The great concert of “All We Can Together”, dedicated to the iconic Stelios Kazantzidis, is preparing to unite the past with the present through the power of music and memory.

On September 4 in Kallimarmaro, the actor and director Theodoris Atheridishe will be on stage as a narrator and link of this special night.

He speaks exclusively to skai.gr with emotion about his responsibility and his pleasure to participate in such a tribute. “I could not miss an event that unites generations and stories”, He stresses, explaining that such an important form as Kazantzidis is the lighthouse that links tradition to modern society.

With the maturity he carries after a course full of artistic pursuits, but also from personal experiences that he has learned to live with joy, Thodoris Atheridis is preparing to give his own tone of humanity, in an institution that he himself says. “It does not only offer material support, but mainly hope for a people who know how to unite.”

Interview with Marina Charalambous

What does it mean to you personally to present the great concert of “We All Together” which is dedicated to such an iconic artist as Stelios Kazantzidis?

I could not help but participate in an event that unites yesterday with today. Apart from the gift of nature, his voice, his success has to do with his repertoire, his character, his personality, and many more that when you see them traveling in time, it is a debt to stay on this phenomenon. You do not actually relieve the people who loved him, but educators who come and did not know him. Those who will hear him and discern the truth he carries in time. Such a form like Stelios Kazantzidis is measured in our country. Manos, Mikis, Grigoris Bithikotsis, Stelios, are some lighthouses that link tradition, history, ideology, system, human relationships. Such a tribute is made for people who have not met him but also for those who grew up with him.

The world that comes will surely have a good time and support something as important as the institution of “we can all together”. ‘An institution that has proven since it started how it produces results. No, only practical but also materials. But most of all the union of a people who have the reflexes to divide. “We can all together” every time he does something is a hope for our people!

Do you think Stelios Kazantzidis’ songs still touch younger generations in the same way?

The conditions are the ones who are vigilant people. That is, I know that Kazantzidis was not heard here, heard him with Brain Drain. When they came out after the crisis in 2010, all these scientists, who may have had no music relationships but decided to live and make a career abroad, accepted the feelings of uproar and discovered Kazantzidis on their own. He interpreted songs by the uprooted people who left their parents. This is how the younger ones then found him again.

What was your first memory or contact with Stelios Kazantzidis’ work?

In pre-adolescence. I remember from a cassette player to hear the “wild flower” and I was thinking how this voice was making all this feeling.

If you had to choose a single song by Kazantzidis that touches you the most, what would it be and why?

“I have”, because he fitted so much to his personality.

What is it like to be on stage as a narrator next to so many important artists who will perform his songs?

All artists respect Stelios Kazantzidis so much. Everyone comes without thinking about it a second time. I am not a singer but I will try to connect some things about Stelios’ story. I feel like a coordinator and narrator of this beautiful night that I will have these great artists next to me.

In the past you had spoken openly about the stroke you got before your show started. How was the next day? You have changed something in your habits. Did you review some things?

Yes! I realized that because everything was played in a second, I was just too lucky that this second didn’t leave me a jacket or dead. Really, I decided to never go back again. I realized that the meaning of life is the joy of the present. Neither the plans of the future, nor the fears of the upcoming. We have to deal with things as they happen with joy and fun.

But it is not easy to describe.

I try it. I am in this direction. But I feel like growing up what has changed is how I do not feel the need to prove anything to anyone.

Do you feel that in recent years you have changed as a human being and as an artist?

From my fifty and then this change began. For a decade now. It came effortlessly. Suddenly you find that you do not feel the need to be held accountable because you like it or why you do it. You do it because you want, you like it because you like it. In the past I had to make answers to “Why are you doing this”, “Why do you like it?” And I had to have a manual to answer. Now I’m just answering: “Why so”. This is the best answer.

If you could give a advice to little Thodoris, what would it be?

I don’t think I gave any advice I didn’t hear then. But the question is what it means “HEAR”. Do you think that if I now tell you something you will understand exactly as I mean it? No! Because we hear everything through a filter of our own, a filter we have already made. The most right tips are the ones we give ourselves. When I was little, by nature, I always struggled with stress. I had generalized anxiety disorder. I struggled, until I realized that I was constructed like that. There were times I had, though my image outwardly never showed a man who was tormented and suffering, I was always the soul of the company. But from within me he ate me. I had a lot of stress and flirting with panic attacks.

Have you ever had panic attacks?

Sure. At the age of 15 they started. I had enough, but I encountered it, you know the body is sometimes desensitized. You learn how what you get kills you, you learn to deal with it.

What are you preparing in the winter?

We will do the play ‘I see you’ In little Pallas directed Vicky Voliotis. I will also do a series on ERT, “The Last Island” And I’m writing my first novel!