"We Stay in Europe" : A pro European rally was organized last week in Syntagma Square, in front of the Greek Parliament
I have deliberately avoided discussing politics in this blog, even though, as a typical Greek I am fiercely interested in the country's political life. My difference from the typical Greek is that I don't feel compelled to incessantly spew my opinion on others. Well, I'm going to make a small exception today tonight.
Two hours ago (at around 1:00am at night) the current Greek Prime-minister, following a 5-month long nationalist-socialist rhetoric and practice (with constant threats to dissenting TV stations, newspapers, journalists and even cartoonists), announced his government's intention to carry out a referendum on a tentative deal offered to the Greek government by its international creditors (the text of which the average Greek citizen has of course not seen). EU leaders will most likely say that this is a referendum on staying in or out of the Euro. It is doubtful (if not outright impossible) that the government will be able to organize such a referendum in just 8 days and if it does try to pull it through in such short notice I doubt about its validity and legitimacy.
Meanwhile, Greek banks are on life-support from the European Central Bank and people have been constantly withdrawing cash from their bank accounts or transferring their savings abroad. The current government's decision has already sent people rushing to ATMs in the middle of the night, making the bank-run inevitable to hide any longer, as Greek TV stations are now reporting.
As far as you're directly concerned, this decision is essentially setting a bomb under the Greek tourist season which has already been affected by the long-standing, fruitless, negotiating show.
Syntagma Square last Monday
Last week, a pro-European rally titled "We stay in Europe" was organized through social media. About 10,000 to 20,000 people were present. I have no doubt that -sooner or later- the European side of Greece will prevail.
Some Greeks still have the merchant's mentality alive in them: A hot dog stand before last week's rally at Syntagma Square...
...and a seller of Greek flags and whistles (the rally organizer's suggested "weapon" for waking up the government)
The statue of Eleftherios Venizelos - a true Greek statesman - at the courtyard of the Greek Parliament.
I am taking a break from my usual photographic or food-related endeavors to serve you a post full of music that I've been compiling for quite some time now. After the new, a.k.a. "weird", Greek cinema we now have a Greek wave of English-language, indie, musical acts trying to break through into the international scene. The Swedes did it about 10-20 years ago, so why not the Greeks?
A few are using elements of Greek musical forms and tradition while others are vying for the "mainstream" part of the indie scene armed with lyrical melodies and lots of synthesizers. Some are trying, or have managed, to already garner some attention. Some music experts, like Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame voting member Yannis Petridis, claim that Greek singers will be seen / treated as something of an exotic fruit by international audiences with the expectation of some... Greekness in them. So, they either have to offer that, or be ready to relocate to some English-speaking country where they can become part of that local scene. Or both.
A few Athens radio stations and a local mobile network operator are supporting this musical movement and are helping to build a local base for these new Greek artists, providing air-time for their songs, usually without mentioning the country of origin, perhaps as a test of their popularity potential. Support them and this blog by buying their music through the Amazon links below.
DJ, freestyle jazz, trip-hop and all-around atmospheric music composer Cayetano has made a name for himself in European alternative circles after 19 years of music production, endless live shows and more than five albums. Check out his full biography and listen to his music at Soundcloud. Connect with him on Facebook and get his music at Amazon.co.uk.
Here's a track from the collaboration record "Loopa Scava Meets Cayetano".
Remember that Greek element I talked about above? Imam Baildi give their own modern renditions of old (1950s, '60s) Greek songs in a way that obviously has significant local and international appeal. They were invited to play at the SXSW festival in Austin in 2013 and here's an article about them in Slug Magazine. Currently on a European and Greek tour (Athens: July 9 at Technopolis, Gazi). Here's their Facebook page.
A duo whose name is a wordplay on the Athens neighborhood of Kypseli, and often abbreviated as KSiA in international press. Lots of international coverage (right column here) for their airy compositions such as "Fractals".
Singer Sarah P. left for new projects in 2014, replaced by a new singer caller Myrtha, featured in the new, 2015 album. Their music can be found on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr,
Amazon.es and
Amazon.de
A big local hit 6 years ago, with aid from Calexico in her
debut album "Avatar". Since then, she's moved on to writing music for theater plays and the like and has released two more full length albums. Ironically, even though her success has given a major boost to the local, English-language music scene, she's without much of an international presence yet. Focused in Greece, I think she has a voice and lyricism that
mostly appeals to Greeks, or maybe she just hasn't tried to move on yet. According to Wikipedia she gave her first N.Y. concert in December 2014. Listen to her songs on MySpace and see a video in her official site.
An unholy, eye-blistering, alternative spelling of "David" but you do need to check him out nonetheless. Him being music producer George Bakalakos in real-life. Never Without You, his latest collaboration with Stella (see below) is becoming a 2015 local hit. Nice, 70's retro video as well!
Prins Obi is a member of the aforementioned Baby Guru who just came out with a solo album, which I like a lot. Read
and listen here. The dreamy,
Beatlesque Weekend Lovers is already becoming a small local hit and
you can listen to it on Spotify. Here's CMJ's presentation of his first solo EP Love Songs for Instant Success.
Written as Σtella, if you can read the initial Greek Sigma, she's been around as a second act / collaborator in various music projects but the self-titled Stella is her first solo album. Read a presentation by CMJ and listen to the single Made to Attack.
His catchy pop tune On the Run, featuring Sarah P, formerly of Keep Shelly in Athens, has been described as a mini-masterpiece by Under the Radar magazine. Sundayman (in real world Kyriakos Moustakas) has mostly been around as a music producer. His Cutty Sark theme song Now that i found you is another of his tunes that you might have listened to.
Check out all his airy, ambient pop, retro-electronic tunes on SoundCloud: Amazon.com,
Amazon.co.uk,
Amazon.fr,
Amazon.es,
Amazon.de
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