Musician Mikis Theodorakis has died in Athens at the age of 96. He rose to fame with the music for the 1964 film Zorba the Greek, Zorba the Greek telling the story of an English writer in Crete whose life turns upside down when he meets Alexis Zorba, a sociable farmer. The scene when Zorba dances barefoot on the beach became a popular image of Greek culture. The subject of the film, which won three Oscars, remains perhaps the most famous piece of Greek music more than half a century later.

"Today we lost a part of the soul of the Greek," wrote Culture Minister Lena Mendoni on Twitter, "the one who sang poetry for all Greeks". The song Antonis composed by him became popular among the Afghans. It was sung in 2001 by residents of Kabul who congratulated Northern Coalition troops for entering the city and expelling the Taliban. The same song was the subject of the 1969 Costa-Gavras-directed film Z, whose soundtrack won the 1970 BAFTA Award for Best Film Music.

Theodorkis himself was a leftist and at times communist for most of his life. In 1947, during the civil war that followed World War II, he was arrested and tortured. Theodorakis' lyrics were always deeply political. He was repeatedly imprisoned for his beliefs and sent into exile within Greece.

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