Honorary Golden Alexander to legendary Greek composer Stavros Xarchakos

Within the framework of the 67th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, an honorary event was held on Saturday November 7th for the composer, maestro and music arranger Stavros Xarchakos, as a recognition of his overall contribution to cinema and Greek culture. Stavros Xarchakos was unable to attend the event due to an indisposition; however, the audience gave him its warmest applause, and the Festival promised to present him with the honorary Golden Alexander in Athens.

For his part, Stavros Xarchakos sent the following message to the Festival: “I would like to express, from the bottom of my heart, my deep emotion and warmest thanks for the honor you have bestowed upon me tonight. I had been looking forward with great joy to this evening, which I would have had the chance to share with my family, alongside people I admire and love. Unfortunately, unforeseen health reasons did not allow me to be with you and receive the award in person. My absence, however, does not in the least diminish my joy, my gratitude and my emotion. I wish to warmly thank the Festival, Orestis Andreadakis and everyone who contributed to this special honor. This recognition marks a special moment in my journey, one I will hold dear in my heart. I hope we will meet in person soon and share this moment as it deserves. With deep appreciation and gratitude, Stavros Xarchakos.”

The Festival’s Artistic Director Orestis Andreadakis welcomed the audience at the packed Olympion theater, stating: “As soon as we meet up in Athens – and I am more than certain that Stavros Xarchakos will have fully recovered by then – we will hand over the Golden Alexander to him for his overall contribution to cinema and Greek culture.”

Famous Greek actress Themis Bazaka, who also serves as a member of the Festival’s Board of Directors addressed the audience. The film Rembetiko (1983), directed by Costas Ferris and screened as part of the honorary event, had signaled her debut in cinema, earning her the Best Supporting Actress Award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival. Stavros Xarchakos, who composed the film’s score, had also received an award for it at the Festival.

The actress shared a rare and precious memory from her first encounter with Stavros Xarchakos. “I will go on to tell you a little story that really left a lasting impact on me. I was only 22 years old, having just arrived in Athens from Thessaloniki to star in Rembetiko. I was feeling extremely lucky and awfully stressed. I was told that the maestro wanted us to meet, to check out my singing skills. So, I arrive at his place, my legs having turned to jelly, not having a clue as to what is about to happen. The man was a serious artist. He inquisitively looked at me straight into the eyes before sitting at the piano. ‘Let’s find out what you’re capable of,’ he says to me, and plays a tune. He asked me to sing, but my voice just couldn’t come out. ‘So, I guess no singing for you’ he then told me. And thank God, acting worked out better and earned me this award. That song was none other than To Praktorio (The Station). He interpreted it himself in the film in a truly amazing way.”

On his part, Orestis Andreadakis made mention of the long-standing and iconic career of Stavros Xarchakos, as well as to his unique ability to interweave different music idioms, crafting exceptional film scores. “Back in 1962, Stavros Xarchakos wrote the song Ta dakria mou ine kafta (My Tears Are Hot) for the film The Trip by Dinos Dimopoulos. This was his debut film score, at only 23 years old. He has an outstanding six-decade long career under his belt, with songs that have left a mark on us, have moved us deeply, have accompanied our dreams, joys and sorrows.”

“Most of these landmark songs were written for Greek films, but there’s one trait of great interest that distinguishes him from many other film composers: Stavros Xarchakos has managed to incorporate and put to use different music idioms and genres, ranging from jazz and the blues all the way to classical music, always knowing how to give prominence to the moving images, how to make them speak even louder,” added the Festival’s Artistic Director.

As an homage to the renowned composer, who has left an indelible mark both on the Greek art song (éntekhno) and the Greek urban folk song (laïko), the Festival presented a short video dedicated to his work, featuring music excerpts from the films he scored. “It would be impossible to fit the entire career of this legendary musician in 8 minutes, so we just handpicked a series of representative songs from the films he scored,” pointed out Themis Bazaka.

The audience paid respect to Stavros Xarchakos through a warm and extended applause. The event concluded with the screening of the benchmark film of Greek cinema Rembetiko (1983) directed by Costas Ferris. The great composer had crafted new songs for the purposes of the film, rendering them in a way that evokes the feeling of the genuine old rembetiko songs.