Carols and songs at the stage of the Megaron the Athens Concert Hall. A special Christmas event. The concerts were part of the ‘Christmas Celebrations’ series and were given on December 26th, 27th, 28th, and 29th of 1996. Lambros Liavas was in charge of the music research and artistic supervision.
Extracts from A publication on the newspaper Kathimerini (05/01/1997)
Domna Samiou is a national musical asset, and carols without her unique voice and her devotion to the authenticity of tradition are inconceivable. That is why the Athens Concert Hall chose to close its diverse and very successful Christmas Cycle with the ‘Carols of the Greek St Basil’ 1 concert at the ‘Dimitris Mitropoulos’ Hall; featuring Domna Samiou, with Lambros Liavas in charge of musical research and supervision and with the select actress Irini Igglesi as presenter. The fragrant hall was decorated with myrtle branches, apples and pomegranates and a large boat2 lodged among the greenery. The model Byzantine church on stage gave an air of religiosity and tradition. It was a pleasure to behold and a pleasure to listen, as the young children, boats and triangles3 in hand, all traditional, sang carols. Girls and slightly older boys (the choirs of the Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments Phoebus Anogeianakis’ and the Art and Culture Workshop), and the folk musicians created the sounds of a Greek celebration in the countryside, the islands, Constantinople and of our urban Christmas.
1St Vassilios (Basil) holds the equivalent position in the Greek Christmas tradition as St Nicholas (Santa Claus) holds in the Germanic Christmas tradition.
2All characteristic traditional Greek Christmas decorations.
3triangle is a simple musical instrument made of a metal bar bent in a triangular shape and a metallic rod with which it is struck, used for Christmas carols.
