Greek singer-songwriter Phoebus Delivorias paid tribute to fellow musician Giorgos Mazonakis in a lengthy social media post following Mazonakis's death at the age of 54, describing the shock he felt on hearing the news.
Delivorias wrote that the ground had disappeared from under his feet, and that he felt it happening as though it were something completely normal. He said it took him a while to realize that in all the years they had worked together or spent time as friends, there had never really been solid ground beneath them at all.
An artist with no connection to the ground
Mazonakis, Delivorias wrote, had no relationship with the ground, and that disconnection was the source of his enormous talent. He said it was the very quality that kept Mazonakis, until the end, away from boredom, musical sameness and the mechanical lyric-writing he believes has been replacing Greek popular song, long before artificial intelligence came along.
Delivorias recalled that shortly before walking into the recording studio, Mazonakis would say a small, personal prayer of his own. Even when a lyricist had failed to give him something of real worth, Delivorias wrote, Mazonakis would give it wings and lift it straight into the sky. He added that a person like that naturally fills reality with holes, with every step taken beside the void and every walk onto the stage a possible fall.
"He would not want to be made a hero"
Delivorias closed his tribute by saying that Mazonakis would not have wanted to be turned into a hero. He wrote that Mazonakis had already made his choice: had there ever been a crash, he would not only have taken others down with him, he would have paid for the whole flight himself.
According to Delivorias, Mazonakis would not have tolerated melodrama, any trace of heroization, or safe accusations about what he called the hard and dirty life of the night. Delivorias wrote that everyone devotes their life to something, and that Mazonakis devoted his to the night, doing so with so much love and such deep need that it would remain, forever, a lit candle in the vast, dark sky.
Tributes across the Greek entertainment world
Mazonakis's death prompted an outpouring of grief across the Greek entertainment industry, with numerous artists honoring his memory and flooding social media with tributes, photographs and condolences.
Delivorias, himself a well-known singer-songwriter, had collaborated with Mazonakis on hit songs over the course of their careers, and his post was among the most extensive tributes shared by a fellow musician.
Investigation into Mazonakis's death continues
Separately, Greek media reported that the family's lawyer said she would seek to have the charges in the investigation into Mazonakis's death upgraded to homicide with possible intent, and that the taxi driver who had transported the singer had since been identified.
