Archive for June 2009
Music of the Greco-Italian War (1940-41)
On October 28, 1940, Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy, made an offer he thought could not be refused to the Prime Minister of Greece, Ioannis Metaxas. Italian troops were to enter Greece and occupy the country. Metaxas’s answer? A resounding NO. In the battle that ensued, Greece not only defended its border, but pushed the Italian troops up into Albania.
In an October 29, 1940 article, Basil J. Vlavianos, now editor of the National Herald, quoted Constantine Cavafy, “Honor to those who in the life they lead define and guard a Thermopylae” in praise of the actions of both the government and people of Greece.
In Greece, songs of victory were heard throughout the streets. And artists like Sofia Vembo and Nikos Gounaris couldn’t help but mock Mussolini’s humiliating defeat in songs like “Mussolini the Fool,” “Il Duce Puts on His Uniform,” and “Tsk, Tsk, What Did Mussolini Suffer?”
