Dimitra Galani sings hasapiko 40, a Greek song which translates to Hasapiko Dance, number 40. Hasapiko 40 is also known as “Ilie mou vasilia mou” (My sun, my king) from the first verse of the lyrics of the song.
Hasapiko 40 is a song composed by Manos Hadjidakis, and has a rather interesting story.
First of all, the title of the song is rather unusual, because rarely do we see any song with a number in its title. However, Chasapiko 40 is based on the Molto allegro of Symphony 40 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The opening of the song is taken from Mozart’s composition and is brilliantly blended with the Greek hasapiko sound and rythme.
What is interesting is that Hadjidakis was accused back then , in 1971, for stealing Mozart’s music. However, the “music loan” is evident both in the title of the song and the words of Hadjidakis himself, who said that his goal was to show that when a composer understands music in depth, he can blend totally different sounds and create a still lovely result; in this case, the Western classic sound is mixed with the more Greek and oriental sound of hasapiko.
The lyrics of the song Hasapiko 40 or Ilie mou vasilia mou are written by Nikos Gatsos and refer to a broken heart; it is quite common for the Greeks to refer to the sun when talking about heart’s issues.
Hasapiko 40 was originally performed by Dimitra Galani and later on by Haris Alexiou, Giorgos Dalaras, Vassilis Lekkas and many more.