Petros Pandis sings To tragoudi tou Ari, a Greek song which translates to “Aris’ song”, composed by Notis Mavroudis. The song was included in an album released in 1974, called “The songs of the Greek Resistance”.
The Greek Resistance is the blanket term for a number of armed and unarmed groups from across the political spectrum that resisted the Axis Occupation of Greece in the period 1941-1944, during World War II. Resistance in the cities was organized quickly, but groups were small and fragmented. The cities, and the working-class suburbs of Athens in particular, witnessed appalling suffering in the winter of 1941-42, when food confiscations and disrupted communications caused widespread famine and perhaps hundreds of thousands of deaths.
To Tragoudi tou Ari, refers to a man, Aris Velouhiotis, one of the predominant figures of the Greek Resistance. He was the prominent leader and chief instigator of the Greek People’s Liberation Army (ELAS), the military branch of the National Liberation Front (EAM), which was the major resistance organization inoccupied Greece from 1942 to 1945.
Aris Velouchiotis was appointed military leader of ELAS by the EAM leadership, being at the same time a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece.
The song “To tragoudi tou Ari” is dedicated to Aris and his fights against the Italian and the German army.
Congratulations cousin! I am Carlos Pandis, grandson of Miltiadis Pandis, living in Tucson, Arizona, USA