The news of the death of the great singer Giorgos Mazonakis on September 9 came as a shock and caused great sadness among the Greek and Cypriot communities, who are following developments surrounding the case. Tens of thousands of the singer’s fans gathered at the Holy Trinity Church in Nikaia to bid farewell to Giorgos Mazonakis.
But what drives people to want to mourn an artist, a public figure, whom they never knew personally? Why were people singing the singer’s greatest hits in the church courtyard? And why are Mazonakis’s songs softly hummed and heard in every home and among friends?
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Sociologist Nikos Peristianis provides the answers to our questions on Alphanews.Live.
As Mr. Peristianis explained to us, there are various factors that could explain the phenomenon of the massive outpouring of sympathy for Mazonakis and the large turnout at his funeral.
The first is that, although it is somewhat unlikely that most citizens—ordinary citizens—knew him personally enough to pay their respects in person at his funeral, Giorgos Mazonakis was a very well-known singer.
“For about three decades, his songs had been associated with specific, significant moments in the life of the average person. That is, moments of love, breakups, loneliness, the difficulties of youth, and so on. So his death triggered what we might call biographical memory. That is, people do not merely mourn a person who has died, but along with that person—when he or she embodies something more collective—they are essentially mourning their own youth, their own loved ones and relationships that may have been lost over time.”
So, as he added, beyond the death of Mazonakis, a person mourns everything associated with that specific individual, “which also pertains to everyone who experiences this loss personally—it’s as if a part of our personal past is being erased, along with the passing of a well-known artist.”
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Another factor is the fact that Giorgos Mazonakis wasn’t just abstractly connected to the public; according to Mr. Peristianis, the public identified with his voice, his hits, the hardships he endured, and what his songs expressed.
“So a significant bond is formed between the two, and the sense of loss upon his death is much deeper than it would be with anyone else. Because the audience identified with this particular person in all these ways. So it’s much more than an impersonal connection. They may not have known him personally, but they got to know him through the media, social media, etc.”
The Man of the People and the Eccentric Personality
Giorgos Mazonakis, beyond being a great singer, was a figure with “contradictory traits”: He had charisma, theatricality, and eccentricity, but at the same time, he was a man of the people who didn’t come from a wealthy family.
“That’s why it was so much easier for everyone to identify with him. An unknown who managed to rise to the top and represent everyone. He was just like the rest of us.”
Meanwhile, the difficult times the singer went through from time to time—which made it into the news—reinforced the feeling that he was one of the common people.
“An ordinary man, who has weaknesses and lets them show. He appears vulnerable, he appears hurt. To show that he suffered because his life became difficult. He was on his own. There was the issue of abandonment, loneliness, despair, and his need—and that of others—to love him. That’s why a special bond formed with that particular person. Because of these contradictory traits—which, however, many people experience as well.”
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An Unjust Death
The way Giorgos Mazonakis passed away, his sudden and untimely death, and the sense of injustice surrounding his passing, has intensified the outpouring of love and grief from the public…
“Not only did he speak of injustice in his songs, but his very life ended precisely as an expression of injustice. The way he died had that element in it—injustice. Because some people, for the petty reason of making a little more money, let a life be lost.”
The sea of people at the funeral with songs and flowers
The massive turnout of citizens isn’t just a personal experience. It creates a collective social experience.
“It ceases to be something that each person feels only individually. But through the flowers everyone brings there, the candles, the lit cell phones, the music playing— Suddenly, each of our individual experiences transforms into a collective social experience. It’s not just me who’s mourning—I liked Mazonakis, too. But we’re all mourning together. We’ve lost one of our own, someone we identified with. That’s where we, the citizens watching, come together. We become part of the ceremony, the ritual, the confirmation of death, the reasons for his death, his funeral, and so on. It becomes a collective event that unites us.”
Thus, mourning becomes a collective event that unites people, despite any differences they may have, whether ideological or partisan.
“We all become one. A nation mourning one of its own. So we all mourn together. We all feel it together. And part of this is that old songs they sang and made famous come back. We’re remembering them again. We’re remembering important moments from the past. Public moments we’d seen before are coming back into the spotlight.”
Cell Phones
The moment Giorgos Mazonakis’s body arrived at the church in Nikaia was accompanied not only by songs and applause, but also by raised cell phones, a fact that drew mixed reactions.
When asked about this, Mr. Peristianis explained to us that it wasn’t meant to be macabre.
“They wanted to capture exactly what it means to pay tribute to someone they loved or admired. It was a commemoration of a moment that reaffirmed for them that the person we loved, we truly loved. We were not mistaken. So you capture a collective moment—something with which you identified—and make it eternal through that capture.”
As Mr. Peristianis concluded, Giorgos Mazonakis transcended the identity of an ordinary artist with a beautiful voice. “It wasn’t just his voice. It was many aspects of his life and his personality that were part of the public’s reaction.”
