Angelochori 16th September.
It is an unusual venue. It is called The Salt Flat Guardhouse, Το Σπίτι του Φύλακα της Αλυκής. When we played there in 2021 and 2022, the house was in a state of disrepair. Part of the roof had caved in, and one entered at one’s own risk. The Cultural Association stages concerts and other performances throughout the summer months. Conditions are – and I am being kind – basic. “Benches” that look like nailed together flotsam and jetsam are provided, but people who have previous experience of the discomfort bring their own chairs. At the entrance there are two boxes for voluntary contributions, one for the performers and the other for the restoration of the Guardhouse.
Funds from previous years have allowed for the creation of a new roof, ceiling and doors, The place looks a lot better. Outside, however, the playing and public areas still look as if the audience has looted a shipwreck for basic materials. In a total mismatch with the primitive conditions, for the first time we had a sound system and our own sound technician. What a difference. We managed only about an hour’s practice earlier in the evening, but everything went surprisingly well. Voluntary contributions from the audience totalled nearly €400.
17th September: Despite this small success, I have just written an email saying we will continue with six band members only. The flautist and the percussionist have been dropped. And the two guitarists can share the guitar slot. Both are reliable so they can sort it out between themselves.
Here in bars, the average playing area for musicians is about 3m x 2m and no more than 20 or so cm above floor level, so you rarely find a group with more than three musicians. Ten of us played in our pub, The Dubliner, in March; in May nine of us played in a bar aptly named the Crazy Donkey. You can imagine the chaos on both occasions. In the Crazy Donkey, our tin-whistle/harmonica player propped himself up at the bar, his mic cable wending its way to the mixer desk across the passage leading to the toilets. With this obvious trip hazard in mind, I asked him to move to the other side of the bar where he and the mic ended up among the audience! It was at that point that I made up my mind that we could not be more than six. Moreover, with a smaller, tighter group I hope we will be able to have more frequent and focused practices.
Anyway, the mini orchestra is over now. A really good band called Tir Fada had a monthly gig in the Dubliner. They have disbanded as the leader has moved to Crete. And we have been asked to take over the slot, so our debut should be on 26th November. With Covid, illness and the hiatus of Greek summers, it took nearly two years to get the session going. Getting a manageable band together has taken nearly four years.
4th October: Tir Fada will get together one more time on Sunday 8th October. Our session will be on 15th.
Finally, here is another set from a young Italian band called GADAN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4TuWuPWhBs