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The annual summer solstice festival in Polis, Cyprus, offer participants the chance to experience a variety of ways to relax against the stunning backdrop of the beach

We’ve all opened a glossy magazine and felt a slight pang of jealously as celebrities jet off to wonderful and exotic places. Madonna loves to get away from it all on special retreats where she indulges in yoga at sunrise. Nicole Kidman is a fan of finding escape at some of the world’s most secluded getaways as she makes the most of the serene natural environment. Ah, to lead such a life.

Hang on a second though. Here we are, living on a beautiful Mediterranean island and we seem to constantly long for what we haven’t got. Sometimes we sigh and wish we could ‘just get away from it all’ only to fall back onto the sofa and flick through television channels as a form of escape. We’ve heard time and again that taking time out in nature is great for our physical and mental state, but too often we get caught up in the everyday routine to pack up our things and give ourselves a treat.

This coming weekend really is the time to appreciate everything that the great outdoors has to offer as the summer solstice approaches and the camping ground in Polis Chrysochous, Paphos, is about to be transformed into a ‘healing celebration’. With everything except the camping equipment being free of charge, this is one event that you won’t be able to resist.

Next to the sea, the camping area is shaded by tall eucalyptus trees and you can pop in and out of the crystal clear water for a swim between activities. You can also forget about all the crowds that you find down at the beach in mid summer, this is one secluded spot that is all about relaxation. “Just getting out into nature is so important,” says Siri Shabe, one of the two main organisers of the event. “Trapped in the town, we spend most of our time totally disconnected from the elements. This is a chance to soak up all the energy from the sun, sea and all the surrounding nature.”

As a yearly celebration, the event attracts individuals from all over the island as they get together to enjoy yoga, meditation, drumming workshops, one-to-one healing sessions and plenty of interesting bazaars. If you’re not too fond of the idea of sleeping in a tent, then you can always stay at a nearby hotel and come and go as you please.

The festival will open with a healing sound meditation on Friday evening, to be followed by a drum ceremony on the beach where HeleniQ and other experienced players will be sweeping you away with their rhythms. Wake up on Saturday and enjoy early morning Kundali Yoga practice. One-to-one healing sessions with qualified healers will then give you the chance to talk about anything that you feel is affecting your well-being. “It’s all about discovering something that will work well for you on a personal level as you’re given advice on relieving stress and seeing certain issues from a different perspective,” says Siri.

There’s a load to do during the rest of the day with some of the most interesting activities including an introduction to Tantra Yoga, a talk on the importance of raw foods, and an Arabian rhythm sound journey. The workshop on the very old and fascinating Tantra Yoga for both men and women is dedicated to the law of polarity in nature between the opposite sexes and it can be used as a key for transformation. On Sunday there’ll be lots more yoga, one-to-one healing sessions, and interesting meditation that even teenagers can take part in. In the afternoon you can experience Yang Maha Spiral, a powerful meditation, followed by music to add to the relaxing experience.

Apart from all the events planned, there will also be a number of stalls to browse. At the ‘heaven on earth’ stall you can get hold of organic herbal products for the whole body, herbal teas, natural skin products and essential oils. Holistic remedies will also be available as well as a special Aquarius Health stand. You may not be jetting off to the other side of the globe, but head down to Polis for the weekend and you’re bound to feel a world of difference come Monday morning.

Summer Solstice Celebration > A healing celebration with yoga, meditation, drumming, sacred sounds, one-to-one healing and workshops and bazaars. June 22, 23 and 24. Eucalyptus Wood, Polis Camping Grounds, Polis tis Chrysochous, Paphos District. Free entrance. For info call 25 816232 or visit > www.cyprusspirit.com/sshc.html

Following our yesterday’s post > British couple in new fight over villa in occupied Cyprus .

Greek Cypriot refugee Meletis Apostolides yesterday recorded a major victory in the Orams vs Apostolides court case, after the top judge in the UK announced the case would be referred to the Court of European Communities.

Yesterday’s decision, described by Apostolides’ lawyer as a “major triumph”, means that the previous ruling in favour of British couple Linda and David Orams would not stand.

According to Judge Lord Philips, the Lord Chief Justice, a number of legal points would be referred to the Court of European Communities for interpretation. The court was yesterday adjourned for the two sides to agree on the points to be referred.

Apostolides had lost his initial battle to win back his property currently in the Turkish military controlled and occupied north area of the Republic of Cyprus, through the courts in September 2006 after a UK judge ruled that an earlier Nicosia court decision to evict the British couple that had illegally built a villa on Apostolides’ Lapithos property was unenforceable due to protocol 10, which suspends the acquis for the occupied north area of Cyprus.

Constandinos Candounas, Apostolides’ lawyer, said that this was a great day for his client. “This is amazing news for us. This was our main target at the start of the day; this is the only reason we came to London. After the judge’s announcement, the previous ruling basically disappears,” he said yesterday in London.

If the two camps do not agree on the exact points to be referred to the Court of European Communities, each side would present its own draft that would be given to the judge for him to make the final decision.

The Orams are being represented by Cherie Blair, the wife of outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a fact that had given the case increased publicity in the past.

According to the Apostolides camp, the reasoning of initial ruling was coherently flawed, as the judge had made a “complete and utter mistaken interpretation” in its application of protocol 10 of Cyprus’ accession treaty. The protocol had been added to Cyprus’ accession treaty because the Cypriot government did not want to be held responsible by the EU for events that happened in the Turkish military controlled and occupied north area of the Republic, currently outside of its control, leading the London High Court judge to rule that British, Cypriot and other EU courts held no jurisdiction over the occupied north area of Cyprus.

The importance of the case was evident from the outset, as the Lord Chief Justice, the Head of the Judiciary of England and Wales, was appointed as the judge for the case. The court resumes tomorrow at 10 am UK time, with a final decision expected either today or on Wednesday.

The third annual “Fête de la Musique” in Vaud’s capital on Thursday features artists from Greece and Portugal among the 102 free concerts geared to celebrating the longest day of the year.

Lausanne’s third annual “Fête de la musique” welcomes musicians from abroad as part of the festivities on Thursday, June 21. More than 1,300 musicians will perform 102 concerts and participate in 11 musical workshops at 33 outdoor and indoor settings across the city.

Greece and Portugal are this year’s special guests of honor with two popular rock bands from these countries set to perform on the place Centrale. The Greek pop-rock group Film has often taken to the stage in Athens as a warmup act for international artists such as Placebo and the Cure. Film will perform at 8 p.m., while the Portuguese band Dr1ve will perform at 10 p.m.

Each venue promises a different music style. The Place de la Louve will offer world music, with nomadic Moroccan songs by the Zaila band and electro-Berber music performed by the Tizi group. Jazz sessions are planned for the esplanade de Montbenon, while French music is slated for the Place Arlaud.

Musical workshops will be held at the Forum of the Hôtel de Ville, starting at 3:30 p.m., while Lausanne’s chamber orchestra is set to perform works by Vivaldi, Beethoven, Stravinsky and Chostakovitch at Mon-Repos park. In case of rain, concerts will move indoors to the Montbenon Casino at 9:30 p.m.

The festival is run in conjunction with others, including one in Geneva, taking place simultaneously in more than 110 countries and 250 cities worldwide. It is free of charge. Events start at 10 a.m. and run until midnight.

For a complete program and a map showing the venues, visit > http://www.lausanne.ch/view.asp?DomID=64073

Works by Stratos Kalafatis at Photoespana

After spending four years with his family on the island of Skopelos, the Thessaloniki-based photographer Stratos Kalafatis collected the pictures he took during that time and consolidated them into what he considers a visual diary.

“Journal 1998-2002” which was edited down to a 150 images, was first presented several years ago at the French Institute in Thessaloniki within the context of the Photosynkyria event and was subsequently presented in a publication by Agra. Last year, it was shown in Japan and at the Tampere Triennale in Finland. It is now presented as a solo exhibition at the well-known Photoespana event, which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary.

The exhibition is organized by the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, which will participate this year in the Spanish event for the first time, and is curated by the Museum’s Director, Vangelis Ioakimidis. The Kalfayan Gallery which represents Kalafatis’s work has also collaborated. The exhibition is one among the 30 solo shows included in Photoespana.

The director of the Parisian Vu gallery, writes in the Agra publication of the importance that color plays in the work of Kalafatis. In most cases, the bold colors and strong chromatic contrasts that typify his work do not correspond to natural hues but are the outcome of the so-called cross-processing which is used during developing.

The themes of the photographs range from portraits to landscapes as well as details taken from everyday life. Most of them share a sense of the uncanny and evoke a surreal and, at times, slightly menacing mood. In several of the pictures that depict children, for example, one has the sense of impending danger. Also typical of the work of Kalafatis is the way that it plays with what is real and fictional. The photographer says that he likes challenging the viewer with this ambiguity. He also says that this interplay between the real and non-real is inherent in photography, since photographs rarely capture an objective view or reality.

The participation of Kalafatis in the Spanish photo festival is an occasion for an international crowd to get to know the work of a Greek photographer and is also an optimistic sign of how Greek artists are gradually gaining international exposure.

For info > www.phedigital.com or www.stratoskalafatis.gr

Clumsy, yet lively and expressive, the works of art currently on display at the Museum of Greek Children’s Art are also of historical value.

Samples of child behavior, they were created by children hospitalized in the Heppocrateio Hospital’s children’s ward from 1945 to 1948. At the helm of the hospital at the time was Professor Constantinos N. Alivizatos and it is his wife, Lily Alivizatou, who came to the rescue of these examples of artistic expression. Two years ago, she donated the collection to the Museum of Greek Children’s Art. At the same time, Hestia Publishers have just published a stylish and moving edition on the world of children during the German occupation. The book records the emotions of the children, as well as those of the enlightened people who took care of their nutrition, attire and rudimentary education, ultimately offering them the chance to express themselves through art during difficult times.

Back then, literature Professor Manolis Triantafyllidis, writer Ilias Venezis and artist Spyros Vassileiou supported the efforts of Alivizatos. At the first International Exhibition of Children’s Drawings in Paris in 1947, 1,200 works from 40 countries went on display. Among them were 17 works from the Heppocrateio children’s ward. At the Plaka Museum recently, historian and honorary President of the Museum Aikaterini Koumarianou, and professor and artist Iota Kalliakmani unveiled the images of the past in an emotional ceremony.

Museum of Greek Children’s Art, 9 Kodrou Street, Plaka, Athens, tel 210 3312621. To November 18.

The pioneering UK-based band performs at Athens’ Kotzia Square on Thursday

Transglobal Underground, innovative leaders on the world music circuit since surfacing in the early 90s, rank as a highlight on the local agenda for this year’s European Music Day celebrations. The UK-based collective, a multicultural fusion act which recently released a well-received eighth album, is scheduled to perform this Thursday night at Kotzia Square. Currently preoccupied with the construction of a new house in the south of France, the popular vocalist Natasha Atlas, a part-time yet lasting contributor to this collective, will not be among its cast for Thursday’s show. Co-founder Tim Whelan, aka Alex Kasiek, offered his comments ahead of Thursday’s performance.

You’ll be playing a street show at one of the city’s squares for this visit to Athens. How does it compare to playing at a regular venue? Does it affect the set list, or playing? > Playing in the middle of the city isn’t easy to predict… It depends on how close we feel to the audience. It’s important to do both club shows and outdoor city or festival shows. If we only did one sort we’d miss out on the other.

Your latest album “Moonshout” has been described as one of your most diverse. If you agree, was that intentional? Is there much discussion between the band’s members about the musical objectives before making a new album, or do you just let things go wherever? > We always talk about what we’re trying to do and what we want to create musically before we start work. But we always end up doing something completely different from what we’d intended! One reason this album is so diverse is that, at one point, it was two separate projects. One was to be dance floor-based, the other more acoustic. But it’s all us, so in the end it all went into the mixture.

Overall, your music’s exciting and entertaining. Though possibly less obvious, there’s also a serious aspect in there too: In fusing so many styles and being a multicultural act, you’re also sending out a political message of togetherness… > We’d like to think that what we do is now fairly normal… It was unusual when we started. On most of our albums we’ve avoided too much political comment in the songs because you can feel it in the music. On this album, we’ve made some clearer statements in places. But they still don’t make much sense without the music, so if anyone wants to know what they are, they’ll have to listen to it.

Do you feel any hope amid the seemingly worsening political state of the world? > Yes, but if you’d asked us at the time of our last album, we’d have said “no.” So many supposedly wise, powerful and intelligent people have proved themselves to be stupid, impotent and ignorant to the point where their ability to impose their stupidities on the rest of us is diminishing.

A few words about the Iraqi hip-hop act Aiwa which appears on the new album? > They’re based in Rennes in France. Naufalle is the rapper in the group and we’ve known him for a long time. We’re doing two shows in the UK with them next week, and have remixed a track on their new remix album. The contacts and collaborations we do with other artists, such as Aiwa, Yank Rupkina from Bulgaria or Blasted Mechanism from Portugal, are very important to us.

European Music Day returns Thursday with over 120 acts around Athens and in 11 more Greek cities > Cuban Alfonso X plays Athen’s Syntagma Square on Thursday

Now almost a decade old in Greece, European Music Day, a seasoned annual event of French origins whose purpose is to get people and musicians out on the streets for widespread and free-for-all entertainment, returns this week bigger than ever before in this country.

Beginning Thursday, on European Music Day, and stretched out over the next two days, this year’s local version of the event will feature shows at over 10 points around downtown Athens and in a further 11 provincial Greek cities, a record number since the event was introduced here. Besides Athens, the event’s musical action this year will also go out to Yiannitsa, Ioannina, Karditsa, Katerini, Lamia, Livadia, Preveza, Serres, Trikala, Volos and Thessaloniki.

All in all, some 120 acts of various styles, ranging from metal to classical, will be performing over the three days. The overwhelming majority of acts scheduled to perform are domestic. A total of 18 visiting acts, up from 16 last year, have been booked to perform, as part of an exchange program between local European organizers. Visiting acts include the pioneering multicultural act Transglobal Underground, jazz-funk band US3 and Cuban old-new fusion artist X Alfonso.

For the first time since European Music Day was introduced here eight years ago by MESO, the event’s local representative, Greek acts will participate in the event’s exchange program. Local indie pop-rock group Film are on the agenda for the European Music Day proceedings in Lausanne, and the Harris Lambrakis Quartet, fronted by a talented multi-instrumentalist whose activity includes working with famed vocalist Savina Yiannatou’s backing band, Primavera En Salonico, will perform in the Italian town Rivoli, just west of Turin.

“The artists want this kind of thing. This is good for the artists, good for our city and good for the country’s image,” noted Georges Perot, head at MESO, which is co-organizing European Music Day with PODA, the Cultural Organization of the City of Athens. “We’ve got something for everybody on the program, from metal to as classical as it can get,” Perot continued, commenting on the event’s domestic agenda.

New developments in Athens this year include free transport linking all the festival’s stages in Athens on Thursday and Friday between 3 p.m. and midnight. Also, Sina Street in Kolonaki, where the French Institute is located, will be closed off for concerts and other cultural events. Other musical points in Athens include Syntagma Square, the Athenaeum venue in Thiseion, Zappeion, Gazi, and Klafthmonos, Kotzia and Mavilli Squares.

For details > www.musicday.gr or www.myspace.com/europeanmusicday