Giorgos Dalaras sings Ah helidoni mou, a legendary Greek song which translates to Ah, my swallow in English.
Ah helidoni mou is a song written by Lefteris Papadopoulos and composed by Manos Loizos. It is a song about freedom. It was written and created during tormented times in Greece, the Greek junta.
The swallow has always been a symbol of freedom and free exchange of ideas. Here, the sky is blackened and the swallow cannot fly any more.
The lyrics are purely allegoric, talking about what has happening in Greece at these times. The military regime with its coup d’etat had managed to shut all mouths, prevent people from talking freely and obliging them to believe in a regime that was actually forced and not supported by the majority of the Greeks.
“Ah my dear little heart, imprisoned,
the sun you are awaiting does not come”… writes the poet about the Greek people that were expecting the sun of freedom to shine again.
The first known performance of “Ah helidoni mou” is by Giorgos Dalaras and is the one we can hear in the included videoclip. However, the first recording took place for the movie “Idiotiki zoi” (Private life) by Omiros Efstratiadis, with the voice of Litsa Sakelariou.
The first official recording of “Ah Helidoni mou” with Giorgos Dalaras was in 1970, just a few months later.