Art and Music: Less is more??

Greyrocks has had only half the "normal" time in Paleo, but the art and music offering has diminished much more than that in quantity! And Brexit can't be blamed for that. It must be climate change!

2007 or 2019? 

By the time we made our way to the Limnaki cantina for the first time Arvid had taken up residence and was hosting late afternoon jamming sessions as he has since records began! With up to eight players at any time, and a loyal audience this did no harm at all to the drinks profit! There was no chance of Ruth walking back along the beach in the dark, so we missed the several occasions when there was still action late into the evening and heads were sore next day! Amongst the participants for a week or so were Rainer's boys, Felix and Lucas, whom we saw perform their first ever busking many years ago, and now work in TV/Music in Berlin. (Their Dad - a regular - was absent this year with a broken leg!) Noreen was persuaded to sing a few times, and the ebb and flow of participants added variety!

Come the evening there seems to have been a clear-out of the less welcome street musicians. The aged Albanian with unidentified wind instrument no longer tours, confining himself to sleeping on or near the Sandy Beach pavement - and on one occasion projectile vomiting a metre from Ruth! Similarly there have been no paraded children and adolescents "playing" or "dancing" with their father. The regulars have been the players of general Greek favourites who stay at the campsite and work almost every night. This year we have seen a very talented trio - including a woman - all on string instruments, and  - separately - Costas with his bouzouki (as at the wedding party last year). Unfortunately he has taken to using a backing track!

Other performers have been the Romanian accordion player, (much less frequently than in other years), a couple of classical guitar player visits, a troupe of Spanish dancers with fire that we had seen a few days before in Chania, and a delightful appearance at Eva's leaving meal. A jolly young woman bounced into The Wave and asked if she could perform, She sang several songs, whilst playing her ukulele and dancing! Delighted - we asked for more, but after that she was never seen again!

We also think there has not been as much folk song and dance this year! There was a three day festival which involved troupes from all over the island touring other centres. We saw some of the dancing both on the stage near Scala and in the street, and then discovered that quite a few of them were staying in accommodation above us - at well over the specified number. A very noisy departure!

Then there are the gigs in bars/kafenions. The former Monica's - now going under the name of Giorgo's- gets very little custom most nights, but has had some huge crowds when there is live music. The regular player is John from Drapanias, who is not to everyone's taste, but Greyrocks likes the repertoire - all lyrics fully memorised - and the radical slant! Fortunately Mats has been able to join him each time for a few weeks on steel guitar, as has Petra with her Latin and or Baez songs. In due course regulars Chris and Jann (Shades of Gray) arrived. Part of their stay was with family so we saw a bit less of them, but their appearances at Giorgo's, were very crowded as usual,

Greyrocks was also invited to join the minibus trip up to Azogires for an evening of their music at the Alpha taverna arranged by Lucky, who is a real fan! Whilst they were setting up there was time for wandering round the village, consuming "Sofia's world famous Omelette", and looking round Gail's gallery, although she has now relocated to Scotland! Some of the village inhabitants and tourists showed up, and it was a very jolly raki-fuelled evening, We moved inside when it became a bit dog-dominated, but vowed to return = as indeed we did - read-on!

But what Greyrocks was craving was rock bands! Eva told us that we had missed Flush Royale at least twice whilst in France, and that the band with overlapping personnel: Change House had also been around. On three occasions there were fairly convincing rumours, but nothing materialised other than a gig at Scala -  unannounced as is their wont there! And just as we were despairing Flush Royale played Atoli, Almost all of the Yia-yia Club was in town and we had a superb time with dancing that suggested the need for a defibrillator.  Greyrocks even hit the floor when Hotel California was dedicated to us as "that wonderful couple"! When the band finished we were treated to a performance of exotic dancing by Margarita - the  82-year old Norwegian we have known for many summers!

Chris and Jann were booked to play again in Azogires to mark the end of the Art Festival. We wanted to see the exhibition so went instead on our own in the afternoon by taxi, and found it in the "hotel" where there was also a workshop with flour dough being run by Julie, whom we also known for years, so there was much reminiscence. The range of work on display was striking and included a handful by each of Olga and  Shelagh:- Ruth's Scrabble mates! Such talent! We stayed at the Alpha for a few beers and a chat with Lucky and watched chaotic preparations for the showing of a short film. Lucky and his new wife Rebecca were proudly introducing baby Sofia Our taxi arrived before the film was shown, so we will never know if it was worth the confusion!

The Art Flow Gallery in Paleochora has been very busy with short seasons, one of which interested Greyrocks  particularly. It was paintings by refugees in the Greek camps, who are supported by a charity in ways that include art therapy. It was a very moving experience, especially reading the accompanying biographies,  and we have since donated!