On the occasion of the day of birth of the great musician Mano Loizo in the 22nd of October 1937, I am writing this short article, on his life and work.
Manos Loizos was a musician, composer, singer and lyricist.  He is from Larnaka, Cyprus.  He was born in Alexandria , Egypt, and lived there until he had to move to Athens in 1955 to pursue his pharmaceutical studies. However, he soon quit university, realising he wanted to dedicate his life to music, having to work as a waiter, graphic designer and as a musician in boats. During this period of his life, specifically in 1962 he managed to release his first music album called To Tragoudi Tou Dromou, which means "The Song Of The Street". After this his music career took off.
When the ‘Houda’ (military dictatorship) came, he and his wife Maro Limnou decided to move to England, only to return to Athens a year later. Loizo played an important role in the fight against the dictatorial powers. Then in 1972, he took part in the creation of EMSE(in which he also became president), a Greek organisation which was against piracy and tried to counter the Houdas' policy on censorship. He died of a heart-attack in Moscow, on the 17th of September 1982.
Manos Loizos’ lyrics were mainly romantic and revolutionary. As for his beliefs, he was a Marxist and this is greatly reflected in a lot of his work. He was also an active member of the biggest Greek communist party, KKE. Having lived through the dictatorship, his work has been generally focused on human rights. His most recognisable song seems to be To Akordeon, written by the poet John Negrepodis. It speaks about an accordion player, who was killed by the dictatorship's army. Personally, my favourite song is O Mermigas which means "the ant". It talks about the destructive consequences of society blindly leaving its future in the hands of individuals. Consequences which unfortunately, but predictably, the Greek society is now facing.
As for his music, Manos Loizos seems to have kept on the musical inheritance of the music legends Miki Theodoraki and Mano Xatzidaki. His songs are mainly ‘edexna’ (meaning poems made into songs) and ‘elafrolaika’ (a mild type of Greek folk music). He worked with a lot of big artists such as Maria Faradouri, Stelio Kazatzidi, and Xaris Alexiou. Worth noticing is the fact that the Greek music society, in honor to the 70 years since he was born and the 25 years since his death characterized the year 2007 as the year "Manos Loizos".