Beginning his Aphorisms, Hippocrates underlines how “life is short, and art is long.” Whenever the saying comes true, whenever, that is, that we have the fortune of art surpassing time, what one is left with is an art that lives on with various foster parents, an art that is sometimes less and other times more fortunate in the hands of distant or closer relatives. There can be no doubt that the work of Nikos Gatsos has passed the test of time. Whereas this poet, who was central to Greek literature, Greek song, and theater, managed to be born twice (two different accounts have him being born either in 1911 or 1914), his work is being reborn constantly. Following his wish, his life partner, Agathi Dimitrouka is the guardian-angel of this work.
A lyricist and translator herself who has some objections to being called a poet, she has been extraordinarily diligent in safeguarding his work, and recently she also made sure of the survival and historical study of Nikos Gatsos’s archive, finding it a home at Harvard University. This “move” became the basis for a conversation at int.ert.gr with Dimitrouka and Manolis Mitsias, another great guardian of Gatsos’s work -and rightly so, seeing as how he is the singer with the most original recordings of the poet’s songs. On October 14, the two of them will be at Boston’s historic university to celebrate in concert the installation of Nikos Gatsos’s archive. In the “The Gatsos I Loved” performance, Manolis Mitsias will be joined on stage by actress Karyofyllia Karabeti, who will be interpreting songs and reciting texts by Gatsos.
Read full interview at int.ert.gr
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