Friday December 6th 2019, Workshop of Modal music.
The last Aman Molli gathering for 2019, let’s meet to practice together and exchange knowledge of modal music! First half is the practice of repertoire our guests showed us last year, open to all levels! Second part is open to improvisation and experimentation. Bring your instruments and your best mood!
Monday November 11th 2019, special screening: The Fig House (documentary from Pitzi Kampouroglou, 2019), 102 minutes, in English with English subtitles. Doors open at 19:00 with food. Film starts at 21:00. Fee entrance, donations welcome.
The independent collective Amanita Films presents their new documentary The Fig House. The filmmakers will be present for questions and a discussion before and after the film screening. The film tells in twelve chapters the misadventures of ten friends and a cat, living for seven months in a squat in Greece. Activists and refugees all together, they come across the everyday troubles of living on the edge of society, while trying to reach Germany through the refugee’s Balkan Route.
Amanita Films is a project born from the making of the documentary The Fig House, a self-produced work by the same protagonists of the film. Amanita Films does not respect the rules of the film industry, believing that they are just instruments to preserve the privileges of those who have all the interests to prevent the free circulation and creation of art-works. We therefore do not recognize the copy rights of commercial exploitation neither our own neither others’ art’s works. We believe in a cooperative form of film production and in the creation of an alternative distribution network to the official one.
The idea of getting in a car and taking the film a tour around Europe, was born precisely from this need to get out of invisibility, to build a network of contacts that could become the basis for the diffusion and self-financing of independent audio-visual works.
The Fig House had its premiere at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, registered with false names and fake documents, winning the young jury special prize. Despite this small success, however, no distributor has declared to be interested in distributing a work that cannot be commercially exploited since it does not comply with and is registered to any copyrights.
We are now only a month away from going to Athens to start filming our next documentary: Love in Time of Crisis. We decided to go there by car, a one-month road trip to close a circle with our previous work and at the same time to open a new one.
We will depart from Zurich to arrive to Greece via Germany, Holland and Italy and we will stop in every city where there will be an squat, a cultural center, an private association, willing to support our project by hosting a screening of our previous documentary: The Fig House.
The purpose of the tour is also to be able to finance part of the expenses for the filming of Love in Time of Crisis through the support of our same spectators. The screenings will always be open to everyone and free; at the exit there will be a donation box where, whoever wants to, can leave a concrete support.
We want to share the experience of The Fig House with the largest number of people. The donation is not at all a discriminating factor in this sense, but only a possibility for the spectator, after having seen the film, in case it is liked, of being able to help Amanita Films to continue to produce cinema in a free and independent way.
Topics: The small mishaps of everyday life in the squatted house are the reason to raise some questions about immigration and solidarity, in particular on some issues that are not discussed very often. The film questions the vicious circle “illegality – poverty – prison”, as well as the topic of the “invisible wounds” – the psychological traumas connected to the migrant status. The documentary is essentially a story of friendship and solidarity, instability and despair. An opportunity to ask ourselves what kind of Europe we are building and if there is space for a better common future.
Synopsis
A group of friends, activists and migrants, decide to organize an escape plan through the Balkans, in order to reach illegally Germany from Greece. To accomplish their plans, they decide to divide the tasks, and while some are dedicated to find a suitable means of transport for the group, others are looking for an abandoned ruin to turn it into their home. When things seem to be going well, they have to face small unforeseen events that inevitably delay the completion of the plan: the cat of the house breaks his leg, a friend is arrested and one of the boys decides not to leave anymore. These continuous blows of misfortune end up weakening the psychological resilience of Ilias, one of the boys, who begins not to withstand the psychological pressure anymore, what is complicating the situation and putting the plan at risk.
For more infos: amanitafilms [at] protonmail [dot] com
October 18th, November 1st, November 29th 2019, Aman molli, modal music workshops, from 19:30 to 23:00
Let’s gather to practice together our repertoire and exchange knowledge! First half is the practice of repertoire our guests showed us last year, open to all levels! Second part is open to improvisation and experimentation.
Saturday October 12th 2019, Aman Molli special concert.
Aman molli is proud to host one more special concert with traditional Greek and Turkish music.
Alexandros Papadimitrakis, Vanessa Kourtesi, Dimitra Metzaki, Duygu Alkan, Eirini Zogali and many more will be with us for a special winter welcoming concert, full of singing and music playing.
Melodies from all around the sunbathed Aegean Sea, Greek islands, Turkish sores, middle east bazaars, and desolate Arabic deserts will warm our hearts!
The doors will open at 7 pm. 7:30 pm food will be served! Music around 9pm.
Aman Molli: https://radar.squat.net/en/aman-molli
Sunday June 2nd 2019, Aman molli special, workshop and jam session by Alexandros Papadimitrakis and Vanessa Kourtesi. Door opens at 16:00. By donations. Bring on your instruments!
Alexandros Papadimitrakis and Vanessa Kourtesi will be with us for a special workshop full of singing and music playing! In this workshop we will go on step further by practicing in parallel repertoire of east Mediterranean on vocals as well as melodically and rhythmically. In the end we will try to assemble all together! Don’t miss another unique opportunity!
Alexandros Papadimitrakis teaches Turkish Music (Oud & Lavta) at the World Music department of Codarts university in Rotterdam. Vanessa Kourtesi is singing with the Serenade Ensemble, a group of five talented young musicians from Greece and Turkey. Alexandros and Vanessa have been actively participating in the Aman molli workshops and performed a few times at Joe’s Garage.
Alexandros Papadimitrakis with Michalis at a music Sundays Rodos: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=CazagBfmimk
Vanessa Kourtesi The Circle: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VsE6FcP1lk
Somewhere in Athens: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuyJt185ITE
Aman Molli: https://radar.squat.net/en/aman-molli
Friday April 12th 2019, Aman molli: workshop by Alexandros Papadimitrakis and Vanessa Kourtesi. Door opens at 19:30.
Alexandros Papadimitrakis and Vanessa Kourtesi will be with us for a special workshop full of singing and music playing! In this workshop we will go on step further by practicing in parallel repertoire of east Mediterranean on vocals as well as melodically and rhythmically. In the end we will try to assemble all together! Don’t miss another unique opportunity!
Alexandros Papadimitrakis teaches Turkish Music (Oud & Lavta) at the World Music department of Codarts university in Rotterdam. Vanessa Kourtesi is singing with the Serenade Ensemble, a group of five talented young musicians from Greece and Turkey. Alexandros and Vanessa have been actively participating in the Aman molli workshops and performed a few times at Joe’s Garage.
Alexandros Papadimitrakis with Michalis at a music Sundays Rodos: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=CazagBfmimk
Vanessa Kourtesi The Circle: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VsE6FcP1lk
Somewhere in Athens: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuyJt185ITE
Friday March 22nd 2019, Aman molli: singing workshop by Vanessa Kourtesi. Door opens at 19:30.
Vanessa Kourtesi will be with us for a special workshop full of singing! Don’t miss this unique opportunity!
Vanessa is singing with the Serenade Ensemble, who performed at Joe’s Garage last december 8th. Serenade Ensemble is a group of five talented young musicians from Greece and Turkey who all met in Codarts university in Rotterdam.
The Circle: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VsE6FcP1lk
Somewhere in Athens: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuyJt185ITE
Saturday January 19th 2019, Aman Molli: special concert with Mále Vráse, 19:30, donations welcome.
Once upon a time, in a period between wars, there was migration and sorrow (around ~1920). Folks from different places such as Smyrna, Istanbul, Aegean islands were gathering at the Piraeus docks to survive. While living at the margins of the society and being unable to adapt quickly to the rapid changes that industrial revolution and western countries dictated to Greece, they were meeting at “tekedes”, underground illegal dens, where they could blend their music traditions and experiences while smoking hash, marijuana using shisha and other custom made devices.They used to sing, dance, fight, love and discuss for many hours until the morning or until the police were forcefully stop them and take them to the prison.
Change is inevitable and Rebetiko was not an exception. Metaxas dictatorship in Greece (1936-41) enforce music censorship, which include melodic pathways, rhythms and lyrics. Someone said life always finds a way and music did the same!
That was the birthplace of Rebetiko, more or less…
And that music is what Male Vrase will play and sing with us!
Mále Vráse’ is a Greek slang expression, meaning upset, a mess, bust up. Having in common the love for music from a very young age, the members of Mále Vráse mixed their influences and started their own music journey. Each one with a different musical background, they form their sound with respect to the original gramophone recordings, combined with contemporary music elements.
Mále Vráse band are:
Antonis Laurijsen – Guitar, Vocals
Charis Laurijsen – Bouzouki, Vocals
Dimitris Maris – Bouzouki, Vocals
Nikos Kaliouris – Violin
