Friday the Thirteenth
I missed breakfast by an hour, but was up at the old school for conference registration in time to get ticket number 13. Then I wandered down to the Archontiko cafe for a beer and some calamari.
Two o'clock was the official start time of the conference, and I was all set up and ready to record things, near the front. If I had pressed the right button, I would have recorded Ed's introductory speech. If... Unfortunately I had not pressed it, so the recordings of the conference do not include the powerful condemnation of the Mayor of Hydra, who has still not paid the 1180 Euros his office owes Stelios Vamvakaris from two years ago. Cheating musicians is not nice behaviour, and he should just pay up.
Ed Emery, of the Institute of Rebetology, London, then presented his paper on "Psaropoula: the music of Dimitris Gongos ('Bayanderas')". This was recorded properly!
The next item was a film made in 2003 by Adela Peeva, called "Whose song is this?" It was most interesting to watch the inhabitants of various countries all laying claim to the same tune, or in some cases responding very unpleasantly when they heard the tune.
Jason Melissinos then gave a presentation entitled "Albanian identities in Greece", which he illustrated with numerous examples from his stock of Karaghiozis puppets.
Ed then presented a paper by Nikos Politis of Athens, as Nikos had been in hospital, and was unable to attend the conference in person. This was "The Zeibekiko and Hasapiko dances in the Rebetika songs genre".
The final item on the afternoon's programme was a film called "Musicians of the world: Greek music in Israel"
I had a refreshing siesta, and went to "To Steki" taverna at about nine. The conference attendees gathered and had a meal, as usual. There were quite a few other tables filled with people who knew we were coming, and like our music. Music was played, and I recorded it. As a bonus, we had a short session by some Albanian musicans, playing clarinet, accordion and percussion. This was quite amazing, and very popular with everyone, as far as I could tell. The session ended at a fairly reasonable hour, and I went back to the hotel to recharge batteries and myself.
