Today in 1883 the Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis was born in Iraklion, Crete. Best known for international best-sellers like Zorba the Greek, Report to Greco and the Last Temptation of Christ, which was adapted by Martin Scorsese into a film by the same name. Zorba was also turned into a film, starring Anthony Quinn.
Photo: front entrance of the United Methodist Church on the corner of Park and 60th Street in Manhattan. (photo by Anthoula Katsimatides)
1 comment
Bravo for the get-together in Smyrna of the remebetes! My grandfather, John Pappamarkou, was a santouri rembetiko player in Detroit MI and throughout the Midwest for many years. We don’t know where he came from in Greece. My daughter, the poet Eleni Sikelianos, has written a book about my mother Helene Pappamarkou, entitled You Animal Machine ~ the Golden Greek. My mother began dancing in Greektown Detroit in 1925, passing the tamborine for Pappamarkou. She later became a burlesque dancer, as there were few jobs for Greek folk-dancers during the Depression and after! Eleni Sikelianos did some research on the history of rembetiko ~~ a music that brings people to tears and mesmerizes when they first hear it. BRAVO! for bringing back this music. Perhaps your organization would like to sponsor a reading from You Animal Machine in Astoria…Best Regards and a Big Thank You ~~ elayne sikelianos Detroit MI