Καλή Επιτυχία - Good Luck to our Global Greeks at the Oscars 2014

Oscar night in Los Angeles tonight and we look forward to seeing at least one of our Global Greeks below collecting an Academy Award and joining the ranks of our glorious Global Greeks who took home a prestigious Academy Award!

 

Alexander Payne - 
Best Picture/Best Director / Best original Screenplay  
Nebraska
In the photo he accepts his Oscar in  
2012 for Best Adapted Screenplay for
The Descendants, saying Σ'αγαπώ Μαμα - I love you Mom! 

Phedon Papamichael

Best Cinematography
Nebraska

 Alexandre Desplat 
Best Original Score 
Philomena



Alexandre Gavras (right)
Best Short film 
Before Losing Everything - Avant que de Tout Perdre

and of course, let's not forget our Honorary Global Greek 
'Mr 110% Greek' Tom Hanks
Best Picture/Best Director 
Captain Phillips 

Last but not least we just have to include the film whose setting is
Greece, beautiful Greece!

 

Greece  and the Southern Peloponnese are the stars of this fascinating film 
Best Adapted Screenplay
Before Midnight

Filmed in Messinia and the Costa Navarino

Good luck to all  - Καλή Επιτυχία σε όλους!
At Global Greek World we'll be watching with special  interest as we wait to see if our list of Global Greek Oscar winners gets to grow even more!

Here are a few of our past winners:

1960 Manos Hadjidakis 
Best Original Song 
Never on Sunday

Vassilis Fotopoulos
1962 Best Art Direction America-America
1964 Best Art Direction (Black and White) Zorba the Greek  

1975 for designing costumes for "The Great Gatsby, - See more at: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/afterword/2011/01/theoni-v-aldredge-tony-and-oscar-winning-costume-designer-dies-at-78.html#sthash.tw62yQD1.dpuf

1969 Costa Gavras
Best Foreign Language Film
Z

1975  Theoni V Aldredge 
 Best Costume Design 
The Great Gatsby

78.html#sthash.tw62yQD1.dpuf

1982 Vangelis Papathanassiou 
Best original Score  
Chariots of Fire

2010 Louie Psihoyios   
Best Documentary Feature
The Cove

1975 for designing costumes for "The Great Gatsby, - See more at: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/afterword/2011/01/theoni-v-aldredge-tony-and-oscar-winning-costume-designer-dies-at-78.html#sthash.tw62yQD1.dpuf

 Alexander Payne 
2005 for Best Adapted Screenplay
Sideways
2012 for Best Adapted Screenplay
The Descendants

At Global Greek World, We ♥ Greece...and it shows!

© GlobalGreekWorld 2013 All Rights Reserved

18 Years On: Remembering Manos Hadjidakis

Eighteen years ago today, Greece sadly farewelled one of her most talented. Internationally acclaimed composer Manos Hadjidakis, passed into eternity leaving behind him a wealth of beautiful music, his legacy to Greece, his people and the world.

His most well known, Never on Sunday, the internationally acclaimed title song from the film starring Melina Mercouri and directed by Jules Dassin, became an instant success around the world and granted him an Academy Award in 1960. 

With the Greek elections in just a couple of days, this Hadjidakis song, with lyrics by the great Nikos Gatsos, which talks about Greece and the 1821 War of Independence and its heroes, seems to be particularly appropriate right now, at a time when our people and this beautiful and historic homeland is desperately seeking direction and leadership from non-existent leaders...


 

'Tsamikos' sung by Global Greek of the Year, Mario Frangoulis...

Στίχοι: Νίκος Γκάτσος
Μουσική: Μάνος Χατζιδάκις
Πρώτη εκτέλεση: Μανώλης Μητσιάς

Στα κακοτράχαλα τα βουνά

με το σουράβλι και το ζουρνά

πάνω στην πέτρα την αγιασμένη

χορεύουν τώρα τρεις αντρειωμένοι.

Ο Νικηφόρος κι ο Διγενής

κι ο γιος της Άννας της Κομνηνής.

Δική τους είναι μια φλούδα γης

μα εσύ Χριστέ μου τους ευλογείς

για να γλυτώσουν αυτή τη φλούδα

απ' το τσακάλι και την αρκούδα.

Δες πώς χορεύει ο Νικηταράς

κι αηδόνι γίνεται ο ταμπουράς.

Από την Ήπειρο στο Μοριά

κι απ' το σκοτάδι στη λευτεριά

το πανηγύρι κρατάει χρόνια

στα μαρμαρένια του χάρου αλώνια.

Κριτής κι αφέντης είν' ο Θεός

και δραγουμάνος του ο λαός.

Source: Stixoi 

Just click on the arrow to listen to some more of Hadjidakis' unforgettable melodies in the playlist below.


Read more:
Manos Hadjidakis - Official Website
Manos Hadjidakis on Wikipedia

ΑΘΑΝΑΤΗ... Remembering Melina who left us 17 years ago today

This magnificent photo of Melina graces the Acropolis Metro Station in Athens

Taken by her personal photographer Ilias Anagnostopoulos

A musical tribute to our beloved Melina, known to the world as Melina Mercouri - singer, actress, politician - the Last Greek Goddess... 

This is a collection of our favourite songs including one sung for her by her stepson - French singer Joe Dassin...you'll know it for sure...Γαρύφαλλο στ'αφτί

Listen, reminisce and smile...that's what she would have wanted us to do. 











 


 

Related Posts:

Melina Mercouri - The Woman Who Should Have been Mayor of Athens

In Memory of Global Greeks Melina Mercouri and Jules Dassin

OPA!!!! From Melina to Miss Piggy - Everybody's Singing Manos Hadjidakis' Never on Sunday

 The Muppets singing Never on Sunday - Bouzouki and all!

Dedicated to all those our friends who love Greek music and who are fans of Manos Hadjidakis' world famous Never on Sunday or Ta Paidia tou Piraia!...

A musical end to a difficult week to wish you all a wonderful weekend! Thanks Stathis M - NZ for the link on  Facebook  which inspired this post!

The video clips that follow are great versions of Never on Sunday, either in Greek or in English! Note that this song has been recorded in French, in Italian, in Czech, in Serbian, in Spanish, in German, in Dutch in Croatian and even in Cantonese and Mandarin..(for the Chinese version please see link posted by Vera in the comments section ...Thanks Vera!)

The original, of course, was Melina Mercouri's Academy Award winning version in Jules Dassin's film of the same name!

Take your pick! Listen to them all and leave a comment below telling us which one you prefer! 

Enjoy!

The Muppets sing Never on Sunday

In the 1960's everybody recorded it....Doris Day, Petula Clark,The Chordettes and Connie Francis...

Nana Mouskouri and the Athenians' version from her BBC Series...

 and of course recently... Sakis Rouvas!

but nothing can beat the original -  sung in Melina Mercouri's inimitable manner...

For all those who were there and for those who watched from afar, the last video clip shows us one of the Athens 2004 Olympic Closing Ceremony's most moving moments... When the familiar sound of the opening chords of the bouzouki flooded the packed Olympic Stadium, the crowd went wild... 

Anna Vissi, Antonis Remos, Alkistis Protopsalti, Mihalis Hatzigiannis, Eleftheria Arvanitaki and Dionysis Savopoulos in a unique rendition of Greece's signature tune... 

incidentally, it was a full moon that night, 29 August 2004, and the August full moon in Greece is absolutely awesome....

Have a great weekend everyone! 

OPA! 

and just to prove how truly international it is, there's also 

Dalida's Spanish Version
Los Ninos del Pireo 





Dalida's French version 
Les Enfants du Piree


Milva's Italian Version 
Uno a te, uno a me



and last but not least
the Chinese version

Global Greek Music: Mario Frangoulis sings Manos Hadjidakis - Asteri tou Voria - Aστέρι του Βοριά - North Star

In his latest album and tribute to Manos Hadjidakis, Epohi tis Agapis or Season of Love, our tremendously talented Global Greek performer, Mario Frangoulis, sings one of the composer's most beautiful pieces.  

Asteri tou Voria, lyrics by Nikos Gatsos shown below, was composed for Elia Kazan's acclaimed film about the massacre and expulsion of the Greeks and Armenians from Asia Minor "America, America" released in 1963.

Τ' αστέρι του βοριά
θα φέρει ξαστεριά
μα σαν φανεί
μεσ' απ' το πέλαγο πανί
θα γίνω κύμα και φωτιά
να σ' αγκαλιάσω ξενητιά

Και 'συ χαμένη μου
πατρίδα μακρυνή
θα μείνεις χάδι και πληγή
σαν ξημερώσει σ' άλλη γή

Τώρα πετώ
για της ζωής το πανηγύρι
τώρα πετώ
για της χαράς μου την γιορτή

Φεγγάρια μου παλιά
καινούργια μου πουλιά
διώχτε τον ήλιο
και τη μέρα απ' το βουνό
για να με δείτε να περνώ
σαν αστραπή στον ουρανό Δίς

Διώχτε τον ήλιο
και τη μέρα απ' το βουνό
για να με δείτε να περνώ
σαν αστραπή στον ουρανό...

There are several versions on YouTube...we are including two more which we think are beautiful - you can choose the one you prefer!

With Manolis Mitsias and composer Dimitri Papadimitriou

 

With Elena Moudiri-Hasiotou and Katerina Sissini 

Two students from the Aristotelian University Theatre School on a school excursion to the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus sing the song a cappella... a lovely goosebump producing version in a sacred setting where the acoustics are superb!

Which one do you prefer?