On Tuesday, 27 October, the eve of Greece’s Ohi Day national holiday, Voice of Greece and “Sound Portraits” conclude their tribute to Odysseas Elytis, exploring how the Nobel laureate’s experience of the war of 1940 shaped his poetry.
In this final installment, Stavroula Karali, with sound editing by Giorgos Kostopoulos, presents “Heroic and Elegiac Song for the Lost Second Lieutenant of the Albanian Campaign” (Άσμα ηρωικό και πένθιμο για τον χαμένο ανθυπολοχαγό της Αλβανίας), set to music by Notis Mavroudis, alongside selected excerpts from “Axion Esti,” with music by Mikis Theodorakis.
Drawing on Elytis’s experience on the Albanian front, the program follows a poetic journey from youth and the beauty of life to the hardships of war, sacrifice, grief, and human loss.
The unnamed second lieutenant, the grieving mother, the soldiers marching through snow-covered mountains, and the condemnation of those responsible for the devastation form a deeply human narrative that moves from mourning toward hope and freedom.
Through music and song, and Manos Katrakis’s landmark narration of “The March to the Front” from “Axion Esti,” the program reveals poetry’s power to keep memory alive and transform personal experience into an enduring testament.
Presented and presented by Stavroula Karali
Sound editing: Giorgos Kostopoulos
Broadcast: Tuesday 27 October 2026, 22:00 Athens time
