Traditional music from across Greece will take centre stage in Thessaloniki this week, as the city hosts the first “Vakchai Fest” (Bacchae), a new festival organisers hope will become an annual fixture.
The event will take place at Moni Lazariston on Saturday 6 June at 18:30, bringing together sounds from Pontus, Epirus, Crete, the Greek islands and Macedonia for a single evening of live music and dance.
The programme is designed as a musical journey through Greece’s regional traditions, from Pontic songs and the mournful laments of Epirus to Crete’s “Pentozali”, the island songs of the sea, and the brass-driven sounds of Macedonia.
“Our aim is to bring together the best names in Greek traditional music and unite them in one evening,” Vasilis Papadopoulos of the Vakchai Art and Culture Society told Voria.gr. According to Papadopoulos, the event is “in reality five concerts in one”, with the aim of giving audiences a chance to enjoy traditional music, celebrate and dance, creating improvised dance circles throughout the evening.
He also noted a return of younger audiences to traditional music and older sounds, saying this is visible “from students increasingly joining traditional instrument departments in university schools and beyond, and from young people learning traditional dances in associations and schools”.
Cretan musician Manolis Kontaros, who learned the laouto alongside Ross Daly, will also perform at the festival. “Thessaloniki has a special aura and people here enjoy themselves with all their soul. We have prepared a Cretan programme that will not leave anyone sitting in their chair. We want everyone to enjoy it, and we will give our very best,” Kontaros said.
Part of the proceeds will go to the Association of Parents of People with Visual Impairments and Additional Disabilities to support its work.
Click here for more details and tickets.
by Maria Ritzaleou – adapted from Greek by Vassia Barba
