UNESCO honors 'Zorba the Greek' composer Nov 04 2:09 PM US / Associated Press   Musician clarifies Jewish remark 11/13/03 BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/entertainment/music/3266891.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/entertainment/music/3266891.stm   *****************   UNESCO honors 'Zorba the Greek' composer Nov 04 2:09 PM US / Associated Press UNESCO awarded its International Music Prize 2005 to 'Zorba the Greek' composer Mikis Theodorakis for his contributions to understanding between cultures and the advancement of peace. The 80-year-old known to most Greeks simply as Mikis accepted the award in the western city of Aachen saying he could never have been anything else but a musician. He was chosen among 40 nominees for the prize, initiated in 1975. A lifelong activist, Theodorakis enlisted as a 17 year-old in the resistance against the German occupation of Crete. He was later persecuted and jailed by a series of conservative governments, and later fell afoul of Greece's military rulers in the 1960s and 1970s. Perceived as a symbol of resistance to the junta, he was placed under house arrest before an international appeal for his release led to a four-year period of self-exile in Paris. In 1996, he used his fame to defuse tensions between Greece and Turkey, when the neighbors nearly went to war over an uninhabited islet in the Aegean Sea. To further the cause of peace, the composer staged a European tour with celebrated Turkish singer Zulfu Livanelli. Theodorakis' music ranges from opera to choral music and popular songs that won him acclaim both at home and abroad. Past recipients of the UNESCO music prize, which includes a medal and a cash award of 2,500 euros (2,960 dollars), include Dimitri Shostakovich, Leonard Bernstein, Yehudi Menuhin, Herbert von Karajan and Cesaria Evora. After the ceremony in the western German city of Aachen, an orchestra played works from Theodorakis before an audience of 1,300. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- dhtmled0:(http:/mail.hudsonny.org/exchange/rtobin/Drafts/RE:-17.EML/1_multipart/1_text.htmnews_logo.gif \* MERGEFORMATINET 11/13/03   Musician clarifies Jewish remark Composer Mikis Theodorakis has said he was condemning Israel's Government by saying Jews are the root of all evil. The Greek musician said he had always been on the side of the weak, including the Israeli people. Mr Theodorakis, best known for his score for Zorba the Greek, made his original comments last week in front of Greek Government officials. Israeli Justice Minister Tommy Lapid said the remarks were anti-Semitic and resembled those of Hitler. The Greek Government has said it does not endorse or agree with the remarks made by the composer. 'Fanaticism' Mr Theodorakis said Greeks and Jews are two peoples without kin, but they had fanaticism and self-knowledge and managed to prevail. Today, we can say that these little people are the root of evil, he said. His comments caused uproar in Israel and among Jews in Greece, prompting complaints from the Israeli embassy in Athens to the Greek Government. Mr Theodorakis, 78, a committed leftist and political activist, has now said his comments were directed at the Israeli Government, not the Jewish people. I am totally opposed to (Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon's policy and I have stressed this repeatedly, just as I have repeatedly condemned the role of prominent American Jewish politicians, intellectuals and theorists in the shaping of today's aggressive Bush policy, he said in a statement published in Greek newspapers on Thursday. He said he had always been on the side of weak, fighting for their rights, including the Israeli people. I have sung their praises and I have always been in favour of the coexistence between peoples, he said in the statement. He has apparently not apologised for, or withdrawn, the comment. Mr Lapid told Israel Radio the comment was unabashed anti-Semitism, which he said was not acceptable in the world today. He added: He doesn't say that the Israelis are occupiers, he says that the Jews are the root of all evil in the world. These are statements of the type made by [Nazi propaganda minister Joseph] Goebbels and Hitler. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/entertainment/music/3266891.stm Published: 2003/11/13 12:54:14 GMT © BBC MMV