Alexander Poulakis
George Tzamouranis
Wed, 21/09/2022 - 09:06
It's only natural and fitting that a Nation of Anarchists (Greece) should salute a Nation of Rebels (Ireland) with a great tune for a great poem. The tune is by Theodorakis, a former guerrilla fighter against the Germans in occupied Crete in the early 1940s. He composed the tune in 1961 when he set the poems of Brendan Behan (in their Greek translation) to music. As for Brendan Behan, the former borstal boy, IRA volunteer, and "drinker with a writing problem", his poem speaks for itself.
THE LAUGHING BOY by Brendan Behan
T'was on an August morning, all in the dawning hours,
I went to take the warming air, all in the Mouth of Flowers*,
And there I saw a maiden, and mournful was her cry,
"Ah, what will mend my broken heart, I've lost my Laughing Boy.
So strong, so wild, so brave he was, I'll mourn his loss too sore,
When thinking that I'll hear his laugh or springing step no more.
Ah, curse the day, and sad the loss, my heart to crucify,
That an Irish son, with a rebel gun, shot down my Laughing Boy.
Oh, had he died by Pearse's side, or in the GPO*,
Killed by an English bullet from the rifle of the foe,
Or forcibly fed while Ashe lay dead in the dungeons of Mountjoy,*
I'd have cried with pride at the way he died, my own dear Laughing Boy.
My princely love, can ageless love do more than tell to you
Go raibh mile maith agat, for all you tried to do*,
For all you did, and would have done, my enemies to destroy,
I'll praise your name and guard your fame forever, my Laughing Boy."
* "The Rivermouth of the Flowers" is the exact meaning of the placename "Beal na mBlath", (pronounced “Bell Nam Lah”), the place where Michael Collins was ambushed and shot dead by one of his own disciples.
* Padraig Pearse was one of the leaders of the Irish Uprising of Easter Week 1916.
* The General Post Office in Dublin was one of the buildings occupied by the Volunteers on Easter Week 1916.
* Thomas Ashe was the President of Sinn Fein. He died on hunger-strike in 1917 while in prison.
* "Go raibh maith agat" (pronounced "Grow Maggot") means "Thank You" in Irish. "Mile" (pronounced "mee-la") means "a thousand times".
The Greek translation of this poem, set to the catchy tune by Theodorakis, became the most successful popular song of all time in postwar Greece. The song was always associated with martyrdom of heroes. In the 1950s and 1960s Greece had begun to resemble some sort of Latin American tin-pot dictatorship, and executions and assassinations of prominent left-wing politicians were a frequent occurrence, usually carried out by the armed forces or by shadowy paramilitary groups closely linked to the armed forces.
In its first recording, the song was associated in the popular imagination with the executed communist martyr Nikos Beloyannis, "The Man with The Carnation".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikos_Beloyannis
(Executed by firing squad in 1952, his biographical sketch on Wikipedia is well worth a read).
By the time the singer Maria Farandouri had revived the song with her own, more upbeat, recording, "The Laughing Boy" was associated in everybody's mind with the great pacifist hero Grigoris Lambrakis, who was attacked and fatally injured on the street in broad daylight in 1963.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigoris_Lambrakis
After the massacre of students at the Polytechnic of Athens on the 17 November 1973, the song became their anthem as well. On the video with Maria Farandouri performing the song, the articles of clothing waved by members of the audience are the bloodstained articles of clothing from the victims of that massacre.
No other poem or song has ever struck such a resonant chord in a land where POPULAR CULTURE really means INTENSELY EMOTIONAL POLITICAL CULTURE.
As for Theodorakis, who sadly died last year at the age of ninety-six, he had been very active politically, especially with the Communist Party of Greece of which he had been been a lifelong member. He had been at the forefront of street protests calling for Greece to abandon the euro-currency and to default completely on its crippling debt, and to exit the EU if necessary.
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It's true that the original poem by Brendan Behan doesn't mention the word "fascists". The Greek translation by Vassilis Rotas is accurate and faithful to the original, but omits all mention of placenames and persons' names. The song can therefore be applied to any kind of martyr.
Farandouri's performance begins with a verse from a different poem by Brendan Behan:
ON THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF NOVEMBER
Just outside the town of Macroom
The Tans in their big Crossley tenders
Came roaring along to their doom.
But the boys of the column were waiting
With hand grenades primed on the spot,
And the Irish Republican Army
Made shit of the whole mucking lot.
[ "Tans" refers to "Black and Tans", the Royal Irish Constabulary Reservists. This paramilitary force was created by Winston Churchill in 1919. Recruited from all over the British Isles, they became notorious for atrocities against Irish civilians. ]
Farandouri begins by singing, in Greek, "It was the 17th November, just outside Macroon, the forces arrived in armoured cars, our lads were waiting, of The Army of The People ("Stratoo la-ee-koo") and, with handgrenades, made mincemeal of them."
When the musicians get into the swing of things, she then begins to sing "The Laughing Boy" by Brendan Behan, in a Greek version adapted to the Massacre of the 17 November, 1973, of students at the Polytechnic of Athens.
His music echoed a simple yet familiar message; the people of Greece will never submit to tyranny or oppression. His music unified many, it gave birth to a revolution and brought an unjust dictatorship to its knees.
This version of ‘The Laughing Boy’ is from a historic concert led by Mikis Theodorakis in 1974. It marked the fall of Greeces’ Military Junta and the restoration of democracy.
In this version Maria Farantouri aligned her lyrics with the disgraceful events that took place on November 17 1973, where the military junta stormed the Athenian Polytechnic resulting in 24 civilian deaths. Instead of saying the laughing boy was killed by “our own”, the Polytechnic version referred to the killers as “fascists”.
Surprisingly for many Mikis' inspiration for this song was drawn from the work of Irish Poet Brendan Behan in ‘The Hostage'. The original version of ‘The Laughing Boy' was in honour of Michael Collins, a hero of Irelands’ war of independence who was assassinated by former comrades at age 31.
Mikis viewed the Irish people's struggle for freedom to be closely aligned with his own.
Therefore in 1961 he decided to compose 'The Laughing Boy' into music and had the lyrics translated into Greek by Vasilis Rotas.
In Greece this song is associated with various infamous political incidents. However this version specifically refers to the storming of the Athenian Polytechnic, & subsequent civilian casualties caused by the Greek Military.
Until today Greek citizens draw strength from this song in their fight against oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behaviour and political views.
It is a tale of betrayal by our own, and a lesson that should never be forgotten.
Το μήνυμα σου είναι άφθαρτο και το πνεύμα σου αθάνατο
Rest in Peace