Greek composer Stamatis Kraounakis said he spoke by phone with singer Giorgos Mazonakis for about an hour on the night before Mazonakis died, describing him in a lengthy Facebook tribute as a clean, genuine performer from the laiko tradition.
Mazonakis, 54, died on Wednesday, 9 September, of cardiac arrest at a clinic in the Athens district of Kolonaki. Kraounakis, one of Greece's best known composers, posted the tribute on Thursday to share his grief and recall decades of friendship and collaboration with the singer.
The last phone call
Kraounakis wrote that Mazonakis called him two nights before his death from a number he had not saved, so he simply asked who was calling, and Mazonakis identified himself as Mazo. He said they talked for about an hour, laughing the way children do when they are plotting some new mischief.
According to the post, Mazonakis asked Kraounakis to join him at the Technopolis venue in Athens, referencing their song Ksimeronei Pali, or It Dawns Again. Kraounakis said he told him he no longer went out and could not manage anything else, but that he would let him know if he felt like coming to see him.
How Ksimeronei Pali came together
Kraounakis recalled their work on Ksimeronei Pali, written for director Nikos Panagiotopoulos's crime film Kourastika na Skotono tous Agapitikous sou, meaning I Got Tired of Killing Your Lovers. He said Mazonakis came to mind as the right performer for the soundtrack, which also included the song Kamikazi, and that Kourastika remained one of his personal favourites. He said he still felt orphaned without Panagiotopoulos.
He remembered reading Panagiotopoulos the script, which featured an actress played by Theofania as a background performer at a bouzoukia club. When Panagiotopoulos asked who should play the singer in that scene, Kraounakis suggested Mazonakis, whom the director did not know at the time. After Panagiotopoulos saw footage of him and liked what he saw, and was told the fee, he reportedly said it sounded good and thanked him.
Studio sessions in Cholargos
Kraounakis described their spontaneous working method at a recording studio in the Athens suburb of Cholargos that no longer exists, then run by a young man named Christos Kosmas. He said Mazonakis would record two lines, step outside, come back in for two more, then step out again. Frustrated by the slow pace at one point, Kraounakis said he told Mazonakis to write his name somewhere rude, because he doubted they would finish before Panagiotopoulos came looking for them.
He also recalled Panagiotopoulos's partner, Marianna, dressing Mazonakis in small hats for filming and remarking that he looked like a doll, and described a shoot involving black bags with flowers thrown continuously in front of the camera.
From rejection to hit
Kraounakis said the song struggled at first: the radio station that played Mazonakis's music did not want to play Kraounakis's work, and the station that played his own music did not want Mazonakis. Despite that, he said, the orphaned song went on to become a hit loved by audiences. He said another of their songs, associated with a Gucci dress, also became a success, and together the two made a considerable splash. He said whenever Mazonakis needed him he was available, and it worked the same way in reverse.
A grounded, genuine person
Kraounakis wrote that he admired the way Mazonakis stayed close to his mother, regularly going to eat at her house, and that it made him think to himself that this was someone who had not been spoiled by fame.
He described learning of Mazonakis's death while watching a television appearance by former Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras, when a woman named Natalie called to tell him Mazonakis had died. His first reaction, he said, was disbelief, since the two had spoken only two days earlier. As he kept watching, he said, more calls came in, followed by calls from television channels.
The last recognisable voice
Kraounakis said Mazonakis was, in his view, the last recognisable voice in Greek laiko music, a popular genre blending traditional Greek folk with contemporary urban sound, adding that performers who came after him tend to sound alike. He said Mazonakis was daring in the way he held his microphone upside down and in what he wore, and that he enjoyed creating a stir on stage. He said his death had sealed his legend.
In the post, Kraounakis also referred to a video project called Secret Mad, saying Mazonakis's wife, Kalliopi, had pushed hard for them to make it. He said the boat visible through a doorway in the video was called Agios Nektarios and belonged to the small shipyard owned by Mazonakis's father. He said he planned to post the full soundtrack, among his personal favourites, in the comments of his own post.
Kraounakis said he would appear later that day on the Greek morning television programme hosted by Manos and Giannis to speak about Mazonakis, and apologised for not replying to other messages he had received, saying he had spoken with Mazonakis for an hour two days earlier and could not bear it.
How Mazonakis died
Mazonakis died of cardiac arrest while at the Stem Cell clinic on Karneadou Street in Kolonaki. According to information reported so far, he had attended an initial appointment the previous day and was scheduled to begin treatment on the Wednesday.
During the insertion of an intravenous catheter, Mazonakis reportedly felt intense chest pain before going into cardiac arrest. The clinic contacted Greece's National Centre for Emergency Care, known as EKAB, at 16:21 to report that the singer had suffered a cardiac event.
An EKAB paramedic arrived by motorcycle seven minutes later, at 16:28, and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation immediately. An EKAB ambulance arrived shortly afterward and took Mazonakis to the nearest hospital on emergency duty, Elpis Hospital, where he arrived at 16:45. Resuscitation efforts continued in the emergency department but were unsuccessful, and his death was formally confirmed at 17:40.
Elpis Hospital said in a statement that Mazonakis, born in 1972, arrived by EKAB ambulance at 16:45 without spontaneous breathing or a pulse, and that cardiopulmonary resuscitation was carried out according to protocol without success. The hospital gave the official time of death as 17:40 and said its administration and staff offered their condolences to his family and loved ones.
