One of the greatest events in Greek music in October 2011 was the tribute to Nino Rota by Haris Alexiou.
It was a series of five nights at the “Theatron”, the theatrical stage of the the Foundation of the Hellenic World in Athens (IME), where Haris Alexiou presented a tribute to the film music composed by one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, Nino Rota.
Haris Alexiou sang both in Italian and Greek, since she wrote Greek lyrics on some of the most known and popular songs of Rota that were played in great films such as the Godfather, Romeo and Juliet, Cambiria Nights, Amarcord, 8 1/2, La strada and more.
Haris Alexikou, along with the Greek lyricist Lina Nikolakopoulou, organized a wonderful spectacle, communicating the music composed by Rota with lyrics they wrote on the original music. Some of the songs were – originally – just instrumental themes, so it was a great surprise to hear some of them in Greek lyrics.
Some of the songs performed were Canzone Arrabbiata — Paese Mio, Brucia la Rerra, Godfather waltz, Come tu mi vuoi, La Dolce Vita, Al Giochi Addio — Galop, Bevete piu Latte, Lo sceicco Bianco, Casanova, Quello che non si dice, Cabiria, Llari Llira, Amarcord, Il Tempo Passa, and more
Alexiou was accompanied by the philharmonic orchestra of the Greek Broadcaster ERT, directed by Pylarinos.
Nino Rota is mostly known to the Greek audience for his music in Godfather, but he also had an extended collaboration with the Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis. It is said that the day he died in 1979, he was on the phone with Hadjidakis just a few hours earlier, and were talking about their collaboration on a film that would be shot in Rome.
Here we play the song Canzone Arrabbiata, mostly known as Canto Per me (Sing for me), from the movie film d’amore e d’ Anarchia.