Aman molli: Vocal Workshop with Vanessa Kourtesi & Special Concert with Vanessa Kourtesi and Asteris Varveris

Friday February 10th 2023, Aman molli: Vocal Workshop with Vanessa Kourtesi & Special Concert with Vanessa Kourtesi (vocals) and Asteris Varveris (laouto, vocals). The workshop will start at 7pm and last until 9pm. After a short break, concert. Donations welcome.

Workshop: In this short course, we will explore the dynamics of singing using performance techniques. Through group exercises and playful techniques, we will discover ways to relax and refocus our singing practice. Using the valuable benefits of group working, we will have the chance to experience group reflection and singing and explore voice in relation to our body as well. The workshop also includes vocal exercises, vocal group practice and technical and performance guidance. Each participant is asked to bring a short singing piece (one verse or one chorus would be enough) to practice and to play with through the workshop.

Aman Molli is an open collective workshop for modal music, broadly defined as music following melodic pathways that are outside the two standardized Western scales and associated harmonies. Instruments and Music Styles Any kind of acoustic instrument (Strings, percussions, wind, voice). Many of the instruments used today (guitars, bouzoukia etc.) have even-tempered tuning so the maqams/dromoi are not the traditional Arabic/Turkish/Persian microtonal versions but the westernized adaptations. One of the objectives is to explore the differences. In the same spirit, we add harmonic structure (in guitars or mpaglama chords etc) where possible.On the rhythm side we explore the various characteristics rhythms of these regions/musical tradition (9/8 etc.).

Benefit VoKu for Prosfygika & music by Rembetiko Against The Machine

Thursday 26 January 2023, Benefit Voku in solidarity with the squatted neighbourhood of Prosfygika with music performance by Rembetiko Against The Machine. Food served from 7pm, no reservation.

“Prosfygika”, or otherwise refugee homes, is a complex of residential flats built in 1930’s to house refugees resulting from the Asia Minor conflict between Greece and Turkey. The buildings are situated on a central avenue of Athens, surrounded on either side by the police HQ and the supreme court, in a heavily gentrified area . After years of abandonment, Prosfygika has been increasingly reclaiming its original purpose as many refugees, migrants, poor, greek and foreigner working class people have sought to resolve their need for housing by squatting the empty flats.
(Info-night and benefit for Prosfygika in 2014 at Joe’s Garage https://joesgarage.nl/archives/9989)

Rembetiko Against The Machine – A session with rebetiko tunes from the 1930’s till the early 1950’s. The period between the 1st and 2nd World Wars had a crucial role in the development of the Greek bouzouki players and the texture of the genre. We are gonna perform rebetiko tunes from each period. Looking forward to see you there and enjoy the night with this unique atmosphere!!!

Ilias Konstantinidis: guitar, vocals
Giannis Leloudas: bouzouki, vocals
Argyris Papadimitriou: bouzouki, baglamadaki, vocals

Statement Community of Squatted Prosfygika
ON THE ATTACK ON PROSFYGIKA OF L. ALEXANDRA

On the morning of 22/11, the forces of repression entered the 7th block of the squatted neighbourhood of the Prosfygika arresting comrade Kostas Dimalexis and then, in the afternoon of the same day, in the 6th block, arresting 79 of its defenders. The media once again did government propaganda.

There are more than 400 people living in the Prosfygika – The community of the squatted Prosfygika consists of about 150 adults and 30 children. We propose to organize society outside the state capitalism. We are the birthplace of the popular uprisings of December 2008 and the anti-monetary struggles of 2010-2012. We do not and have never believed in parliamentary fairy tales.
We promote the model of social self-management; we organize ourselves in direct democratic processes in our general assembly and in the regular and extraordinary procedures. We create and operate structures for living, education and and internal economy. At the same time we organize and participate in the struggles of the oppressed, because we fight until the collapse of this tyrannical and unjust regime. Until the whole world becomes one a community of equality, freedom, solidarity and social justice. […Lees verder]

Aman molli: Benefit dinner & Special Concert – Asteris Varveris & Eirini Zogali

Saturday 3rd December 2022, Benefit dinner & Aman Molli special concert with Asteris Varveris (laouto, guitar, vocals) & Eirini Zogali (oud, bouzouki, vocals), music from Eastern Mediterranean tradition and Greek rebetiko. Doors open at 6.30 pm, music starts at 8 pm. After the concert, there will be a jam session, so you’re more than welcome to bring your instruments! Donations welcome.

Before the concert there will be a 3 course dinner served as of 18:30. Any earnings will support the medical expenses of our 6yo fella Stefanos in Athens who is going through a sequence of surgeries. For more details about the cause, or alternative ways to support it, please ask the Aman Molli crew on Saturday.

Asteris Varveris and Eirini Zogali count six years of performing together as a duo. What started with purely rebetiko repertoire, led to experimentation of several eastern Mediterranean traditions and with different instruments! From guitar to laouto and from bouzouki to oud. Asteris and Eirini find a way to perform music that coordinates with them, with rebetiko being always their most important starting point. In the first part of the concert, the duo will present new compositions of the Eastern Mediterranean tradition, and new arrangements of traditional melodies of Greece. In the second part, the rebetiko will take over until the end of the performance.

What is rebetiko? It’s a greek urban folk music that was created in the 1920s and blossomed until the ’60s, with thousands of gramophone recordings that have been left behind for the new generations to represent it and study it. The main instruments of the genre are folk guitar and greek bouzouki.

Aman Molli is an open collective workshop for modal music, broadly defined as music following melodic pathways that are outside the two standardized Western scales and associated harmonies. Instruments and Music Styles Any kind of acoustic instrument (Strings, percussions, wind, voice). Many of the instruments used today (guitars, bouzoukia etc.) have even-tempered tuning so the maqams/dromoi are not the traditional Arabic/Turkish/Persian microtonal versions but the westernized adaptations. One of the objectives is to explore the differences. In the same spirit, we add harmonic structure (in guitars or mpaglama chords etc) where possible.On the rhythm side we explore the various characteristics rhythms of these regions/musical tradition (9/8 etc.).

Aman molli: Special Concert

Friday 11 November 2022, Aman molli: Special Concert, Turkish melodies with Duygu Alkan (voice), Alexandros Papadimitrakis (Oud), and Burak Savaş (violin). Door opens at 7pm, music at 9pm.

Aman molli and Joe’s Garage are opening the doors for a special music concert! Later at night jam will follow. Donations welcome.

Aman molli: Benefit voku for the Ypostego social centre and Rebetiko night

Friday 28 october 2022, Aman molli: Benefit voku for the Ypostego social centre and Rebetiko night. Food served from 7pm, no reservation. Music on the stage from 9pm.

Ypostego is a social center based in the southern suburban part of Athens with long history in activism and solidarity actions. The building is very old with no complete maintenance done in these years. Recently, some houses started to be built exactly next to Ypostego. Due to the drilling and excavations in order to create the foundations of theses houses the ceiling of Ypostego fell. The cost of repairing the ceiling and also fixing spots on it that will fall in the next months is way too high. We, a group of comrades that used to be actively participating or actively solidaire to that place when we were based in Athens, decided to organize an event with Rebetico music in order to gather some money for helping covering the costs as minimal act of solidarity.

Tameio Benefit – Rebetiko night, Volkseten Vegazulu and special concert with Rebet GuitarS

Monday, 25 July 2022, Tameio Benefit – Rebetiko night, Volkseten Vegazulu and special concert with Rebet GuitarS. Food served from 7pm, no reservation. After the people’s kitchen, music on the stage.

Ταμείο Αλληλεγγύης φυλακισμένων και διωκόμενων αγωνιστ(ρι)ών
… Μέχρι το γκρέμισμα της τελευταίας φυλακής …
Tameio, Solidarity Fund for Imprisoned, Persecuted Revolutionaries https://www.tameio.org/

Rebet GuitarS (Jaap Faber and Charis Konstantinou), a guitar duo, presenting the music of the legendary “Kostis”, the most enigmatic of all greek rebetika artists. 12+1 songs of truly unique guitar duets and black-humor lyrics chronicling the hash dens, prison culture and pickpockets of old Athens. Recorded in 1930-31 on 78 rpm records, under a pseudonym for export to the greeks living in America, research has uncovered the musician, journalist and cartoonist Kostas Bezos as the figure lurking behind the Kostis name, with ties to the famous singer and producer Tetos Demetriades. Rebetiko, the music crossroad between middle east and west from the early 1900’s. Songs about love, joy and sorrow. A musical sub-culture, a music of the lower classes.
Rebet GuitarS, the musical project which performed the most at Joe’s Garage, sometimes as a solo project, Rebet GuitaR or as a duo, Rebet GuitarS, sometimes with other musicians https://joesgarage.nl/archives/tag/rebet-guitar

Volkseten Vegazulu is a people’s kitchens existing since the very beginning of Joe’s Garage, June 2005. Your donations are welcome. Food is vegan, no reservation. All benefits go to social & political struggles. Joe’s Garage is a space run by volunteers. Without a collective effort, without your active participation, we’re remaining closed. Get in touch in you feel like giving a hand. We’re always looking for cooks. Any help is welcome in the kitchen. Experience not required. If you want to know which days are still available, mail us.

Proxy Cafe Benefit Voku, Rebet guitaR

Monday 23 May 2022, Proxy Cafe Benefit Voku. Volkseten Vegazulu. Food served from 7pm, no reservation. From 9pm, music on the stage with Rebet guitaR, at least one person playing Rebetiko.

The Proxy Cafe is mostly happening on Wednesdays from 18:00 till 22:00 at LAG, Joe’s Garage and other locations such as the Bowling, and why not in your social space, somewhere else than Amsterdam. Free software workshops. Discussing tech and politics, GNU/Linux, fixing computers and revive old laptops, free and opensource software workshops. Zapatista coffee.
Proxy Cafe, Amsterdam
https://squ.at/r/8i60
https://proxycafe.puscii.nl/

Rebet GuitaR – Rebetiko, the music crossroad between middle east and west from the early 1900’s. Songs about love, joy and sorrow. A musical sub-culture, a music of the lower classes.
“The womb of rebetiko was the jail and the hash den. It was there that the early rebetes created their songs. They sang in quiet, harsh voices, unforced, one after the other, each singer adding a verse which often bore no relation to the previous verse, and a song often went on for hours. There was no refrain, and the melody was simple and easy.” Ilias Petropoulos
Rebet guitar, focuses on the early rebetiko with one guitar, finger-pick style developed in USA by Giorgos Katsaros(George Curly), Kostas ‘Gus’ Dousias.

Volkseten Vegazulu is a people’s kitchens existing since the very beginning of Joe’s Garage, June 2005. Your donations are welcome. Food is vegan, no reservation. All benefits go to social & political struggles. Joe’s Garage is a space run by volunteers. Without a collective effort, without your active participation, we’re remaining closed. Get in touch in you feel like giving a hand. We’re always looking for cooks. Any help is welcome in the kitchen. Experience not required. If you want to know which days are still available, mail us.

Aman molli: Special concert! Support anti-war actions and Squat Fabrika Yphanet

Friday 20 May 2022, Aman Molli special concert. Doors open at 7 pm. Food from 7:30 pm, music at 9pm.

Donation money for the food will cover the cost of the ingredients and the rest will support anti-war actions as well as support Squat Fabrika Yphanet in Thessaloniki, Greece to remain open. Music at ~ 9pm we start with East-mediterranean traditional melodies: Alexandros Papadimitrakis (Oud), Eirini Zogali (Oud/Bouzouki), Asteris Varveris (Guitar/Lute/Voice) & Thodoris Ziarkas (Lyre from Karpathos) and guests. Donations welcome. Later at night jam will follow.