Arcadia
III, For the Mother and Friends, like Arcadia
II was composed in Zatouna at the end of 1968.
There are only six songs in the cycle and four have the theme
of the mother as a traditional figure, pagan or sacred.
It is not unusual for the mother figure to be addressed in the
songs of the rembetika, and Theodorakis uses a traditional zembekiko
style for 'O Sweet Celestial Mother' and 'The Mother
of Charon'. There is a striking image of the Virgin contrasted
with the mother of Charon, the grim folk personification of
Death, which seems particularly well suited to the dark character
of the zembekiko...
The Virgin embroiders birds on a marble fountain
And her son smiles.
The mother of Charon doesn't speak
And will never
speak again.
'They Call You the Mother of Christ' is a gentle major
melody and is followed by the winsome song 'Sweetly-kissing
Virgin'.
The cycle ends with 'You Were an Orchard', again light
in mood with a piece of musical embroidery at the end of each
melodic phrase.
Arcadia III is attractive music, but despite
the two fine zembekikos, it lacks the unity of the Arcadia
II cycle and the melodic inventiveness of some of the
Laika.
Gail
Holst: Theodorakis. Myth and Politics in Modern Greek Music,
Hakkert, 1980
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