This Island Life: DROM Ikariotiko

This Island Life examines aspects of life on the island of Ikaria.

As isolated as the island may seem out on the eastern edge of the Aegean Sea, Ikaria has a vibrant cultural life as the program for the 'Icarus Festival for Dialogue Between Cultures' shows. In 2008, the Festival featured a program ranging from theatre, stunning concerts from a diverse range of international performers, to a Tango dance event which even offered free Tango classes in the lead up to the actual event.

On the night of July 6, 2008, in the Ikarian harbor town of Evthilos, I attended DROM, a "Concert of powerful songs based and inspired by the melodies of European gypsies with original Greek lyrics by Nicoletta [Anastassiou]."

At the end of the concert, a couple of local musicians took to the stage for a brief performance which included a rendition of the ubiquitous island dance, the Ikariotiko. As the violinist said in his introduction to the dance (not included here), every musician who plays the Ikariotiko draws from a deep well of variants that have been handed down from generation to generation of musicians. Every musician that follows is free to take some of those variants for their own rendition of the dance, and ignore others, while at the same time adding their own contributions to the collection.

So here is yet another variation of the Ikariotiko. The musicians are: George Fasolis, percussion; Nick (?) guitar; Nick (?) violin; and Costas Vavitsas, guitar. I apologise to the musicians for not getting their full names or spelling them incorrectly. If anyone knows who they are, please let me know and I will include the details here.

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Jim Lesses was born and raised in Adelaide, Australia, where he has lived for most of his life. Born to Greek migrant parents, and one of eight children, Jim has traveled extensively around the world, including extended stays on the Aegean island of Ikaria - the birthplace of both his parents.

Jim is a singer songwriter, film buff and now, amateur film maker. He made these short films while staying on Ikaria during May-August, 2008.

Jim has recorded and released two albums of original music, and has his own website at http://www.jimlesses.com from where you can hear his music, read full lyrics to his songs, and learn much more than you ever wanted to know about Jim and his career.

You may also like to visit Jim's other YouTube site here: http://www.youtube.com/ikarian007

Two of Jim's sisters have returned to live on Ikaria, and Jim has filmed one of these sisters, Irene, in everyday situations as she goes about her daily life. You can see these films here under the category, "Irene's Kitchen".

Irene has rooms for rent in the Ikarian village of Kampos. More information can be found by reading the notes that accompany the "Irene's Kitchen" videos.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Jim
• Lesses
• Irene
• Gevezes
• Aegean
• Kampos
• Ikaria
• Greece
• culture
• This
• Island
• Life
• World
• Music
• Folk