Mario's Book Presentation in Athens

Trishdownunder · Joined: Jan 11, 2006 Posts: 162

From Mario's Yahoo fan site :

(thanks to Irene)

Last Thursday there was the presentation of the book "Mario and I"
at the posh Grande Bretagne hotel. The hall was packed with mostly
women, because the presentation was not organized by the publisher,
but by Anghela Franzeskaki, the president of Athenian Women's
association, a Mario fan herself - a very brave woman, extremely
active in all sorts of philanthropic activities, and at the same
time fighting for her life.

She started by reading out a lengthy CV of Mario, assuming that some
of those present didn't know all the fine details. That part could
have been shorted, as most if not all of us had already read the
book, but oh well...

On the panel there was Mario, of course, and the two ladies
responsible for the book, Rosita Sokou who wrote the texts and took
part in the taped conversations and Irene Maradei (her daughter) who
copied, edited, formatted and generally constructed the book.
There were some very moving moments. When Rosita talked about his
dead mother (in reality his aunt)and the importance she had in his
life, Mario felt the need to console his biological mother, present
on the third row, and, big hearted as always, had kind words for
her: "She was Loula's elder sister, she practically raised her, and
then Loula raised me. It turned out to be a wonderful choice..." His
voice broke there, and there were tears in his eyes, when he said
that his childhood was far from unhappy, because with those two
people he had everything one could wish for, all the love and
support and family life.

"Actually the book is not Mario's biography", Rosita remarked, "it's
the last chapter of my autobiography".
And her daughter commented: "I do hope it's not the last chapter at
all, that there will be many other interesting chapters to write
for, in her life and in Mario's life of course, and that in a few
years we will be gathered to celebrate another book".
Mario was gifted a painting by Dimitris Talaganis, called "Mario-
Phoebus- Cassiot" ( = originating from the island of Cassos). Rosita
remarked that Mario reminds her more of Dionysus, the wild god of
theatre, than of the serene Phoebus (Apollo).

After the end of the presentation, there was the usual ordeal of
millions of pictures with everybody until corners of mouths ached
from smiling. And then, of course, the signing of about two hundred
books by both the "stars" of the evening.

I must say that, although very warm in expressing their love, these
fans were much more discreet and well-bred than others I've seen,
and didn't impose their presence so heavily as to become overbearing
and unpleasant.

The participants of the presentation had a lovely surprise, at the
end: they received as a gift from Mario a CD with previously
unpublished songs. In the future, it will be sold with the book. For
now, Mario bought 200 pieces to give away.

The CD has an introduction by Rosita Sokou, in Greek, then two
pieces he sang when he was 8 years old: Ghero Dimos, and Mamma.
Incredible voice, and very sweet, trying to play the tenor in pure
Greek-Italian style! Then, Mamma sung today,beautifully and with
gusto, and a very lively accompaniment. Then, his great success Ne
me quitte pas, then two songs by Yanni Markopoulos (one is "Ta'
mathes Aretousa mou" from the play "Erotokritos", which Mario also
sang at the Herod Atticus Theatre, the other one is that duet he
sings in Greek with Deborah Meyers). Then another two songs that I
had never heard. And the CD ends with two live excerpts from theatre
shows: "Achilleis" and "Bacchae" (Dionysus' opening monologue,
beautiful, and good sound too)

peppiere · Joined: Jan 15, 2006 Posts: 29

Thanks Trish,thats a lovely read. Very Happy