Zorba's Dance

"Zorba's Dance" is an instrumental by Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis.[1] The song featured for the dance, which has become known as sirtaki, in the 1964 film Zorba the Greek, for which Theodorakis wrote the soundtrack[2] and became renowned around the world. It is now commonly played and danced to in Greek tavernas. The film's track has since been recorded as a standalone song by many different musicians from around the world.[3]

Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass recorded a 4:25 version of the song (as "Zorba the Greek") for their 1965 album Going Places.[4] Issued as an edited single with live audience dubbed in, the song reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The tune reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1965, performed by Marcello Minerbi & His Orchestra (Durium Records DRS 54001).[5] British group Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich sampled the composition on their 1966 song "Bend It", which reached number 1 in Germany, New Zealand and South Africa.[6][7][8]

The song was featured, among others, in the film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and in the "Subdivision" episode of Prison Break, where Charles "Haywire" Patoshik raided a fast food joint and gorged himself on soda and ice cream.

The song is particularly infamous in Peru for its association with Sendero Luminoso.[9] In the early 1990s, excerpts of a video of Sendero Luminoso's leadership dancing to the song during a celebration was given to the media, showing that the organization's heads were hiding in middle-class districts of Lima itself.[10]

The British dance act LCD covered the song in 1998. Their version peaked at number 20 in the UK chart that year, and at number 22 when re-issued in October 1999.[11]