[Dutch only]
“Aangenaam tegendraads was de muzikale duit die NO blues in het festivalzakje deed met haar weidse klankpallet, dat zich uitstrekt van het Midden-Oosten tot diep in het Amerikaanse ‘Heartland’. Bovendien waren er heel wat verbaasde blikken richting het podium, want veel gipsyfestivalgangers hadden blijkbaar nog nooit een Ud (Arabishe luit) of Dobro (metalen resonatorgitaar) gezien”.
Volkskrant: Ton Maas
[moderator]: NO blues trad op met Cybalom speler Vasile Nedea
“Als je als bluesliefhebber naar een theaterconcert gaat van NO blues dan word je alleen al door de naam op het verkeerde been gezet. De speelvloer is prachtig uitgelicht, maar de band komt in het donker op.
Alleen de Arabische elfsnarige luitspeler Haytham Safia uit Galilea zit in de spotlight. Voor hem is het een speciale avond aangezien zijn ouders in de zaal zitten. Hij begint met een zinderende luitsolo. Dit snijdt allemachtig veel hout, het gaat dwars door de ziel heen. Daarna vallen de andere muzikanten in……” lees verder
Meer foto’s van het concert door Bert Lek.
Review ‘Hela Hela’ from Paris. See whole article in french.
Article_paris-move_Hela Hela
In the morning we got into the van and drove the last part of the tour back to Athens. During the three hours drive, we listened to a compilation CD that we got from one of the people at the venue in Patras. An eclectic mix of world music songs. Great stuff! To the person who gave it to us, thanks, we loved it! And it was a nice soundtrack to the scenery. In Athens we first went to the hotel and Haytham was determined to see the Acropolis and Ad, Ankie and Lavros went with him. Rob and Anne-Maarten went to a radio interview at an Athens radio station. The radio show had been playing the NO blues CD’s for a couple of years and the DJ was excited to have a part of the band in for an interview. After the interview, the band met at Avlea, a venue with a great night club vibe. The owner Aris took us to our third evening of good Greek food. We had dinner at a small table that was packed with great food and red wine. Back at the venue the audience started coming in and when the band got on stage there was a nice crowd. After the gig we had a couple of drinks with Aris and his wife and brought a toast to a good Greek tour.
The next morning Aris dropped us of at the airport and after a four hour flight we were back in Holland.
NO blues liberation 2011
We continue this roadstory while travelling from Thessaloniki to Patras in our tourvan with Lavros. Although we usually hate the long drives (and this is a 7 hour one) this was quite a beautiful one. We started with sun at sea level in Thessaloniki and drove al the way into the mountains where it was snowing. We almost felt like we were on holiday in Swiss, but enjoyed throwing snowballs in Greece. First time for everything!
But even great scenery has its limits so we were quite happy to arrive in Patras and arriving at the Lithografeion. Outside the building there is almost no sign of the great venue it is inside. We had a strong feeling of entering the old Effenaar (the rock venue of Eindhoven in NL). The reception by the crew of the Lithografeion was great and we immediately felt like this was gonna be a quite different show. Ticket sales were really good and NO blues had been on the radio for almost 3 years in Patras.
At this stage we had no idea what the night would bring, so after the soundcheck we went out to find us some of he great Greek food. We will never go to a Greek restaurant in Holland expecting to have anything near to the quality of the restaurants we had dinner at during this tour.
When we arrived at the club again the street and club where crowded with people who where really looking forward to the show, what a great way to start the gig! Here and here is some footage of the show, maybe not the best one we ever did but it was sure full of energy! Great crowd too which fully enjoyed the show. When I was having a smoke outside (!) I got some letters from people about the gig. In Greek, so we couldn’t read a word, but Lavros and Dimitrios (who took a plain from the USA to see the gig) were kind enough to translate. Thank you dear writers!
We ended up in a nice pub called ‘the blue monday’ and had just a little bit too much to drink with our new friends form Patras, but a big thank you to promoter Christos, his staff and fans in Patras in place here! And you radio guys who spinnend our records for so many years: you rock!
We spent whatever little was left of the night to catch up some sleep before leaving to Athens tomorrow.
So as part 1 of the Greece story ended when Anne-Maarten and me were invited to have a talk with the owner about a discount on the fee of the gig, which was supposed to start in 10 (!)minutes. So much for timing. We found ourself s in a tight spot, sitting in a bar, also owned by the promoter of the club. No returned contract, empty club and a busy promoter who was dividing his time by shouting in his mobile phone in Greek and pulling all the excuses of the world out of this sleeve in English.
After 10 minutes Anne-Maarten was already in the kill-mode and I was loosing my patience and good behaviour too. Back and forth switching between Dutch, English, the little Greek we speak and pure irritation, we agreed on 80% of the fee payed in cash before the show. The other 20% would be payed by invoice, so we had no other option then to trust the guy for his word. When we were back in the club it was actually quite busy and it was just at that moment we realized Greek audiences usually come in late.
The rest of the band was waiting and wondering why we were away for so long and it felt like a good idea not to tell the story until after the show.
One should almost forget that the Rai live club is a really nice little theater like club, with a good pa and lighting system and a friendly staff. So although Anne started the show with much of the anger still in his voice we did a nice gig, well appreciated by an audience that clearly never heard the music of NO blues before.
After the gig and a few drinks we left for the hotel talking about the possibility that we had to discuss fees and stuff every gig for the next days. Not quite an entertaining thought, which needed a couple of drinks (billed on the promoter) to get over with. The next day would be a long drive from Thessaloniki to Patras, all the way through the mountains.
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