The prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis he was particularly moved as he delivered the funeral service in honor of the great songwriter Dionysis Savvopoulos at noon on Saturday in the Metropolis of Athens.
Mr. Mitsotakis referred to the great musician who “in music succeeded in bringing rock close to the artistic, the elementary and the popular” and at the same time “in the political field the visionary ideas of the left met with the realism of liberal thought”. He also characterized the song “Aggelos hexangelos” that he wrote as prophetic. “Your words achieve something rare, to bridge the sensitive world of art with the pragmatism of politics.”
“Your beloved Aspa, your children and your grandchildren will be proud of your legacy that deserves to lead us and of your huge musical work” concluded the Prime Minister.
The funeral of Kyriakos Mitsotakis
In detail what Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at the funeral of Dionysis Savvopoulos
The feelings of those who traveled with his notes and lyrics will always speak for the man and songwriter we say goodbye to today. Something natural since he sang for each of us from time to time. Personally, I am not only here as a friend and admirer of his, but also out of debt to a great Greek who lived and uniquely described the adventures of the place. Nionios throughout his life kept up with the life of the country, giving joy to the beautiful uphills, but also warning on the big downhills, always having his own point of view on things. Open, but never a prisoner of dogma. As in music he succeeded in bringing rock close to the artistic, the elementary and the popular, so in the political field he met the visionary ideas of the left with the realism of liberal thought.
I will not hide that the words that I would personally single out are the ones that Dionysus matched to the “Proclaiming Angel” perhaps because they were completely prophetic of what we have experienced. They are direct and profound public discourse. They manage something rare, to bridge the sensitive world of art with the pragmatism of politics. And what do these words say? “The news he brought us was all a lie, and listening to him soothed our souls.” However, as it seemed night after night the fans told him to leave numbly. Since the angel had no good news to tell, he had better tell none. A proof that artistic sensibility often becomes much more descriptive and tougher than any political argument. On the one hand, a pioneer in the pentagram and a heretic in his comments. On the other hand, a patriot speaking with the hoarse voice, sometimes of the sweet narrator and sometimes of the critic of every mistake of the state or the citizen.
It wasn’t just Dionysus’s public behavior. I feel that art and politics are united in his person, he who never accepted public positions or offices. It was the message of the unity of the Greeks that ran through his work and action. Always with circular dances and with love, as he said to be the great breath of all of us at the end. All of the above was accompanied by a sense of individual responsibility towards the whole. Something he himself describes in the last words of his autobiographical book.
“People have made me so bitter that I’m thinking of giving it all up. Then I think again that you chose this profession on your own, no one forced you.” A match that was his dream from an early age. Because Savvopoulos will live with the world from now on, belonging to the few who, while entertaining in their own way, define us. This is how he expanded the horizons of sounds and lyrics to finally become the chronographer of Greek song for more than half a century. His legacy is not only a huge part of our Greek history, but also a part of our collective memory.
Our Nionio, I will not say goodbye to you with a simple goodbye, but rather with a big thank you in the name of so many generations that your path marked. From tomorrow you will not exist only through your songs. We will think of you every time a young person picks up a guitar to make their truth music, but also in every situation that calls us to look in our national mirror with our good and our bad. Above all, however, to distinguish the distinct virtues of those Greeks who will lift our souls to give power to our common progress. Let’s get real. After all, this was your goal starting from Thessaloniki. A legacy that deserves to lead us and with which your beloved Aspa, your children and your grandchildren will feel proud with your huge musical work.