Nikos Xilouris sings the song Hilia Miria Kimata, a Greek song which translates to “A hundred thousand waves” in English. It is one of the most known songs sung by Nikos Xilouris, one of the many he has marked with his voice.
Hilia Miria Kimata is a song for the lost regions, the lost country as many Greeks call it – referring to the regions in Asia Minor that were lost by the Turkish attack against the Greek populations in 1922.
Aivali ( today called Ayvalik in Turkish), a prosperous town on the West coast of Asia Minor, opposite the island of Mitylene. It stands near the site of the Aeolian Heraclea, on rising ground at the end of a bay, which is separated from the Gulf of Adramyttium and protected from the prevailing winds by the Moschonisi Islands .
In 1922 Aivali was burned to the ground during a fight between the Turks and the Greeks, and a large number of its Greek population killed or enslaved. It is one of the most thriving towns in the Levant, with a purely Greek population distinguished for its commercial, industrial and maritime enterprise.
Aivali has a great significance for the Greeks and its loss still causes pain to the people who are still alive and remember these days.
The song Hilia Miria Kimata uses a number of images from the everyday life in the region to remind how far Greeks are from this region now, but how close it is in their hearts.