The Hellenic Project 2022-23 | Dimitris Papadimitriou - Kostas Makedonas: The Demolisher

The title is taken directly from the monumental poem by Kostis Palamas – a raging elegy of a poem that functions as an utterly ideological underpinning for societal rebellion. Set alongside them is a thrilling song that tackles the love and spiritual connection harbored by an adult child for their mother: “Your Loving Affection Awaits Me” by Napoleon Lapathiotis.

The lion’s share of the evening, however, belongs to Manos Eleftheriou, with lyrics drawn from the treasure trove he left to Dimitris Papadimitriou with the instruction that he present them only gradually, a number of years after his death: “The Great One”, “The Night I Was in Crisis”, “With a Knife at My Throat”, and “Three Nights I Fasted From Water (And Ten From Your Name)”. Last but not least, “The Stationmasters” – a song commissioned from Dimitris Papadimitriou by Manos Eleftheriou himself, to appear on his tribute record.

The composer had this to say about the album: “A set of eight laïkó [“popular” – as in, of the people – or “folk”] songs, encapsulating everything they ought to be: marked by pristine aesthetic stylings and major, unaffected emotions. By sage humor and a revolutionary thirst of the kind only such poets as Palamas can envision, and only such peoples as the Greeks can bring to pass. And all performed by Kostas Makedonas, that great laïkó singer who himself encapsulates everything that the words great and laïkó ought to mean.”

The composer also had this to say about the second part of the concert: “New songs always come along like the pieces of a large mosaic completed slowly over the course of a composer’s life. Like the new tesserae of a major mural built up inside the consciousness of their listeners. These new blocks only make sense as part of this mural when put in their right place. And so the songs of ‘The Demolisher’ are being placed inside their right setting, alongside many other songs that are this mural’s mainstays. And Kostas Makedonas is now being added to the company of great vocalists maintaining the composer’s mythology – such singers as George Florakis and Veronica Davaki.”

“Eyes Can’t Change Their Color”, “Chess”, “The Complaint”, and “Put Out My Eyes” are just some of the much-loved songs to be performed during the evening, songs that – to this day – live on as milestones of the modern éntechno (art music) and laïkó scenes: the fruits of an artistic journey lasting many years that has placed Dimitris Papadimitriou in among the most beloved composers of the contemporary Greek songwriting scene.