The 2005 Greek Eurovision winner, Helena Paparizou, recently dropped the music video for her incredible new song, ‘Anamoni’.
Paparizou released her new album ‘Apohrosis’ last week, comprising of thirteen tracks. The tenth studio album of her career, the Greek singer partnered with Minos EMI to deliver the culmination of all her ‘Shades’.
Every song reveals a new shade to Helena and the depth of her music range over the past 22yrs of her illustrious career.
The latest single, ‘Anamoni’ was composed and written by Arcade and directed by Vangelis Tsousopoulos.
Six more singles from Apohrosis are set to premiere in the coming days (11-25 February), ESC Covers reports.
Helena Paparizou has represented Greece twice at the Eurovision Song Contest twice (2001, 2005), becoming the only Greek Eurovision winner in 2005. Her song, ‘My number one‘, continues to be a pop classic and is remembered as one of Eurovision’s greatest performances.
The Melbourne Rebetiko Jam was the brainchild of local Rebetiko Musicians Wayne Simmons and Con Kalamaras.
The two wanted to create a safe, and inclusive space for musicians, regardless of musical ability to come together, learn and share their passion of Rebetiko – commonly known as the Greek Blues.
The Jam will celebrate its second anniversary this coming March, bringing together people from all walks of life to play, study and perform at Triakosia, located in Clifton Hill.
Co-founder Con Kalamaras said him and Simmons were “so happy” to celebrate their second year and look to continue this musical cultural investment.
“Both Wayne Simmons and I are so proud at what the Rebetiko Jam has become, it has become a weekly hub for people to come together, play this music in a fun and inclusive way, we welcome people from all walks of life and also from all levels of musical ability, we just ask them to bring their passion for this music – and the rest is magic,” Con Kalamaras said.
“As the saying goes, ‘from little things big things grow.'”
The popularity of the Jam has grown exponentially and the City of Yarra supports the Jam through it’s annual Grant program.
The Jam brings together over 20 musicians every week, some travelling over an hour to participate and has subsequently encouraged musicians to jam individually outside of the Jam. The participants’ ages vary from 10 years old to 60 – bringing together Greeks and non-Greeks to share their passion for Rebetiko .
The organisers have created a shared Dropbox to share the sheet music and recourses for participants to study and grow as musicians.
Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos is becoming a house hold name in Europe, directing some of most ambitious yet eye-catching films in modern cinema.
Lanthimos’ Oscar-nominated film, The Favourite, became a smash success. So it didn’t come as a surprise when it was announced that Emma Stone, the female lead in the film, would be rejoining Lanthimos for a new project.
The Greek will be directing ‘Poor Things’, a modern Frankenstein spin adapted from Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel of the same name.
The story “follows the bizarre life of oversexed, volatile Bella Baxter, an emancipated woman, and a female Frankenstein. Bella is not her real name; as Victoria Blessington, she drowned herself to escape her abusive husband, but a surgeon removed the brain from the fetus she was carrying and placed it in her skull, resuscitating her. The revived Bella has the mental age of a child. Engaged to marry [Glasgow physician Archibald McCandless], she chloroforms him and runs off with a shady lawyer who takes her on a whirlwind adventure, hopping from Alexandria to Odessa to a Parisian brothel. As her brain matures, Bella develops a social conscience, but her rescheduled nuptials to Archie are cut short when she is recognised as Victoria by her lawful husband, Gen. Sir Aubrey Blessington.”
The project is planning to begin this autumn.
In The Favourite, Stone starred opposite Olivia Colman and Rachel Weisz in a story focusing on the relationship between Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough and Abigail Masham, who are both vying to be the Court favourite of Queen Anne. The film was nominated for ten awards that year.
Lanthimos also began working on a more recent project with Emma Stone for the Greek National Opera, for which the full details are still yet to be released.
Maria Sakkari is one of Greece’s, and the world’s, most exciting upcoming tennis players. Beating tennis greats like Serena Williams and Elina Svitolina, Sakkari gives endless credit to her mother and father’s constant motivation.
“In Sparta, individuals develop up with that mentality, they know tips on how to survive, they know tips on how to struggle for every little thing. It’s in my blood, I’m gonna take it with me all over the place I am going,” Sakkari said to Telegraph Sport.
Sakkari said channeling her Spartan heritage, the fighting mindset she learned from her father, has helped her reach a higher level.
“I labored rather a lot on my mentality with Tom and with a specialist, and then I beat all these gamers again to again. I noticed that I additionally belong there due to my outcomes and I simply gained confidence. I have never misplaced it but.“
The 25-year-old has gone one better than her mother, Angeliki Kanellopoulou, who reached a high of world 43 in the 1980s. Though, the Greek tennis player says her and her mother are on different levels.
“My mum says that we’re completely completely different gamers,” she insists.
Though her mother is a source of advice on tactics and mentality now, Sakkari’s career in tennis grew organically, away from any family pressure. Growing up in Athens, she was not a particularly standout young talent on the ITF junior scene, but a move to Spain aged 18 shifted her focus entirely to tennis and saw her break into the WTA’s top 100 two years later.
Since then she has become known for her athletic game and speed on the court – and on the track where she has run a 12.50secs 100m personal best.
Along with compatriot Stefanos Tsitsipas, she is bringing tennis to the forefront of Greece’s sporting culture too. Last year she was named the national sportswoman of the year and getting mainstream attention – including gracing magazine covers: “Now individuals acknowledge me all over the place I am going, it isn’t the identical as earlier than when tennis was not on tv.”
Sakkari faces Angelique Kerber today in the quarter finals of the Grampians Trophy.
Australian Open draw
The Australian Open draw and player seeds was released to the public yesterday, with Maria Sakkari placing in seed 20. See below for the best round one matchups:
Greece’s National Vaccination Committee has unanimously approved the vaccine against the coronavirus produced by pharmaceuticals firm AstraZeneca, for those aged 64 and younger.
Vaccinations for the 60-64 age group will start sometime after February 12, it was announced Friday.
President of the National Vaccination Committee Maria Theodoridou and the general secretary of Primary Health Care Marios Themistokleous said the vaccine has good safety, immunity, and efficacy characteristics.
“The National Vaccination Committee has reviewed in detail all available data regarding the safety and efficacy of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine, following the recent approval of the vaccine by the European Medicines Agency for use in people 18 years of age and older, and in view of the possibility of its availability in Greece in the near future,” Theodoridou stated.
In Greece, as in other European countries, the specific vaccine will be administered to those aged between 18 and 64.
“Let me remind you that very large countries, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, have already vaccinated thousands of people and people over the age of 65. And since we will have the effectiveness of the vaccine in these groups by the end of the month, then we are expected to change this decision as well,” Themistocleous said.
“Operationally, we will develop two parallel systems. The first system is the one we have at the moment and next to it we will open a second one in which the AstraZeneca vaccine will be used, with the first age category that we will open for these vaccinations being 60-64.
“The two systems will not intersect,” he noted. “That is, a citizen who is over 80 years old will be able to make an appointment only in specific vaccination centres, while citizens aged 60-64 will be able to make an appointment only in the vaccination centres with AstraZeneca vaccines, not in the vaccination centres using the other inoculations.”
The online registration platform will open in the coming days.
Australian sports star Nick Kyrgios lashed out at everything but the water bottle after his 6-3, 6-4 loss to Borna Coric in today’s Australian Open warmup competition.
Kyrgios had been on a great streak before Friday’s match, claiming two extremely tight wins in the past two days. However, hampered by knee pain, Kyrgios’ speed and agility wasn’t there today as he was out-shot by his Croatian opponent.
During the first set, Kyrgios called for his trainer, complaining about his knee and saying he couldn’t serve without pain. In the second set, clearly frustrated, the Cypriot-Australian lost his cool and vented his frustrations, smashing his racket and launching it out of the court.
Nick Kyrgios faces an uphill battle to be fit for the Australian Open.(AAP: Dave Hunt)
Kyrgios spoke about his recovering mental and physical health, saying that his participation in the Australian is still up in the air at this stage.
“There’s a massive question mark for me, even if I was completely healthy, [after] not playing in a year,” Kyrgios said. “It’s not easy to just turn around and prepare for an event just like that. It’s not like a tap.
“I thought I did everything I could this week. I won a couple of matches, I had a lot of court time and practised every day, as well. I think I’m ticking the boxes, I think I’m giving myself a chance.”
Kyrgios said he’ll be using the next few days to recharge his mental state before the first round in the Open, should he still participate. “If I’m positive and motivated, I’m sure I’ll play some good tennis,” he said.
Kyrgios lost his cool during the second set, venting his frustration with the blustery conditions on an outdoor court, and was given multiple warnings by the chair umpire.
While many Greeks in densely populated NSW and Victorian suburbs have a wealth of options to study Greek, the reality is that many people regional areas have very little access to Greek language and culture education.
Greek Community of Canberra launched last year a collection of online Modern Greek Language & Culture Classes for Adults. Starting the classes in 2020 with 11 people and growing to 50 by the end of the year, GCC President John Loukadellis hopes the classes can reach a national audience for 2021.
“I would love to get it national and love to get people from Sydney and Queensland and South Australia, the ones who can’t get to a Greek school and especially the ones who can’t get to a physical Greek school and sit down and learn in front of the teacher,” John Loukadellis said to The Greek Herald.
“So more aimed at regional people would who love to learn the Greek language. It doesn’t matter what level you’re at. You tick the level on the enrolment form and we can do the rest.”
Loukadellis said the classes are part of the Greek Community of Canberra’s ‘Three Pillar Program’ launched last year, which looks to bring together the Hellenistic ideologies of faith, culture and language. Tied in with the 200 Year Anniversary of the Greek War of Independence, the Community President said there has never been a better time to “embrace, learn and speak Greek”.
The Greek School of Canberra already had an incredible growth in student numbers in 2020, having 150 school students online. Combined with the adult Greek language and culture classes, Loukadellis said he wants to have 300 people learning Greek with the assistance of the Greek community of Canberra in 2021.
“To me that’s the best thing that we could have done. As a president of a community, encouraging the gift of language and culture to ensure that not only do we celebrate 200 years, but when we celebrate 300 years, the Greek language and the word Greek is still still around and people can still identify with being Greek.”
The program has already attracted two people from Goulburn, Loukadellis said, and looks to bring in even more people from regional areas.
“My aim is to push Hellenism for our youth already in an established system in Canberra and target the niche of people in regional Australia or adults who want to learn from the comfort of their own home,” Loukadellis concluded.
“We’ve got four classes per week for the different levels. There’s two intermediate classes, one advanced and one beginners. And all of this is just a matter of getting people excited about learning Greek, especially in the year of the 200 years of independence.”
It’s been just over a year since deadly bushfires swept through the Victorian seaside town of Mallacoota. But images of the red sky as fire engulfed people’s homes, businesses and livelihoods, remain imprinted in the minds of local residents. None more so than Paul Sam Parthenides and his wife, Carol Anne Nelson, who lost everything in the bushfire.
‘It was like Armageddon’:
Saturday, December 28, 2019 in Mallacoota. A day that started off like any other.
Although it was a ‘very hot and smoky day,’ Paul and Carol went about their daily business at a market with their food van. It wasn’t until the next day that their daughters, Georgia and Elyssa, became more anxious by the bushfire warnings and encouraged the family to leave.
“We thought we’d leave for a couple of days to make them happy and then we’d come back and everything would be fine,” Carol tells The Greek Herald.
“It took us all day running around the house and going, ‘do we take this or that?’ I mean I took a pair of bathers with me. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
The Nelson-Parthenides family, along with their three dogs and cat, quickly evacuated to the town of Bega. It was there they eventually heard the heartbreaking news that their home and food van had all been destroyed in the blaze.
The Parthenides-Nelson family lost their whole home. Photo supplied.
“On December 31st, we got confirmation from our neighbour, who had stayed to defend their house but had to leave, that they’d seen our house on fire,” Carol says.
“It was pretty tough and for us, watching it all on television was really bizarre. We also felt like we’d abandoned the town and that we should be in Mallacoota helping because we knew what everyone was going through.”
But sadly, returning to Mallacoota wasn’t an option until mid-February. Instead, over a matter of weeks, Paul, Carol and their daughters evacuated to six different places, across two states, to try and avoid the ferocious blaze.
“We were evacuated from Bega and went to Canberra before we eventually got to Melbourne. But when we were driving from Bega to Canberra it was really scary because the smoke was really bad, we didn’t know the road and there were fires around us,” Paul, who is also recovering from liver cancer, explains to The Greek Herald.
“It was like Armageddon. It’s normally a two-and-a-half-hour trip from Bega to Canberra, but it took nearly five hours because everyone was evacuating. And coming the other way, all we could see was fire truck after fire truck. It was scary.”
Paul and Carol with their two daughters. Photo supplied.
The only silver lining? The hospitality and support the family received by local people they came across on their travels.
“On the way to Canberra, Elyssa’s dog was really ill and a lady, who’s house we were staying in, organised an appointment at the local vet for us,” Carol says.
“The lady at the vet knew our story and as we were sitting there worrying about the dog, she came over and put $50 in my hand and said, ‘I know what you’re going through. I lost my house in a flood.’ And then we all just sat there crying.
“It was these little random acts of kindness that just made all the difference all along the way. We met some really lovely people.”
Back to reality and assessing the damage:
Despite the kindness of the locals, the Nelson-Parthenides family still had to return to reality and see for themselves the destruction left behind by the bushfire in Mallacoota. Paul describes the moment they saw what was left of their house as ‘devastating.’
“Coming into Mallacoota and seeing the devastation and the houses burnt down was gobsmacking, and then we went straight to our house and it was tough. It was just twisted roofing iron,” Paul says.
But on further inspection, among that twisted iron emerged items which, for Carol and Paul, held the most sentimental value.
The sentimental objects Paul and Carol found in their backyard after the fire. Photo supplied.
“We had a bit of a rummage around and I found a couple of teapots that weren’t too bad, but we also found something that one of my kids had made for me when they were in school,” Carol says.
“There was a pencil holder made out of pottery which was intact, Elyssa had made me a little rabbit out of pottery and that was intact, and there was also an apple which Georgia had made me out of pottery and that was still in good condition.
“As far as I’m concerned if that’s all we ever got out of it, that was good enough because those things you can’t replace.”
‘Greek Soul Food’ – The key to moving forward:
Another thing which Carol and Paul thought was irreplaceable was their food van, which they also lost in the Mallacoota fire. But the good news was that they were wrong.
Carol and Paul were lucky enough to receive a Small Business Bushfire Recovery Grant from the Victorian Government to buy a new $50,000 food trailer they’ve since called ‘Greek Soul Food.’
Carol and Paul were lucky enough to receive a Small Business Bushfire Recovery Grant from the Victorian Government and launched ‘Greek Soul Food.’
“I think having the food van gave us something to look forward to. Something for the future,” Paul explains.
“Our first day of operation was December 19, so we hit the ground running and went from not working for 12 months to suddenly working 10 to 12 hour days. So it was a big shock to the system but we’re getting used to it now.
“We’ve got a big lamb on the spit on the back of the trailer, making souvlakia of different sorts. Carol then makes the spanakopita, baklava and bougatsa. It’s really good.”
Add to this the fact that when they’re not serving people who flock to their food trailer, the pair spend their downtime in a rented holiday house in Mallacoota, where they have an incredible view of the nearby lakes and beaches.
So with the future looking so bright, what do Carol and Paul say is the most important life lesson they’ve learnt from losing their livelihood that fateful day back in December 2019?
“Sometimes you have to lose everything to gain something… I mean everybody’s journey is different. I know a lot of people are still struggling and aren’t moving back to town, and I guess we’re lucky that this is our story and that we’ve been able to come to terms with it and move forward. Now we only look back to see how far we’ve come,” Carol sums it up perfectly.
A Greek WWII veteran and shipowner has made an incredible donation to the Hellenic Armed Forces totalling €23 million and gifting 60 landing craft.
Iakovos Tsounis is 97-years-old and declared that he wanted to leave life as he began it — barefoot.
The special and admirable Greek is a descendant of the heroes of the revolution of 1821. He himself fought at the age of 16 in the Greek-Italian War of 1940, thus being the youngest veteran of World War II.
The Greek veteran started as a customs broker in Piraeus. In 1966 he entered shipping as a shipowner, acquiring a total of 13 merchant ships and forming a large fortune. Tsounis also built a Museum, which is located next to his permanent residence on Kyprou Street, in Papagou.
Greek shipowner Iakovos Tsounis was presented with a ceremonial sword for his donation. Credit: Ministry of Defense
Tsounis received the Commemoration of the Star of Value and Honor in 2018 for his service and in April 2020, following the advice of Armed Forces and a proposal of the Minister of National Defense, Mr. Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, he was awarded the rank of reservist Major General.
Alternate Foreign Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis thanked Tsounis, calling him “a loyal, consistent contributor of the Greek Armed Forces throughout his life”.
“The youngest volunteer WWII veteran,” as ruling New Democracy parliament group representative Christos Boukoros said, “has astounded us by his move to donate his entire fortune to the Armed Forces while still alive, and gives us optimism at a time where the greater region of the Mediterranean is seeing a lot of turbulence.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas will enter the Australian Open next week in red-hot form after defeating Team Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut this morning 5-7, 5-7.
Due to face Rafael Nadal yesterday, all players were forced to get a covid test and isolate after a quarantine hotel worker was diagnosed with COVID-19. After all players received a negative test, Nadal announced that he would not be participating in Spain’s match verse Greece due to a waist injury.
Tsitsipas struck hard and fast against the Spaniard in the opening minutes of the match. A few easy shots that failed to land prevented him from taking an early advantage, mistakes made similar to his match two days ago against Aussie young gun Alex De Minaur.
The two players went set for set, with the two players each claiming three aces to their name. A powerful serve from both players saw neither of them break a point until Bautista’s final set, where a few entertaining rallies saw Tsitsipas break the Bautista and claim the first set.
A lighter crowd was in the stands today, yet Greek flags still waved and cheers were made for the World No. 6.
Tsitsipas started to run away with glory as the two competitors entered the second set. The Greek claimed the first three games with Bautista Agut seeming to lose focus in the second, forcing a break point for Tsitsipas. The disappointed Spaniard continued to slip up as the game went on, almost giving away another game, yet came back to keep the dual at a competitive distance.
Hanging by a thread, Bautista Agut managed to expertly break Tsitsipas to the shock of the Greek, who only one game prior was ready to end the match early. The Spaniard managed to draw the set to 5-5.
Photo: ESPN Tennis
Despite Bautista Agut’s best efforts, Tsitsipas came out victorious and claimed the second set of the match, along with his second win in the ATP Cup.
“I would like to thank the crowd, I would much rather have some fans in the stands than none at all,” Tsitsipas said after his win.
Unfortunately for Team Greece, Tsitsipas’ win couldn’t help them qualify for the next round as they were required to win all their matches against Spain. Michail Pervolarakis’ loss to Pablo Carreño Busta in the match prior meant Team Greece would be joining Team Australia in leaving the tournament.
Tsitsipas still spoke highly of his teammate Michail and the team format of the ATP Cup.
“We’re having a great time…. Our chemistry is very good despite our results, we’re the outsiders and learning year by year.”
