One of the few remnants of ancient Greek music is a short song by the composer Seikilos from the second or first century BC beginning with the words Hoson zes (given here in a contemporary translation):
While you're alive, shine, man,
Don't be the least bit blue.
Life's for a little span;
Time demands its due.
It is engraved on a tombstone as an epitaph by Seikilos for his wife. While writing this piece I found myself contemplating the implications of the occasion it had been commissioned to mark. My own biculturalism and sense of geographical dislocation has resulted in a lifelong fascination with the endless motion of restless people throughout history. As both an insider and outsider I have been shaped as a composer and as a person by what I perceive as the greatest lesson to be learned from my Greek heritage: live while you can.
The work is dedicated to my mother and father, Emmanuel and Anastasia Psathas.
