My diary of the 2012 Hydra Rebetiko Conference.
Friday
Friday started with the Mistral Hotel's highly rated breakfast, mentioned in many online reviews of the hotel. This was mine, just before the arrival of the rather nice bean and pea omelette.
Once I had dealt with all that, and yes, it was delicious thanks, my day continued with me wandering around taking photographs, and wondering if there was actually going to be anything by way of rebetiko at all. Then I met my friends Chris and Diane, who made me happy by being there, and confirming that it was the right week. And shortly after that, I met Ed Emery as well, so things were fine.
After a shower and a siesta, the evening's entertainment started with a showing of the film "My Sweet Canary", about Roza Eskenazi, who was many people's favourite rebetissa. Yes, Hydra has an open air cinema, thanks to a gentleman who has made good use of the space between some buildings.
Here's the trailer for the film...
I really enjoyed the film, finding it very interesting, though I felt very sad for the lady whose husband Roza "borrowed". As I was leaving, a lady who was in the audience (and I expect I should have known who she was) spoke to me very earnestly, at some length, about what a bad, inaccurate movie she thought it was. I mumbled something non-committal, and made my excuses.
Watching the film had replaced the usual start to Hydra's Friday evenings in previous years, drinks and music at Dalakos's Cafe. I had noticed, on Thursday, that the cafe was closed. It turns out that it was closed down against its owner's will, as nice Mr Dalakos was apparently running a brothel.
We moved on to LouLou's Taverna, in far smaller numbers than in previous years, and had dinner. I had some moussaka and bamies (okra) which were splendid, and remembered to drink Mythos instead of wine. I just can't drink the way I used to... After dinner, Peyman Heydarian played his santur, while some of the ladies accompanying him sang songs. There were no other instruments at the taverna, a sad change from previous years, and after recording a few tunes, I went off to bed.
