Irish music and life in northern Greece
The village is full of life as day trippers make their way from the city to the beach, bars and restaurants. Given fuel prices, I imagine people are unwilling to wander further afield into Halkidiki especially if it is only for the day. I searched “Fuel Poverty Greece” online and, unsurprisingly, there is no shortage... Continue Reading →
Διπλοκούρσα or διπλή κούρσα = the practice of taxi drivers taking additional passengers/fares, the additional fares not being metered. I cannot remember the details, nor can I find anything online, but sometime during the first PASOK administration (1981-85), there was a big change which affected taxi drivers. Until the change, I think anybody could paint... Continue Reading →
19th June 22. Midday. I have just posted LinNG 13/22, and now I am contemplating this afternoon’s session. How many will show up? To be honest, although we have always had a reasonable turn-out, I find the anticipation a bit stressful. This should be the last session as we are taking a break in July... Continue Reading →
In all the years I have been associated with Glasgow, I am only aware of one change of street name. In 1986 St. George’s Place became Nelson Mandela Place. In Greece, changing the name of a street is quite a common occurrence. I first witnessed it shortly after PASOK’s first victory in October 1981. Οδός... Continue Reading →
Roads are a reminder that Greece has not recovered from its economic collapse in 2010. A few months ago, I posted a picture of a sink hole in Ethinikis Antistasis St. Recently, I’ve been using the bus more often, and I can honestly say the bad roads combined with most buses’ poor suspension can put... Continue Reading →
May has finished on a high. We got together last Wednesday, 25th May, in the Dirty Glass, to practise the Athens session set. To speed maters up we reduced the repetitions and flew through the set in no time. Then the madness began. Seven of us committed ourselves to playing in the inaugural Athens Irish... Continue Reading →
κάργα – adverb = completely or fully I heard this on the radio when I was in Athens a few days ago. With regard to liquids, it means ‘to the brim’ as in Τα ποτήρια ήταν κάργα κρασί = The wine glasses were filled to the brim. Synonyms are φίσκα and τίγκα. By extension, it... Continue Reading →
σερέτης plural σερέτηδες Continuing from GW 12/2022 σερέτης is another word that has travelled from the Arab world to Turkey and then on to Greece. Initially, I was looking for a proper noun because many of the streets near me have the names of notable Greeks: Seferis, a Nobel Prize winning poet; Tsitsanis a famous... Continue Reading →
We had our 7th monthly session on Sunday 8th May. It should have been our eighth, but January’s was cancelled because of an upsurge in Covid numbers. We had fewer players than usual, but I am pleased about the way it went. The music festival in Athens is turning into a three-day event. We should... Continue Reading →
Sithonia is the name of the second leg of Halkidiki. The first one is called Cassandra, named not after the ill-fated Cassandra but after Cassander, a king of Macedonia, contemporary of Alexander the Great, and one of the four “successors” who divided Alexander’s territorial gains among themselves. The road from Thessaloniki to Moudania (on Cassandra)... Continue Reading →
τζαναμπέτης = a difficult, awkward person. Plural τζαναμπέτηδες. It is amazing how many so-called “Turkish” loan words are actually Arabic in origin. A case in point: “rishwah” means a bribe in Arabic. I was talking to a friend who is married to a lovely Turkish lady. While discussing one or two experiences with corruption in... Continue Reading →
Finding a practice venue is a perennial problem. Some people are reluctant to have seven or eight unrelated people in their homes as Covid is still an issue. One or two want to practise in the open air out of similar concerns. Unfortunately, April has been a surprisingly cold month. On Thursday we gathered in... Continue Reading →
I promised murder and mayhem at the end of my last post. In GW 11/2022 I referred to Roula Pispirigou (Ρούλα Πισπιρίγκου) who is accused of murdering her oldest daughter. She is also under suspicion for murdering her two younger daughters and, possibly, her landlady. The forensic evidence points to her guilt but, as in... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 11/2022 κακαρώνω especially preceded by τα as in τα κακαρώνω = to die It is not very respectful, however. The biggest current news story in Greece concerns a woman, Roula Pispiringou, who is accused of murdering her oldest daughter with ketamine. She is also under suspicion of murdering her other two daughters and... Continue Reading →
11th April 2022: Yesterday’s session was a little different. We started 30 minutes earlier to accommodate a live YouTube broadcast from the Ukraine. Jolly’s Irish Music Band are based in Odessa. Their income is now near zero as they cannot perform, so they are trying to earn some money by doing YouTube broadcasts. The manager... Continue Reading →
καπάκι – lid, just the humble cover for a pot, jar or bottle. Another borrowing, from the Turkish ‘kapak’. It also has other meanings. For example, the καπάκι is the soundboard or resonator of a stringed instrument. www.slang.gr also claims καπάκι can also mean a motorcycle accident, specifically the result of a doing a σούζα... Continue Reading →
1st April 2022 “The winter it has passed And the summer’s come at last” April greeted us with a sharp increase in temperature. The seafront has sprung into life. In a nearby restaurant, Αλμυρίκι (Tamarisk) people were cleaning inside and painting outside. The same was true of the last restaurant on our stretch, Γοργόνα (Mermaid).... Continue Reading →
4th April 2022. The notice has gone out for next Sunday’s session in the Dubliner. On Saturday we met at the home of our newly found mandola player for a band practice. The home lies on the outskirts of a village called Triadi. You might be wondering how a village can have outskirts, but that... Continue Reading →
φλομώνω = choke, fill with smoke, smoke someone/something out, smother, suffocate. At least that is what Word Reference tells us. Βικιλεξικο gives two definitions. Literally, it means to fill a place with smoke or an unpleasant smell; metaphorically, it is bamboozling people with nonsense, lies or empty promises. (κυριολεκτικά) γεμίζω με καπνο ή με μια άσχημη μυρωδιά έναν χώρο(μεταφορικά) ζαλίζω τους άλλους με αερολογίες, ψέματα ή... Continue Reading →
λαζαρέτο – lazaretto, a maritime quarantine station. Lazarettos (or lazarets) could also be ships permanently anchored offshore or islets. There is an obvious connection with the parable of Lazarus the beggar, and lazarettos were strongly associated with leprosy or plague. Babiniotis cites Santa Maria di Nazaret, a quarantine facility, as being the root of the... Continue Reading →
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