By Tanya Steele
The Hills are set to come alive with the sound of bouzaki as a local band brings Greek music and culture to Belgrave in mid March.
A musical history transition through the ages will see Estudiantina of Melbourne play their first ever Hills Hellenica Festival (Volume One) on 16 March at the Sooki Lounge.
Selby local Con Kalamaras is part of the seven piece ensemble bringing Greek music to Belgrave in a few weeks and said the music keeps him connected to his culture.
“The event serves to celebrate Hellenic culture and having lived in Selby for a while, It’s really quite a creative community, but I felt like there was kind of lacking a bit of world music diversity,” he said.
“I haven’t really seen any European kind of music there and my aim is to do more of that.”
Kalamaras said he will be playing both a bouzouki and an oud on the evening with his group which will feature multiple singers, a guitarist, a violinist and other instruments like the baglama and accordion.
“The ensemble are a collection of different people from different backgrounds – they’re not all Greek, but they all do love and play Greek music,” he said.
The ability to bring Greek music to the hills has emerged from weekly jam sessions run by Kalamaras and a friend in Clifton Hill for over five years.
“We identified that there was a gap between established musicians and people who were just starting out in Greek music,” he said.
“There wasn’t really a platform for people to learn and play – so we started a weekly jam in Clifton Hill.”
The weekly sessions have born fruit and Kalamaras said over time they’ve noticed younger people come in to join, and then skill up.
“Three of the members that are in the ensemble have come through that,” he said.
“It’s generated a lot of interest with younger people, second and third-generation Greeks, and also non-Greek people.”
Kalamaras said playing Greek music for him provides a sense of identity and connection to his culture.
“Connection to your language and also your history as well,” he said.
“Any music, regardless if it’s Greek or any other music, is a cultural snapshot of music at a specific time.”
The group largely play Greek music that’s reflective of the music from the 1920s to the 1950s and is known as Greek urban music.
“It’s commonly known as abethika, which is loosely, the equivalent of the Greek blues,” said Kalamaras
“I think that snapshot of history is preserved through this music, as with other genres as well,” he said.
“Regardless of what any genre, good music never ages, and that’s why I’m drawn to it because it keeps me connected to our culture.”
Kalamaras said people in Australia because there are so many different cultures living here.
“The amount of younger people that are engaging in Greek music, it’s really quite exciting,” he said.
The largest concentration of Greek Australians live here in Victoria and Estudiantina of Melbourne in turn will pay homage to the rich cultural heritage of Greece.
The band plans to play to play a mixture of Greek music from Asia Minor and also Greek music from mainland Greece.
Asia Minor Greeks, also known as Asiatic Greeks or Anatolian Greeks, were the ethnic Greek populations who resided in Asia Minor, a peninsula in Western Asia that constitutes most of modern-day Turkey.
They settled there starting in the 13th century BC due to Greek colonization and remained until the forceful population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923 , some Greek communities in Asia Minor continue to exist today.
“Greek music from the 1920s does have that Eastern feel about it, and we’re going to be delving into that,” said Kalamaras.
“What we tend to play is a chronological repertoire of Greek music from the 20s and 30s and then the 40s and 50s,” he said.
Kalamaras said he will be playing a few of his favourite composers but can’t pin it down to a particular song.
“There’s quite a few different composers who I like playing their repertoire because it’s a certain style,” he said.
Kalamaras said he is excited to bring Greek music to the hills after a making a career in inner Melbourne playing music all over the city.
“Every band that I bring over from Greece, I bring them up to the hills, and we have jams at our house,” he said.
“I firmly believe that there are people out there who would be interested in it.”
In the future the local musician said he would like to get more world music happening in the Hills.
“I would like to run a regular world music jam night in the hills,” he said.
“Just invite anybody to come along with their instrument and cut loose.”
“That’s where magic happens – when people who don’t normally play together, get together.”
The festival is on the afternoon of 16 March at the Sooki Lounge and Kalamaras said he encourages people to embrace this music.
“If we get a really good response from this event, I want to make it a regular thing,” he said.
“I really want to ramp it up.”
