As a musician, I have been fortunate to play songs by many significant Greek performers. As a piano teacher, I also felt the need to seek a repertoire of Greek music alongside classical or more contemporary musical currents through what we call artful Greek song. The songs of Manos were the ideal solution due to their appeal to all ages, their simplicity, and their exceptional melodic quality.

Thus, the idea for this anthology was born as a contribution to the creation of an educational and entertaining musical proposal, based on a collection of contemporary Greek musical themes. The excellent arrangements by Giannis Konstantinidis of well-known themes from traditional Greek music were a model for this endeavor, with the only difference being that the level of students I wanted the book to address mainly concerns the initial stages of piano study, given that the already existing significant literature with arrangements of Manos Hadjidakis' songs is aimed at more advanced students.

My intention was to maintain the purity of the melodies by adding only the absolutely necessary harmonic and contrapuntal elements so that the songs would achieve as simple a form as possible, while still preserving all the color, subtlety, and humor that characterize them.

In some pieces, a distinctly more classical style has been adopted that sometimes refers to the contrapuntal style of Baroque composers and at other times to the simplicity and clarity of Mozart's childhood piano pieces, influences that are nonetheless evident in the work of Manos Hadjidakis.

In an effort to make this book as useful as possible, the edition includes the corresponding guides and the lyrics of the songs. Thus, the material as a whole can also be used by students of other musical instruments, musicians, as well as educators who would like to teach these songs not only in Conservatories but also in schools, since most of them are already frequently taught in music lessons in primary and secondary education in their solo, choral, or even their instrumental form.