Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis is best known for the song all tourists in Greece at one point dance to: Zorba the Greek. It was part of the movie of the same name, released in 1964. He created more serious works too, including five operas and numerous works for chamber ensembles. Artisitcally his claim to fame might be the Mauthausen Trilogy, performed in memory of the 50 year’s anniversary of the liberation of that concentration camp.
These two extremes paint a picture of the man himself. His music can be found on both end of this spectrum, between serious music and entertainment. Add to that a strong leftist activism and an overactive mind for publicity, and you understand his position in the late 60s and early 70s under the military dictatorship might have been precarious. His music was banned, and forbidden to listen to. The man himself was hunted down and put in the Concentration camp of Oropos. He managed to flee the country to Paris in 1970. This record came out in 1971: a collection of songs of resistance.