Greek singer Ilias Vrettos paid tribute to fellow performer Giorgos Mazonakis in an Instagram post, revealing a private story from roughly a year and a half earlier that he said had come back to him vividly in the days before.
Vrettos wrote that he had suddenly remembered a night that stretched into dawn at Mazonakis's home, about a year and a half ago. The two had been sitting at the kitchen table talking about work, he said, because they were considering collaborating at the time.
He recalled having a guitar in his hands and asking Mazonakis if he knew which of his songs was Vrettos's favourite. When Mazonakis asked which one, Vrettos told him it was "Opos Tha Feygeis" ("As You Will Leave"), a track he said he loved more than any other even though it had never become one of Mazonakis's best-known hits. Mazonakis then asked him to sing it himself.
Vrettos said he remembered Mazonakis watching him cross-legged in his chair, cigarette in hand, with a look of surprise on his face as he sang. By the second verse, Mazonakis could not hold back and began singing along too, at first in a rough, husky voice that, by the chorus, had filled the room with the harmonics of his singing.
Vrettos said he, spellbound, quietly added a second voice underneath him, and that it may have been the most beautiful duet of his life. When the song ended, Mazonakis told him he had sung it excellently. Feeling awkward, Vrettos said he replied that no version could follow Mazonakis's own interpretation, and that the song had been written into his heart in Mazonakis's voice. Mazonakis answered that he meant it sincerely, that Vrettos had sung it perfectly.
A song heard differently now
Vrettos said that since the days before writing the post, he had been listening to the song constantly, and had never imagined its lyrics could cut into his heart so painfully now. He said it felt as though he were singing it to Mazonakis again, only this time dedicating it to him, pointing to the song's opening line about someone "lost in the light." That night's performance, he added, was unfortunately never captured on video.
Who is Giorgos Mazonakis
Giorgos Mazonakis is a Greek singer with a long career in laiko and popular Greek music, known for a distinctive vocal style and a large catalogue of hits performed across Greek clubs and stages. Ilias Vrettos is himself an established Greek singer.
Vrettos closed his post by saying everyone says goodbye to someone in their own way, and that this was his. He wrote that he hoped Mazonakis, wherever he now was, cigarette in hand, could hear him and feel the same joy he had that night, but that above all he wished for his "tormented soul" to find peace. He said he and others would always love and always sing Mazonakis's songs, calling him a giant of Greek music before saying goodbye.
