it’s thursday evening 6:30 pm and i’m sitting at the airport terminal in herakleion, crete. a pretty crowded place during the holiday season, the airport now serves pretty much only domestic flights & i’m left drowsing after two days of minimal sleep and food in its empty hall. the first song to pop up in my player is yo la tengo’s “by the time it gets dark”, which fits perfectly the state of things. today we said our last goodbyes to my grandmother so it’s only natural i’m thinking about the actual importance of things and such. last month valerio tricoli played three shows in northern greece and that i felt going around with him was that we were definitely doing something important, despite the fact that not everyone shared our opinion.
starting in thessaloniki, valerio played a show in zenit together with our friend tasos stamou (up-and-coming musician, photographer and all-around great guy); the sets were: tasos solo, valerio solo, tasos & valerio duo. from the beginning we had quite a few minor misfortunes: late publicity, average turnout, indifference; some people seemed to be trying in vain to fit the idea of this music into their comfortable lifestyle instead of reveling in the beautiful world of possibilities. Still, there was persistence; valerio pushed forward filling the room with gorgeous feedback, electric disturbances and his own version of a light show. by the time 40 minutes had passed he was off-stage feeling he was done for the night only to meet demand for more by the faithful few. twenty minutes later he was off again only to return for the triumphant duo set. earlier, tasos’ solo set had been a slight let-down (mostly to himself) because he hadn’t been able to make a coherent statement out of the numerous moments of brilliance. in the duo set he shone through; guided by the steady hand of valerio, they provided the perfect closing. once again i have to stress the importance of creating the possibility for valerio to come and play in thessaloniki (thanks nicolas and michael), also the importance of giving the chance to someone like tasos to play a gig like this in his own hometown.
the next day valerio along with his gf manu were off to xanthi to make field recordings and have a good time. we found them one day later in the trusty hands of nicolas malevitsis swimming in a sea of greek delicacies. there were great sounds to be found in the streets of xanthi and in the basement of the xanthi folk museum, above which the 2nd show was held later in the evening. we spent half the day making preparations and the rest saving energy (oh, and we argued a lot about valerio’s heathen religion – catholicism). the performance was at the small conference room of the museum, in a good cozy atmosphere. more like an informal meeting maybe, quite a few people who were in the audience contribute in one way or another in organizing these events. here valerio, stationed in the center of the room and with all the lights out, deployed his trusty speaker feedback and added along with other things the sounds of the street market or those of rusty tools from older times. these sounds, which are usually left in the past, were not dissected or attacked in any way that would attempt to show their inside out and display something hidden inside; simply projected in the mass of sound i felt there was more dissecting to do on our part, for once i was happy not to have my food chewed for me.
oh, the joyous cacophony! valerio next had to face the challenge of performing at a children’s party -together with the children. he was initially looking forward to this but when the kids started showing up he was helpless. the plan was: give out toy instruments to the kids and have them play while giving rough directions, manipulate their input at the same time. with the toy sounds feedbacking helplessly and the kids giving it all they had, velerio had to give up the control part of his plan and the party turned into a dark free-jazz blowout; or so i was told because i had to leave early. anyway, it seems that the kids sustained a full-on noise attack for as much as 40 minutes, finally calming down only for the last few moments. apparently somewhere in the mix there were also adults to be found, either picking up where the kids had left off or adding their own stuff -as in the case of nicolas malevitsis using his tapes to add more spice to the proceedings. actual evidence from the event is rumored to be circulating and i’d be curious to take a peak.
before our italian friends left, we met them for one more drink in thessaloniki. throughout the days we spent together i kept bugging valerio with technical questions about a basic recording set-up i wanted to make, but i also got as much insight by simply watching him work. and by watching him i knew it does matter; despite being open to criticism (sometimes lighthearted, superficial or self-serving), music (the action) still raises the hair on my back, what more could i ask for? now, had i had valerio with me by my grandma’s deathbed he would have of course felt very uncomfortable. i’m sure though that a part of him would have been fascinated by the deeply pagan rites of honoring the departed (being sicilian he might have known, they’re pretty hardcore too). still, there’s no other way of projecting some things. as in birth, as in the stuff above our heads. [kostis kilymis]
