"With deep sorrow and a standing ovation we say goodbye today to Mikis Theodorakis, a fighter and creator, a mentor and driver of the new struggling art in music" the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) said in an announcement on Mikis Theodorakis' death on Thursday.

"Theodorakis' music is brewed with all the ingredients that make masterpieces, the great art that captures the pulse of its time and intuits what is coming. The feeling, the spirit, the memory and the experience of the people that are struggling is the source of his inspriration."

"We will continue to move with Mikis' music until the bells of the social liberation sound," KKE said in its announcement.