The program “Like Odysseus” features the book “Τα χαΐρια μας εδώ” (Our Lot Here) by Giorgis Papazoglou, published by Koukida Editions.
Joining the discussion are Alexandros Asonitis, author, and Dimitris Dimopoulos, publisher.
We also hear briefly from Giorgis Papazoglou, now 97 years old — son of the great rebetis and composer Vangelis Papazoglou and the rebetissa Angeliki Papazoglou.
The story is narrated by Angeliki herself to her son Giorgis, in the Smyrna dialect — a literary document and oral historiography that begins in Smyrna, passes through the Catastrophe, and unfolds in Greece during the refugee years, the Occupation, and the Civil War.
A vivid, deeply poetic, and unadorned Doric language — alive, rhythmic, and steeped in history — gives life to a story of endurance and sorrow told in minore tones.
“With the minore we sang our pain — enslaved under the Turks… with the minore we never forgot… we wanted to remember… to light within us a lamp — of hope, of warmth,” said the blind Aggela.
“He no longer worked with the record companies — called them hypocrites,” she said of her husband, Vangelis Papazoglou, who threw away his bouzouki during the Occupation, refusing to play in clubs full of collaborators. He became an itinerant junk dealer instead. Many of his songs were later claimed by others, for he scattered them freely.
“I, Aggela Papazoglou, say all this — unlettered as I am. I never read it anywhere, nor did anyone tell me… I lived it, stitch by stitch, like embroidery upon my soul.”