Irish music and life in northern Greece
April 1st 2025. I’m glad March is out of the way. Friction in the band, the Dubliner under new ownership, and an uncertain future for the sessions. A chain of Irish-themed pubs, Harat’s ( https://thessaloniki.harats.com/en/ ), has bought the business. Unfortunately, for both the old and new owners, the name change may be inauspicious. The... Continue Reading →
St. Patrick has been and gone. We had a practice on Thursday, 14th. We were scheduled to do a session in the Dubliner on 16th and a gig on the great day for an Irish party, March 17th. Very late in the day, the owner of another bar approached Vasili, one of our guitarists, about... Continue Reading →
22nd February: February has been a busier month than anticipated. A session on the 9th, an Ice Swimming event on the 15th and 16th, and a gig tomorrow. Our session went exceptionally well. Our UK visitor from Akbuk in Turkey hasn’t regretted his visit. There was a huge crowd and a terrific atmosphere. We also... Continue Reading →
28th January. Because of the extra material, we did our pre-Christmas gig in three 45-minute sections. This gave the band two 15-minute breaks. It worked well. Our latest gig was two days ago. We reverted to two halves. It went well though, on reflection, I think 3 x 45-minute sections is better overall as it... Continue Reading →
12th January. Will today be SGZ Day, Session Ground Zero Day? It is very cold, very wet and very windy. I sent a text to rally the troops only to get one confirmed cancellation from one of our most reliable members. SGZ Day is my personal nightmare scenario: I turn up at the Dubliner only... Continue Reading →
A Happy New Year to anyone reading this. November was a frustrating month. One step forward, two steps back. We have practiced the new material only once. Ken wants us to play on Dec 22nd, but I am unwilling to perform if we are under-rehearsed. Sunday, 5th January 2025. I am happy to report that... Continue Reading →
Saturday 9th November. Our November session is tomorrow. We were supposed to have a band practice on Thursday, 7th, but two band members were missing, so I suggested we practise the new pieces for tomorrow’s session. Just as well. It wasn’t pretty! Again, it’s my fault as I have included too many new pieces. The... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
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.... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
17th April 2024: We had our April session on Sunday 14th. The music selected was virtually the same as the March session. I think the players felt more comfortable, so I will leave the selection untouched until the autumn. The combination of Dubliner and session/gig seems to have put a jinx on Liverpool, who have... Continue Reading →
March is always a good month. Plenty of practice and a couple of gigs, Sadly, our little adventure in Grevena didn’t happen. I don’t know if we asked for too much money or if the festival suffered from a lack of sponsorship. Or maybe accommodation was an issue. A brief look at www.booking.com suggests there... Continue Reading →
15th February 2024: I have had problems with WordPress’s labyrinthine renewal processes and their access-unfriendly procedures. 6th of January. The Christmas Season has concluded. We rounded off the season with a Twelfth Night gig in the Dubliner yesterday evening. It was a good performance. We are also saying goodbye to the current set and introducing... Continue Reading →
On Saturday 9th December, exactly one calendar month after my surgery, I went to bed at 8pm. Headache, dizziness, tearing eyes, a sore throat. I wasn’t feeling any better the next morning so I sent a message on Viber to say I would be unable to play at our session. I also suggested Giannis, our... Continue Reading →
I find the unpredictability of our sessions a little stressful, but our November session turned out to be great fun. For me personally, the presence of another two fiddlers made my day. The pub was really busy too. Our band, ThessHooley, made its debut on 26th November. Of course, we had our entourage and camp... Continue Reading →
17th November: We had our second rehearsal in Lost Angeles on Thursday, 2nd November. Very encouraging. We went through the first half of our set, worked out some arrangements and changed the order of one or two tunes. What is also encouraging is the fresh ideas being proposed by my bandmates. Our follow-up session on... Continue Reading →
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