I spoke too soon when I said restrictions would be lifted by 14th December. The Greek government announced last night (8th Dec) that it would extend the restrictions until 7th January. I suppose the good news is that Christmas is going to cost around €14!
A Greek friend of ours who plays in the band, Tir Fada, told us about a virtual session in Malta. I passed on the information to friends all over the place. One of them – an American based in Saudi Arabia – tuned in at the appointed time and scanned Zoom for a familiar face i.e. mine. Unfortunately, I had completely forgotten about the thing.
Tonight, 13th December, I will attempt to log in. And I did. The expat community in Malta seem to be a very welcoming bunch. We took it in turns to nominate a piece from their music book* – either a stand-alone tune or a set of jigs or reels etc. In some cases, somebody volunteered to lead, but most of the time the host played a recording of their local band, muted our mics, and we played along. It seemed to reduce latency problems, which will remain the bugbear of online music sessions and practices until 5G kicks in. In any case, it has given me some ideas for my companions here.
*They have four collections in pdf format. The master set referred to above plus barndances, Scottish dances and songs.