Opa! Festival brings sights, sounds, tastes of Greece to Troy June 14, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Greek Diaspora Festivals.add a comment
Get ready for metro Detroit’s 14th annual greatest celebration of all things Greek.
With everything from homemade Greek specialties to music with a former “American Idol” contestant, entertainment, art and an authentic marketplace, Opa! Greek Festival 2007 is sure to have something for everyone June 22-24.
The festival is also the main fundraiser for St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church of Troy, and admission is $2 per person or free with three cans of food, which will be donated to Gleaners Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan.
Opa! Fest spokeswoman Pam Nikitas said last year’s festival drew 10,000 people. “You get to be part of the Greek family and enjoy the culture, experience the fun,” she said. “We have tours of St. Nicholas Church, and our priest has tours of the Orthodox faith for those who would like to learn more about it.”
Nikitas said this year’s star attraction is “American Idol” finalist Constantine Maroulis, who is scheduled to perform at 7 p.m. June 23 and 3 p.m. June 24. Maroulis, 30, appeared on season 4 of the hit Fox reality show, and made to the top six.
Other Opa! Festival highlights include kids games and rides, traditional music from the popular Greek band The Levendes, and folk dances performed by more than 200 dancers. Papa Joe’s restaurant of Birmingham is sponsoring a wine tasting with a variety of Greek wines, and local attorney and art collector John Korachis will exhibit his collection of Greek folk art. Palate-pleasers include authentic Greek dinner entrees and unique desserts and pastries prepared by St. Nicholas parishioners, and the best Greek chefs in metro Detroit will be on hand to demonstrate secrets and techniques of Greek cuisine.
The Rev. Fr. Stratton Dorozenski said the tours of St. Nicholas are an opportunity for people who pass by the church every day to experience the beauty of the art and architecture inside the church. “We explain the unique architecture and the theology contained within it, and answer any questions they might have about the faith,” he said. “People really do have wonderful questions, and it’s a good opportunity to share our community with them.” The current church opened its doors in 1994, after the congregation relocated from St. Nicholas Hellenic Orthodox Church in Detroit.
Nikitas said the proceeds from the festival support the parish’s building fund, as well as 20 charities throughout southeastern Michigan, including Children’s Hospital, Ronald McDonald House of Detroit, Grace Centers of Hope, Karmanos Cancer Institute, Lighthouse of Oakland County and Troy People Concerned.
The 2007 Opa! Festival runs from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. June 22, 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. June 23 and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. June 24 on the grounds of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 760 W. Wattles Road in Troy. There is free parking and shuttle service from Walsh College to the festival. Daily admission is $2 for adults and free for children under 12, or free with three cans of food.
‘Masnavi’ translated into Greek June 14, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in BooksLife Greek.add a comment
The immortal masterpiece of the world literature Masnavi by the great Iranian poet and mystic Mowlavi has been translated into Greek.
The valuable volume was rendered in Greek by Lina Mystakidou and was published by Sidres Publications. The move has been sponsored by Iran’s Cultural Office in Greece as part of the international initiative to commemorate the 800th birth anniversary of the towering figure of Persian literature.
As UNESCO named 2007 as the year of Mowlavi, numerous conferences, literary forums and other cultural programs have been held all over the world to celebrate the poet known as ‘the poet of nations’. Jalal ad-Din Mohammad Balkhi, known as Mowlavi, was born on September 30, 1207. His major work is Masnavi, a six-volume poem considered by many to be one of the greatest works of both Islamic mysticism and Persian literature.
The main characteristic of Mowlavi’s Masnavi is the diversity of motifs. Mystical, religious, ethical, and sometimes psychological motifs are used. Most of the chapters in Masnavi contain narratives generally drawn from the Qur’anic narratives about prophets. In addition, he includes the Qur’anic verses and hadiths, giving them mystical interpretations. Mowlavi’s other masterpiece is the Divan-e Shams, named in honor of his spiritual guide Shams Tabrizi, comprising some 40,000 verses.
Swiss hand back to Greece stolen statue of Apollo from Crete June 14, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Archaeology.add a comment
The torso of a marble statue of Apollo, dating back to the first century A.D., is displayed at Greece’s National Archaeological Museum in Athens June 14, 2007. The 1.3-metre statue is of great value for Greece’s cultural heritage.
Switzerland has returned an ancient Greek statue stolen 16 years ago and recently discovered in the collection of an antiquities dealer. The marble statue of god Apollo, discovered in the late 19th century in the town of Gortyna in Crete, was sought by Greece ever since it was reported stolen in 1991 together with nine other items.
The recovery of the 1,900-year-old headless marble sculpture comes as Greece campaigns for the repatriation of illegally exported antiquities. The Federal Culture Office said the 1.3-metre torso of a young man was loaded on a plane in Zurich bound for Athens, where it arrived on Thursday. The Culture Office added that Switzerland was implementing measures to combat the illegal transfer of cultural goods. Switzerland has concluded several agreements on the import and repatriation of cultural heritage with countries including Greece, Italy and Peru.
The Greek Culture Minister, Giorgos Voulgarakis, said the statue returned had been traced in March to the Swiss city of Basel. “Today’s event is a result of international cooperation to protect our cultural heritage. More results will be announced soon,” Voulgarakis said after the statue was delivered to the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. He said the statue would be returned to Crete at a later date.
The returned statue, possibly the Greek god Apollo, had been registered as stolen on an international police database. Its location was reported to Interpol in March by an unknown individual, Yves Fischer of the Swiss Federal Culture Office told the Associated Press. Voulgarakis said the Swiss-based antiquities dealer was persuaded by authorities to surrender the statue and voluntarily drop all claims to it. Voulgarakis formerly headed the Ministry of Public Order, in charge of law enforcement, and has stepped up efforts against the rogue antiquities trade since becoming Culture Minister last year.
Recently returned antiquities include sculptures from the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Voulgarakis’ campaign coincides with the construction of a new Museum at the foot of the ancient Acropolis which is due open in early 2008. The site will be purpose-built to house the so-called Elgin marbles, the Parthenon sculptures currently on display at the British Museum in London, if returned.
“The new Museum will soon be a reality,” Voulgarakis said. “We are striving for the Parthenon marbles to be reunited. It would be a shame for such a Museum at such a special site to remain half-empty.”
Pictures of emotion, courage and diversity June 14, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Arts Festivals, Arts Museums.add a comment
American athlete Aimee Mullins is expected in Athens for the festival
Diversity may be an alternative form of artistic expression. This is the case of the first international festival on documentary and disability: “Emotion Pictures”, set to take place at the Benaki Museum’s Pireos wing, this Saturday to Monday next week. The festival is part of the 2nd International Conference “People with Disabilities and Mass Media” organized by the Secretariat General of Communication.
Boasting 350 participations from 45 countries, the festival includes 40 screenings, 32 of which are in the competition section. Five awards, each carrying a 20,000 euro cash prize, will be presented by an international committee, while the festival’s artistic director is film director Maria Hadjimichali-Papaliou.
Celebrated disabled British artist Alison Lapper will inaugurate the festival’s activities. “Alison Lapper Pregnant” a sculpture by British artist Marc Quinn, currently stands in London’s Trafalgar Square. In 2003, Lapper was the recipient of the “Woman of the Year” award in Spain, while her works have gone on display in major museums and galleries, such as London’s Photographer’s Gallery and Fabrica.
Well-known Paralympic athlete Aimee Mullins is also expected in Athens for the festival. Besides being an accomplished athlete, Mullins is a model, actress and speaker, as well as a role model for disabled people all over the world. In 2001, the American athlete was included in the permanent exhibit of the Women’s Museum in Dallas as one of the “Greatest American Women of the 20th Century.”
The competition part of the festival opens with “My Eyes” by Denmark’s Erlend E. Mo. This film, as well the event’s Greek documentaries, except “Chip & Ovi”, will be accompanied by aural description in Greek for those with diminished eyesight or blindness. The festival’s opening ceremony will be presented by Lakis Lazopoulos, while entrance to all screenings will be free of charge.
“Emotion Pictures” > at the Benaki Museum’s Pireos Annex, 138 Pireos Street and Andronikou Street, Athens. For more information on the festival and screenings visit > www.ameamedia.gr
Drumming home the message against drug abuse June 14, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Health & Fitness, MusicLife LiveGigs.add a comment
Japan’s Yamato will perform on the occasion of International Day against Drug Abuse > Yamato will give shows in Athens, Patras and Thessaloniki, starting tomorrow, to June 20
Local audiences will fall in with the beat tomorrow to June 20, as the Yamato Drummers of Japan will visit Greece. Joined by the Ithaki rehabilitation center percussion group, Yamato will perform on the occasion of the International Day against Drug Abuse. With their fascinating drums, their skillful movements and their mysticism, Yamato have given about 900 performances in 52 countries.
Yamato is a group of young professional drummers who play wadaiko, which are very small drums of 30 centimeters and weigh 2 kilos, as well as very big drums that weigh more than 400 kilos and are 1.90 meters high. The way they play is very striking and full of energy and the show is at times serious and at other times funny.
Yamato will play at Athens’s Lycabettus Theater tomorrow and Saturday, at Patras’s Ancient Odeon on June 18 and at Thessaloniki’s Gis Theater on June 20.
Young Greek star moves to CSKA Moscow June 14, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Basketball.add a comment
Nikos Zisis, Greece’s top scorer at Eurobasket in 2005, which the National Team won, has signed a three-year deal with CSKA Moscow, it was announced yesterday.
“It was certainly a difficult decision in the sense that there were lots of offers,” said Zisis, formerly of Benetton Treviso. “I considered it to be the best decision for my future as a professional,” he continued, citing the club’s past, coach and five successive Euroleague Final Four appearances as factors.
Zisis, 23, could join Greece teammate Thodoris Papaloukas at CSKA Moscow if the latter does not move to the NBA. Papaloukas, voted Europe’s player of the year for 2006, is believed to be considering offers from several NBA clubs. He has not elaborated, but the Miami Heat is believed to be one of the contenders.
Thessaloniki Exhibition Center in need of upgrade June 14, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Business & Economy, Shows & Conferences.add a comment
The revamp of the Thessaloniki Exhibition Center is part of the operating company’s business plan, which is being prepared by a group of its own employees.
‘This is because we believe companies should ensure continuity over time and so we are tapping their accumulated experience,’ said CEO Nikos Kasimatis. After posting a profit for the first time, Thessaloniki International Fair SA now intends to give its exhibition center an overhaul, it was announced yesterday, with a relevant proposal expected to be submitted to the Economy and Finance Ministry by November.
Last year was the first in which the company showed a profit since it split from Helexpo in 1999. Chairman Dimitris Bakatselos stated that profits totaled 210,000 euros in 2006 against losses of 517,000 euros in 2005, whilst net worth also rose significantly to reach 261 million euros.
The company’s new business plan for the period 2008-2010 is for the first time being drafted by a group of employees rather than a consultancy company. Bakatselos said that it was “imperative” for Thessaloniki to acquire a modern international exhibition center immediately, otherwise, he said, “the city will find itself off the exhibition map, due to international and domestic competition and in view of the rapid developments already taking place in Southeast Europe.”
CEO Nikos Kasimatis stressed that the plan for the exhibition center is being drawn up with two key factors in mind: firstly, the fact that Thessaloniki is in need of new exhibition infrastructures and, secondly, that it would be difficult for the fair to move from its current location. Other considerations, he said, are the positions and proposals of local authorities within the framework of talks held with the company in 2005.
For the next three years, the company aims to emerge as the leading player in regional exhibition policy and head the region’s exhibition bodies, to turn toward sectoral events but without affecting existing exhibitions such as “Crete,” “Thrace” etc, while at the same time enhancing the port city’s recognizability as an exhibition venue.
Outlining the firm’s activities during the period 2004-2006, Kasimatis stressed that the strategic plan had been 90 percent implemented. The plan aimed to strengthen regional exhibition policy and create a network of regional exhibition and conference centers across Greece. Investments exceeded 1 million euros in the above period, achieving a quantitative and qualitative upgrading of the two regional exhibitions, “Crete” and “Thrace.”
grhomeboy
