GREECE – This short story was shared by the well-known journalist Antonis Boscoitis, via Facebook.
“Here, we dig into Mariza Koch’s closet and find the dress she wore in 1976 at Eurovision, with “Panayia Moy Panayia Mou“.
This dress was inspired by Niki Goulandris, accompanied by an authentic Byzantine jewelry, half a kilo of gold, which was kept in the hotel box in The Hague.
Manos Hadjidakis’s instructions did not only concern the interpretation, but also its whole setting on stage:
“Only at the end of the song, in the last crown, to extend your hands to show our mourning for Cyprus”.
Because, according to Hadjidakis and Koch, this was not a simple show of clothing, but of mourning and mourning.
It is worth noting that this song (for Cyprus) managed to… expel Turkey from Eurovision.
Specifically, in 1976, just two years after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, with the country still counting the wounds and trying to get back on its feet, Greece decides to participate in the music competition in The Hague, with Mariza Koch and the song “Panayia Moy Panayia Moy.”
A song as heavy as doom, dedicated to the drama that Cyprus was experiencing at that time.
The idea for the song came from Manos Hadjidakis, who “ordered” Mariza Koch to compose a protest ballad for the Turkish invasion of Cyprus entitled “Panayia Moy Panayia Moy”.
A deeply political song, for a Europe that was absent and for a Turkey that, despite its reprehensible act, remained unpunished.
It was Greece’s move that angered Turkey, which not only withdrew from the competition that year, but Turkish state television cut short the competition at the time of Greek participation, replacing it with a Turkish national anthem “Memleketim” (motherland), which was one of the symbols of Turkey during the invasion.
The EBU punished Turkey’s stance at the time, barring it from participating until 1979, when it returned, and set a condition that no political songs be allowed in the competition.
The Netherlands had even announced that it had information about a terrorist attack, and had taken emergency security measures for the night of the competition, while France gave Greece 12 points.
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