Irish Music in Northern Greece 08/2022

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 →

Irish Music in Northern Greece 07/2022

The adventure continues. A week and a half of success. Our session on Sunday 13th March went very well with 15 musicians turning up. We returned to the Dubliner on Thursday 17th March for the St. Patrick’s party and to hear Tir Fada. They were really on form as were the blues band that followed... Continue Reading →

Irish Music in Northern Greece 06/2022

The Dubliner’s website has been updated. Our next session is being advertised so we are getting ready for Sunday 13th March. I have talked previously about Grevena’s St. Patrick’s Festival and its cancellation in 2020 and 2021. It will not receive any support this year either, but I have been asked to organise a session... Continue Reading →

Irish Music in Northern Greece 05/2022

Our fourth session got underway on Sunday 13th February. Another enjoyable afternoon in a wonderfully busy pub. Great to have been there. Next one up is 13th March, the St. Patrick’s session. Ken, the manager, has also arranged a party for the day itself, the 17th. Currently, I am reading Mark Mazower’s The Greek Revolution... Continue Reading →

Irish Music in Northern Greece 04/2022

A quiet period. Our last scheduled practice had to be cancelled and rescheduling was not possible. However, music is back so our next session will take place on Sunday, 13th February at 4:30pm. Let’s hope it goes well. The problem with a session is the “unknown”. Who will turn up? How many? What time? We... Continue Reading →

Irish Music in Northern Greece 03/2022

Some very sad news. A young Irish primary school teacher was murdered while jogging on the banks of the Royal Canal near Tullamore. Her name was Ashling Murphy. She was only 23 years old. Ashling was one of us, an accomplished fiddler. Here she is when she must have been a very young teenager. You... Continue Reading →

Irish Music in Northern Greece 02/2022

12th January 2022. It has just been announced that the music ban has been extended until 23rd January. In today’s www.voria.gr there was an article saying that the music ban alone has resulted in a 50% drop in turnover for the catering sector. Lockdown cost the sector even more. It seems pointless too. Though new... Continue Reading →

Irish Music Scene & Life in Northern Greece 27/2021

I have briefly referred to the problems with Radio Arvila in GW 26/2021. Greek Reporter has covered the story in depth and goes out of its way to show how people have been driven to suicide on discovering intimate images and video clips of themselves have been uploaded. https://greekreporter.com/2021/12/15/revenge-porn-greece/ The other three presenters of Radio... Continue Reading →

Irish Music Scene & Life in Northern Greece 25/2021

Thessaloniki 26th November 2021 A headline in a newspaper the other day claimed: “Matters are getting out of hand”. A customer, denied access to a café because he did not have a Covid certificate, bit the proprietor on the cheek. The full story is here: https://www.iefimerida.gr/ellada/andras-naoysa-dagkose-idioktiti-kafe-magoylo Even more surreally (the apt word), a young actor... Continue Reading →

Irish Music Scene & Life in Northern Greece 16/2021

The dominant stories in Greece are forest fires and Covid. Covid cases are increasing. The table below shows figures for the beginning and end of August. Date (24 hours leading up to 3pm on)New CasesDeathsIntubated2 – August - 212,156818827 – August - 213,0762233728 – August - 213,0643533330 – August – 21*2,34319338 Numbers are generally lower... Continue Reading →

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