Beloved composer Notis Mavroudis tragic death at 77
According to what has become known, the great musician and guitarist was on vacation at his home in Koukourava, when he fell from a height of 3 meters and hit a stone, resulting in fatal head injuries. As reported by the local media of Magnesia, his wife called the ambulance, which took him to the Volos hospital, where the doctors simply pronounced him dead.
The loss of the great composer was announced by his son Haris in a modest post on Facebook.
A great musician, a unique guitarist...
With an impressive career that lasted more than fifty years, Notis Mavroudis emerged as a special composer, one of the best guitarists that our country produced and had great collaborations and great successes. He also worked as a radio producer collaborating with NRA's "Second Program", "902 Left on FM", "Channel 15", "SKAI 100.3", "Athens 9.84", but in NRA's "Third Program".
He was also the editor and director of the guitar magazine "TaR" from 1982 to 1986, while he had a rich article writing, as he collaborated with the newspapers "Ta Nea", "24 hours", "Rizospastis", "Eleftherotypia", "First", "Tree", "Letters and Arts", "Anti", "Commentator", "Ethnos", and "Gossip of Chalandrio".
Notis Mavroudis was born in Athens on July 16th, 1945 and spent the first 2 years of his life in prison next to his mother, who was a political prisoner. He enlisted with the Left since his youth, while in 2009 he was a candidate in the European elections with the Environmental Greens. In 2010 he was a member of the founding group of the Democratic Left and was elected a member of the Panhellenic Political Committee.
His love for the guitar began in 1958, when he took his first lessons at the National Conservatory, from where he received his diploma in 1969. The following year he left for Italy where he lived and taught guitar until 1975 and returned in in the capital. In Athens he taught classical guitar at the National Conservatory and had a unique career with more than 25 personal records, works for the classical guitar, but also songs he composed for great performers, such as Thanasis Gaifillias, Giorgos Zografos, Arleta, Popi Asteriadis, Eleni Vitali, Giorgos Moufluzeli, Yiannis Samsiaris, Nena Venetsanou, Petros Pandi, Costas Thomaidis, Stamatis Kraunakis, Tania Tsanaklidou, Manoli Mitsias, Haris Alexiou, Giorgos Dalara, Glykeria, Panteli Thalassino, Elli Paspala, Anastasia Moutsatsou, and others.
Notis Mavroudis had collaborated with great poets such as Odysseas Elytis, Yiannis Kakoulidis, Ilias Petropoulos, Akos Daskalopoulos, Manos Hadjidaki.
As a professor at the National Conservatory of Athens, he had several popular artists as students, such as Manolis Androulidakis, Sokratis Malamas, Panagiotis Margaris, Giorgos Melas, Lambros Dousikos, Dimitris Sotiropoulos, etc.
Moments from his long career...
In 1965 he was awarded the A prize at the Thessaloniki Song Festival, in 1969 with the A prize at the international guitar competition in Milan, while in 1990 he was awarded his own song at the international children's song competition in Lisbon. In the same year, the Embassy of Brazil in Greece awarded him the "Heitor Villa-Lobbos" award for his contribution to the dissemination of the work of the Brazilian composer in Greece. From 1983 to 1987 he published and edited the only guitar magazine, Tar, and organized important concerts of world popular guitarists. His rich discography (25 personal records) includes works for classical guitar and his compositions with popular singers. From 2000 he started (with his partner, Panagiotis Margaris) the recording series in the form of a guitar duo "Café de l'art", arranging and recording various musical genres and eras, reaching six records. In 2005 and 2006 he was awarded the "Arion" award for the albums Cafe de l'art - Cinema and Cafe de l'art - Tsitsanis - Vamvakaris. From 2002 to 2006 he founded and was the artistic director of the record label "Corifeo" of the company "Eros music" which was distinguished for its excellent alternative releases in diverse musical avenues.
In February 2008, his first book of texts on music and culture was published, entitled "Echologimata" (published by Nefeli). From October 2006, under his direction, the TaR magazine was reactivated in an online format, on the website http://www.tar.gr, as well as the TaR radio which is located at: http://www.tar -radio.com. Notis Mavroudis entered the discography in 1964 with the songs "'Akri den hei o valas" and "Ta yortina sou forese", with lyrics by Yiannis Kakoulidis and performed by Giorgos Zografos. In 1966 he wrote music for theater and cinema. In 1968 he set to music the work of Odysseus Elytis "'Heroic and mourning song for the lost Lieutenant of Albania'" and in 1976 he released the album "Paintings by Theofilos" with lyrics by Akos Daskalopoulos, inspired by the paintings of Theophilos. In 1977, he set poems by Manos Hadjidakis to music on the album "Child of the Earth" and in 1985 he released the album "Eros anikate mahan" with poetry by Ilias Petropoulos. From 1990 he wrote songs for the Children's Choir and collaborated with the Dimitris Typaldou Children's Choir.
"If something characterized our father Notis Mavroudis as a person, it was his kindness, his morals and his modesty," his son, Haris Mavroudis, stated on social media.
The last thoughts of Notis Mavroudis...
The sudden and unjust death of Noti Mavroudis darkened the coming of 2023. His presence graced the artistic firmament for over 50 years, he was happy to create a beautiful and close-knit family, those who knew him closely admired his sweet and gentle look, with but also to always remain concerned about what is happening around him and to share his concerns in lively discussions, but also articles in which he often expressed his thoughts on issues of current affairs and everyday life.
His last such text, which he wrote at the dawn of the new year, with assessments for 2022 and searches - goals for 2023, is the one that follows from his personal Facebook page and blog viewtag.gr, where he systematically wrote about the latest years:
"And the question arises: can we open a new page with the beginning of 2023 by erasing those of ’22? These are issues that happened and determined the way of thinking of our society! We cannot ignore them by considering the unborn…
It would be unnecessary to list now the events of the last two years, which troubled the common life and conscience or the dangers which threaten any bliss, as well as many others with the initial "eu" (happiness, well-being, wealth, etc.), elements that we believed we had conquered and we were moving forward with these data.
But it has been proven, once again, that there are no facts in life; these are easily overturned when people do not protect themselves, their children and their grandchildren, through actions that strengthen consciousness and participation in social becoming. In other words, to become solidarity and fellow travelers, to join in the... wave of education, knowledge, freedom and collective bodies.
Individual and collective Freedom, however, have rules and obligations. It is not just a philological phrase; on the other hand, to approach it requires struggles and claims. History has countless pages of hard and bloody struggles, for the difficult course of humanity in their search...
They did not fight for a phrase, but for its essence, which is the space, time, spirit and culture of creative participation.
I got carried away and I want to pick them up a bit, to emphasize that the New Year, to be "better", as we all wish, should not "carry" the concentrated load that has gathered in the passage next year.
So in 2022, not that of the 20th century but of the 21st, so many unpleasant things happened to us that we did not expect...
The deadly epidemic, the invasion of Ukraine with Putin's inhumane and dirty bombings, European agitation for energy autonomy, product precision, various challenges and threats of invasion from "overnight" neighbors, continuous refugee flows, climate upheavals, wildfire disasters forests, killer snowfalls and devastating floods, intense domestic violence, unexpected pedophiles, rapists of all kinds with involvement of artists beyond "all suspicion", femicides, death impositions by religious sects and incredible violence against women, creation of children's gangs, violation of individual rights, economic corruption and entanglement, even in the European Parliament...
Who would think that our past contained... lawlessness? How can we get rid of these god-dark catacombs in which we also indirectly "dwell" without our will, weighing down our consciences?
I need not elaborate; we are in a grid whose existence gives birth to our age. But, unfortunately, a large part of the citizens consider that spiritual food is not so necessary...which, however, could sound a warning bell of danger. And the future? The education? Education; The cultivation? Altruism? The need for collectivity? Spirituality? Humanism? The future of our children? Their children? Their way? Their path? Their protection?
We struggle daily with the forward-backward or future-past compass…
So many questions, so many worries about what the future holds...
Mmmmmmm; will 2023 be able to withstand the weight of such a traumatized reality that has overwhelmed most of our society?
However, I feel it necessary to wish everyone a better New Year."
- Notis Mavroudis,
Guitarist, composer, columnist
*On Saturday, January 7th, 2023, the civil funeral of the composer will be held. It will take place at the northern Athenian suburb of Halandri cemetery at 10:30 in the morning, followed by cremation at the Ritsona crematorium at 13:00.
Instead of wreaths, the family wishes to raise money to buy musical instruments for the Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Municipality of Halandri.
