Lover in the words of Manos Hadjidakis

"The Great Erotic is a folk god who lives in our imaginations from the moment we are born to the moment we die, handsome, adolescent and unceasingly alive.

The Great Erotic does not wear graphic local clothes. He wears his own which compose difficult combinations of sounds. It does not contain messages that are easily erased by the rains. He doesn't resist.

Begin from asma and on his honeys and come with me.

The order followed by these poems of the Greek poets forms an unbroken cycle of songs, a liturgy for the Great Lover – something like the Vespers of Saints in remote desert churches with the participation of imaginary angels, lovers, virgins and teenagers. It is a litany strange, yet so natural, in our inner and occult life.

I tried to create simple songs but not easy. That's why I carefully chose the singers who would perform them. And first Fleury Dantonaki, with passion, a rare voice and inner tension, and Dimitris Psarianos, irrepressible, youthful and genuinely popular. Both of them singing in Megalo Erotikos I think they give lessons in morality, truth and magic in folk song..." (Excerpt) Manos Hatzidakis, Athens, November 28, 1972.

A book that brings to life an entire era, a book that brings to life in the best way a record that rightfully endures time and within its pages the reasons why this music continues not only to exist but also to inspire become clear. With well-crafted coherence and plot, the book can also be read as a literary work, combining with unique art two great passions, the love for music and books. And of course it is read with the songs of the album as an ideal background.  

Manos Hadjidakis – The Great Erotic 33 1/3 – Brainfood Publishing