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 them, Δυτικός Άνεμος (West Wind). The Dubliner was so busy that the staff had difficulty controlling the numbers that were clamouring to get in. People had to remain outside until exiting customers reduced the numbers inside.
It was also clear by St. Patrick’s Day that a reduced festival was going to go ahead in Grevena. The epicentre was a bar just off the central square with the bizarre name Αλχημείο, bizarre because the word for alchemy in Greek is αλχημεία. A party was scheduled for the 18th, a session (us) for the 19th and a gig with Tir Fada on the 20th. We were anticipating the participation of local musicians for the session but in the end it was just The Salonika Eight: four Greeks and four foreigners: Petros (guitar), Vasilis (guitar), Evridiki (fiddle), Anna (fiddle), me (fiddle), Gregory (fiddle and whistles), Kathleen (vocals and bodhran), Andy (whistles & harmonicas). Once again, it was wonderful to see a packed bar. Apparently, it has a huge selection of beers for ale enthusiasts. Patriotically, I stuck to Guinness on the night. We played solid from about 9pm till midnight, and here is a collage from inside the bar.
More was to come. We were asked to meet up on Sunday morning to do a stint in the square. The organiser and inspiration for the Grevena St Patrick’s Festival is Stelios Papalambropoulos, and he arranged for a TV crew to come and interview him while we played in the background. The video clip looks good – beautiful spring sunshine – but it was cold. To use a British expression, it would freeze the balls off a brass monkey. (It sounds vulgar but it has no etymological connection with simian testicles.) Here we are from left to right: Andy, yours truly, Gregory, Evridiki, Anna, Petros, Vasilis, Kathleen.
In the next one, Andy must have fallen out with the cameraman while Gregory, Petros and Kathleen look as if they’re wondering what the hell I’m playing.
For our efforts, we got rooms, food and drink in the bar, and each player was given a bag of goodies as a thank-you gift with local produce that included lavender Turkish delight, lavender tea, lavender soap, local honey, mushroom pilaf – Grevena is the mushroom centre of Greece. Stelios is very proud – and rightly so – of his town. We thank him for the great time we had, and we are looking forward to going back next year.
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