Ohi Day is commemorated on October 28 every year in Greece and by Greeks around the world. On this day, in 1940, Ioannis Metaxas denied Mussolini’s request to allow Italian troops to cross into Greece.
Greece’s entry into World War II with the start of the Greco-Italian War is honoured as an act of bravery and heroism. Here at GME, we will celebrate the Ohi Day by drawing on two pools of songs: the superb 1973 ‘Albania’ album performed by Marinella and the partisan songs that were sang by the fighters of national resistance recorded by vocalists such as Maria Dimitriadi, Petros Pandis and Vassilis Papakonstantinou.
The former album was written by Pythagoras and composed by Giorgos Katsaros, while the latter songs were usually old traditional songs or international revolutionary songs adapted in Greek. Greek music, in this case, acts as a tribute to the anti-fascist struggle of the peoples and as a reminder of the need to oppose fascism in of all its forms today.
Produced and presented by Hercules Economou