The summer is over. The sessions resume tomorrow, but it has been a busy week. On Saturday (7th September) Kathleen hosted the session stalwarts and a delightful guest from Malta. Anne Poulhies plays a low D whistle. She’s a Frenchwoman who is based in Malta. Lawrence and Jaqui Porter set up Zoom sessions during Lockdown. The sessions are less frequent now and participation is lower, but Jaqui and Lawrence kept us going during Covid. They visited us two years ago, and it is great that Anne has maintained the connection. It is time for us to pay Malta a visit.
Above are the adopted Maltese: Rob, Anne, Luke, Kathleen
My efforts to establish a Balkan network continue to make progress. Slow progress, but last night, Friday 13th, turned out to be a lovely evening. Tony, a contact in Novi Sad, gave my contact details to Adrian Lever, who is based in Belgrade. Adrian emailed me and said he and a London-based fiddler, James Patrick Gavin, would be passing through Thessaloniki for one evening only. The Dubliner wasn’t available, but another bar, Beeratis, allowed us to use their premises. Due to the uncertainty of travel times, we did not do much for our guests apart from finding a place to play. Both Adrian and James gave us an astounding unplugged performance. They are two thirds of a trio called Gavin Fairhill Lever. Will they become Irish music’s Crosby Stills and Nash or Emerson Lake and Palmer?
It’s a pity that so few were there to enjoy it and appreciate their musical skills. Anyway, I took a few clips.
If they come to Thessaloniki again, we’ll make sure we have a full set-up for them.