Greek composer Foivos has revealed the true story behind "San Imouna Paidi" ("When I Was a Child"), the 2003 song he wrote for Giorgos Mazonakis, after the singer's death brought renewed attention to the track. Foivos wrote both the music and lyrics for the hasapiko, a traditional Greek dance rhythm, which appeared on the album "Savvato" ("Saturday").
The composer first explained the song's origins in a video he posted to his personal TikTok account last October. He said the inspiration came from a real ordeal that a close friend of his went through with drugs.
A friendship interrupted by work
Foivos said he had a very dear friend, two or three years younger than himself, whom he remains close to today. He said he did not want to give more details because he did not want to expose the friend or reveal anything too personal about him. The two had been inseparable, spending every day together for years, until professional obligations eventually pulled them apart, according to Foivos.
A mother's phone call
Foivos said he later learned from his friend's mother that the young man had become involved with drugs. He recalled the moment she called him for help. According to Foivos, she told him she had taken a urine sample from the toilet bowl her son had forgotten to flush and discovered from it that he had gotten involved with drugs, and she begged Foivos to do something and help her. Foivos said his friend had fallen in with a troubling individual, whom he also knew personally, and that this person had introduced his friend to drugs.
Turning pain into a song
Foivos said his friend's story ultimately had a positive ending, which he noted is not common in similar cases. He said the experience pushed him to write a hasapiko, "San Imouna Paidi," which Mazonakis went on to perform on the "Savvato" album the two of them made together at the time.
The song's message
Foivos said the hasapiko, for anyone who had not realized it, is about drugs and addiction, and about how easily a young person can be led astray for countless reasons.
Mazonakis's death and the ongoing case
Giorgos Mazonakis died on Wednesday, September 9, at the age of 54, after suffering cardiac arrest while at the private Stem Cell clinic in the Kolonaki district of Athens. He was subsequently transferred to Elpis Hospital, where his death was confirmed.
On Monday, September 14, doctors Ilias Theodoropoulos and Ioanna Gaka were due to give testimony after being charged with fatal exposure in connection with the singer's death.
