| Course Description |
Mikis Theodorakis's passing in 2021 marked a pivotal moment in how this great composer is
seen as an agent of social and political change, not only in Greece but also in Europe and on the
international stage. In this course, we will explore the life and work of the great Greek composer
Mikis Theodorakis in the context of the troubled passage from the 20th to the 21st century. This
course aims to be an exploration of the historical circumstances in the early 20th-century
Balkans, and the way literary production, notably poetry through the work of Theodorakis,
expressed and shaped the social and political struggles worldwide. The focus will be on popular
culture and popular music—and notably popular song-- as a means of political struggle through
everyday life experience. We will focus on popular song as an artistic creation, as Theodorakis
shaped it, using poetry brought to the masses through radio and popular concerts.
At the end of the course, the students will have acquired a significant amount of knowledge of
the history, politics, society, and culture of Greece in the troubled 20th and 21st centuries, of the
role of Greece in the turbulent history of the Balkans of the 20th century, and they will have
acquired also knowledge of the musical and cinematographical landscape of the same centuries.
They will get to know well the work of the great composer Mikis Theodorakis, a major figure of
the cultural and political landscape of Greece and Europe and even globally. They will be able to
think critically regarding the role of the individual in political, social, and historical
developments and the role of art, of engaged art and notably music, in history.
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