Manos Hadjidakis

Manos Hadjidakis (Μάνος Χατζιδάκις) (October 23, 1925–June 15, 1994) was a Greek music composer. He was born in Xanthi, Greece. In 1961 he received an Oscar or Acad

Manos Hadjidakis (Μάνος Χατζιδάκις) (October 23, 1925–June 15, 1994) was a Greek music composer. He was born in Xanthi, Greece. In 1961 he received an Oscar or Academy Award in the category of Best Music, for his Song Never on Sunday from the film of the same name. He is widely popular among Greeks and can be credited with the introduction of bouzouki music into mainstream culture.

His very first work was the tune for the ditty Paper Moon (Hartino to Fengaraki), from Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire staged by Karolos Koun's Art Theatre of Athens, a collaboration which continued for 15 years. His first piano piece, "For a Small White Seashell" (Gia Mia Mikri Lefki Ahivada) came out in 1947 and in 1948 he shook the musical establishment by delivering his legendary lecture on rembetika, the urban folk songs that flourished in Greek cities, mainly Piraeus, after the Asia Minor refugee influx in 1922 and until then had heavy underworld and cannabis use connections and were consequently looked down upon. Hadjidakis focused on the economy of expression, the deep traditional roots and the genuineness of emotion displayed in rembetika, and exalted the likes of composers like Markos Vamvakaris and Vassilis Tsitsanis. Putting theory to practice, he adapted classical rembetika on his 1951 piano work Six Folklore Paintings (Exi Laikes Zografies), which was later also presented as a folk ballet.