24/010 Irish Music in Northern Greece

23rd October 2024: The session officially entered its fourth year on October 13th. Musically, we were better this time round compared with our September efforts. It was great to see Manos and Ersilia come back. On top of that, we had two visitors from the UK. Dave and Kate had been attending a two-day conference... Continue Reading →

24/009 Irish Music in Northern Greece

After listening to James Gavin and Adrian Lever on the 13th, my enthusiasm for our 15th September session began to wane. Also, the usual fears crept in; who and how many would come? It turned out to be a brilliant afternoon – more socially than musically, I hasten to add! Nobody (myself included) had practised... Continue Reading →

24/008 Life in Northern Greece

Autumn has come early. Today (18th September) is what the Scots would describe as ‘dreich’ – wet and miserable. My wife and I escaped the heat of late summer as we were on the road in Europe on a mission: Operation Odin. We delivered our son’s dog to him in London. Here is the dog's... Continue Reading →

24/006 Life in Northern Greece

Recently I posted the word σταρχιδισμός, which means “je m’en foutisme”. There is no neat equivalent in English, and certainly not a very Anglo-Saxon counterpart to “insouciance”. My small village has a street market every Friday. And every Friday arse-holish parking becomes a serious issue. Every Friday some lazy bastard causes chaos by parking on... Continue Reading →

24/010 Greek Word – δράκαινα = weever fish

A Greek friend had a serious medical episode following contact with the above. The original meaning is a female dragon (δράκος), an ogress, and its dorsal spines can inflict serious pain if you accidentally tread on it. The δράκαινα lurks in shallow waters and mudbanks, making fish and human contact more probable. Why ‘weever’? Nothing... Continue Reading →

24/007 Irish Music in Northern Greece

The scene is dead. The resurrection in both Thessaloniki and Athens will happen in September. Personally, I haven’t done much practice, but I have added a lot of tunes my collection. I have also published the music for the September/October sessions as well as completing a draft for November/December. One of my current aims is... Continue Reading →

24/009 Greek Word – χειροδικώ = slap

One indicator of progress in language learning is one’s ability to produce synonyms. Greek has several words for slap. A small list of nouns and their verbs: χαστούκι         χαστουκίζω σφαλιάρα        σφαλιαρίζω μπάτσα           μπατσίζω (μπάτσος is also slang for a policeman!) κόλαφος          κολαφίζω (used mainly metaphorically) But one should never underestimate the capacity of Greek to... Continue Reading →

24/006 Irish Music in Northern Greece

It’s nearly July so we are aestivating. Our next sessions will kick off on September 15th. My mind is more preoccupied with the UK election and the football (Euros) than with the music. The Athens Irish Festival was held at the end of May in Peristeri Park. It was a lovely setting. The Session –... Continue Reading →

24/005 Life in Northern Greece

It has been a busy few days here. Sunday, June 23rd, was Pentecost so Monday was a bank holiday. We have had a lot of tourists from Serbia, North Macedonia and Bulgaria. As most of them are Orthodox like the Greeks, they also took advantage of the long weekend. I haven’t found much of personal... Continue Reading →

24/005 Irish Music in Northern Greece

Monday, May 13th 2024. Yesterday we had our May session in the Dubliner. St Thomas’s Day in the Greek calendar, something that left my bank account lighter as I had to cross with silver the palms of the two Thomases in the family. It was also Mother’s Day, and Ken was once again very generous... Continue Reading →

24/007 Greek word

βίλλα/βίλλος - dick, cock in the Cypriot dialect I wonder why there are - like mainland Greek’s πούτσα/πούτσος - feminine and masculine variants. Not that I have been engaging in dick discussions with Cypriots. The word came up in a chat about football. I suppose it could be argued that the Beautiful Game has no... Continue Reading →

24/004 Irish Music in Northern Greece

We ended April with a gig in the Dubliner. Not our best. We started and finished strongly, but we were patchy in the middle. The pace of life, distances, crap public transport, the impossibility of parking in the city, and family commitments can all get in the way of practice. Our lack of practice –... Continue Reading →

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