Project Introduction
By Makis Emmanouilidis
I found old notes and thoughts about this project going back to 2005. It took me until 2014 to bring this work forth so it can be shared and performed through the kindness and inspiration of my musician friends. Without them this project would have never had come to fruition.
Princess Isabeau
It all started with verses that I wrote in the late '90s for “Princess Isabeau,” Angelo Terzakis' medieval masterpiece.
I thought that someday the novel itself would make a great play, eventually a great movie with vivid battle scenes, yet realism set in and I scaled my ambitions to writing instead a body of work with verses and melodies based on Terzakis' novels.
In his introduction to “Princess Isabeau,” Terzakis says: "I will relate to you an ancient chronicle, the wondrous adventures of the nobleman Nikiforos Sgouros from the city of Anapli [Nafplion], how he was cut loose and persecuted out of his homeland, how he wrestled with his destiny on land and sea, and how he declared war against a woman. Distant are the times that I want to revive; long silenced are the voices of those who sang them, and from the people who lived in them not even dust remains. Yet I, though only a poor clerk, exiled in our savage times, shall do all I can to please you, giving a voice to things unspoken."
The story starts in the Fall of 1292. The impending doom of the Byzantine Empire is written already in stone: Big parts of the empire are in foreign hands, Constantinople suffered a tragic fate in the hands of the crusaders; Greece is carved into many pieces and the Franks rule in the Peloponnese while pirates inflict pain everywhere in the Aegean islands and seacoast. This is the background to the novel that Terzakis started writing in the late '30s and finished in the early '40s while Greece was under the German occupation and Athens experienced terrible famine and harsh times.
"Princess Isabeau" (Isabelle) is one of the most eloquent and masterful medieval historical Greek novels ever written. It describes the revolt of Greeks and Slavs in 1293 that ended with the siege of the castle of Kalamata which was in the hands of the Franks. The centerpiece of the novel is the love affair of Isabeau, daughter of Guillaume de Villehardouin and Anna Angelina Komnene. Isabelle inherited part of the Peloponnese from her father and grandfather. She fell in love with local hero Nikiforos Sgouros, but their passion would never be consummated because of their personal, social and national allegiances.
For an interesting discussion of Isabeau, see Harvard's Center for Hellenic Studies paper:
http://chs.harvard.edu/wa/pageR?tn=ArticleWrapper&bdc=12&mn=4876
To Rigos tis Anamonis (The Shiver of Anticipation)
This first song is not about Isabeau but Bianca, the Italian beauty that captured Nikiforos' attention before Isabeau came to steer the murky waters of his existence.
To Anapli (Nafplion)
Nikiforos found himself in Bianca’s bedroom when the bells sounded the alarm throughout the city of Anapli. Pirates have entered the city. Nikiforos jumped from Bianca's window and while on the dark alleys he ran into the pirates who were chased by the guards. The city guards mistook him for a pirate and he found himself fighting against them on the side of the pirates. While he survived the battle, he was forced to hide since the guards recognized him and the whole city now thought that he was a collaborator. He had to leave Anapli as an exiled man, never to return. Thus, Nikiforos Sgouros undertook the journey of identity and self-discovery. From boyhood to manhood, searching for his destiny. Always longing for Anapli.
O Erotas tis Afroditis (The Love of Aphrodite)
This is a quote from the personal notes of Terzakis: “The beauty of human destiny could be found not only in fulfillment but rather in the thoughtless flutter of Icarus.” In all his writings, Terzakis depicts the unfulfilled love; yet, for his heroes the desires are present and powerful. Eros is present and omnipotent. Goddess Aphrodite is the most powerful goddess.
The Inter-war period, the period between World War I and World War II, was as powerful as ever in getting to stir passions, to move people to the extremes. In addition, Greece was coming out of what was called the Asian Minor "Catastrophe.” It was a period of creativity, people looking for a place in the world.This is the period depicted in Terzakis' novel “The Purple City,” in which he pays homage to the divine light from the Attica scenery, the city of Athens in the '30s. Despite people’s broken wings, despite their daily struggle to find a place in the new world, there is this illuminating light that colors everything and lifts your spirits.
Kapoio Mesimeri (At Noon)
At noon came out a shirtless star with its bare chest wishing to fool me. And you with a dimple on your pale lip, a barrette as an ornament and such capricious eyebrows: the same as the famous Helen of Troy.
Fouskothalasia (Sea Swell)
I make a painting in a cloth of my heart with an arrow; with this, I decorate a sail; tonight when there is a swell.
To Antikimeno tou Pothou (The Object of Desire)
The white of her flesh with a petite shawl. The stroke of the brush thick, gave her life. Eros, you whispered please let me die as my life rolls on the canvas. Victory of Samothrace, Aphrodite of Milos. Everybody dumbfounded, staring at her.
Thanasimi Vradia pou Thartheis (The Deadly Night you'll Arrive)
Ah, secret passion and desire, the enchanting dawn, the seductress.The nightingales finished the vespers and the stars went dark.You are the Eros of Hecate, the deadly night you will arrive.
Terzakis and his work are known for their kindness and ethos. He was committed to the classical values that give meaning to human dignity. He was moderate and proud, always keeping a low profile; always melancholic, representative of the generation of 1930 which came after the trauma of World War I hoping that the world would never have to go through it again.
Greece came out traumatized from the Greek-Turkish war of 1920 and by 1922 it saw the flood of one million refugees from Asia Minor coming to Greece with nothing other than the clothes they wore. It was an unbearable time only to get worse with World War II and the Greek civil war from 1945-49.
No wonder then that in his novels, Terzakis' protagonists are humble people, at the margins of life, defeated by the bourgeois environment of the poor Athenian neighborhoods. They are people who are captives of their destiny, living a life without God; a secret, petty and inglorious life in the margins of the large Greek capital.
Yet, these are thinking people, highly educated and with moral sensitivities.
Mystiki Zoi (Secret Life)
"Secret life" was his last published novel in 1957 and from then on he wrote mainly for the theater and newspapers.
In "Secret Life" Terzakis says "At a time in which it is a virtue to connect with one another back to back, not for support but for a deal, in which cowardice is a virtue, I stand alone. The meaning of morality and honor may be relative terms, but the meaning of courage is absolute.... That’s my confession."
Nioti Kali (Sweet Youth)
Terzakis' characters are often engaging in confessions; confessing to the readers what it is in their inner minds and souls, pronouncing aloud their hopes, dreams and beliefs and quite regularly taking a stance toward the people around them.
This is the one song that is autobiographical for me. I found myself pondering on some of the issues raised in his book and thus express them with these verses and this melody. I imagined that youth was knocking on my door searching for me.That’s why what you hear in the beginning is three knocks, Youth knocking on the door.
Oi Dikes mas Angalies (Our Embraces)
Please know that this is nothing more than my interpretation of Terzakis' novels; I took great liberties writing these verses, this is my view of his world and in retrospect a view of the world in general through my own eyes. I humbly tried to give my own voice to things unspoken.
Years ago, I found myself in Chania, in the island of Crete sleeping at the guest house of Yiannis Hatzakis a good friend of Kostas Perdikakis. I got the inspiration for these verses that same night that we were there. It was a magical night under the starry Greek sky, the flowers exuded the most delicious fragrances and life was performing its glorious ancient dance through all the senses.
I know Terzakis would have approved and rejoiced along with me...