Marios Tokas () (8 June 1954 – 27 April 2008) was a Cypriot

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

of traditional music born in

Limassol Limassol, also known as Lemesos, is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population o ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. During the 1974

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory (country subdivision), territory controlled by another similar entity, ...

, he fought as a soldier against the Turkish invaders. In 1975, he went to Athens in order to study in the philosophical school. At the same time, he studied in the Ethniko Odio because he wanted to start a career as a musician. In 2004, Tokas and his six-member orchestra gave a concert in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. The concert was co-organised by the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

Society of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and the

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Sports Association "Pantalkis" with the support of the General Secretariat of Hellenism Abroad of the

Foreign Ministry, under the auspices of the Cypriot

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

Music school of Limassol "Marios Tokas"

The Music School of Limassol "Marios Tokas" (), housed at Laniteio Lyceum, was named after him. It officially began operation in September 2006.

Death

On 27 April 2008, Tokas died of cancer in Athens. Cypriot president Dimitris Christofias had visited him in the hospital towards the end of his life. He was buried in First Cemetery of Athens. He is regarded by some as the most prominent composer in Cyprus and Greece. M. Tokas may be remembered for his passion for Cyprus and the connection of his music with Cyprus.

References

External links

www.mariostokas.gr Official websiteOfficial Facebook Page
* 1954 births 2008 deaths Cypriot composers Cypriot male composers People from Limassol 20th-century Cypriot male singers {{Cyprus-composer-stub