My Week in Athens… Nov 29

  • by XpatAthens
  • Thursday, 05 February 2015
My Week in Athens… Nov 29
The other night I went to a concert – a performance of Ara Dinkjian and Eleftheria Arvanitaki at the Pallas theatre. Dinkjian is an Armenian-American musician; Arvanitaki is a well-known Greek singer. The combination of the eastern musical sounds of his oud, and her beautiful ethereal voice (not to mention the 20euro ticket price), made this a beautiful night out…

The Pallas theatre is tucked away behind the Attica department store near Syntagma square. It’s a classic theatre, and judging by the program pamphlet they gave out, there are lots of interesting shows coming up…

The evening was an unexpected mixture of two distinct but related cultures – the music was both familiar and ‘exotic’, and the blending of Armenian and Greek vocals with the perfect-English commentary of Dinkjian, created a wonderful international performance.

The night was full of beautiful music, music with a subtle message of ‘hope’ for everyone there. The classic songs and lyrics of this duo took on a different tone in today’s Athens – the hand clapping and cheers of the audience means they probably got the message.

Check out Elliniki Theamaton for the Pallas and other theatre listings.

Until next week,

Jack

In this weekly space, keep up with ‘Jack’ as he navigates daily life in Athens… Anecdotes, stories, hits & misses, the good, the bad and, well, the rest…