2nd Euro Mediterranean Folkloric Festival in Limassol

This is the second edition of the Euro Mediterranean festival in Cyprus, after the one in 2007. The photo above is from the last year's show. I saw the posters for this while driving around yesterday and was surprised to know that it was starting today (Aug 4th, 2008). There was very little publicity for this event and there was not even a single place online where i could get the details. Somehow, i managed to get the phone number of the Cyprus municipality and they were courteous enough to fax me the complete schedule. If you are in Limassol for any of the 4 days below, do go to this show. It is a cultural extravaganza with different kinds of dances/instruments and for the photographer in you, it is a great opportunity to improve your skills at taking photos at a stage concert.
This year, there seem to be groups which were not present last year. Some of the highlights of this year's show are:

• Cyprus: Dionysos cultural and dancing group from Limassol, Konta Stin Paradosi Group, Alexandra traditional dancing workshop and the limassol cultural association. I hope that the Cypriots do something different from the usual sitting down, touching one leg and the hopping back thing!
• Greece: Cultural Group Arcadi
• Hungary: Folk dance group Csepel
• Italy: Folklore group Marsala Antica
• Czech Republic: Folklore group Lipina Vracov
• Latvia: Dance Ensemble Bitite
• Egypt: Floklore Group Malawi

The festival is from the 4th of August to 8th of August. The schedule is as follows;

• 4th Aug: Downtown area, District Administration Office: 19:30, parade of the groups; 20:30, performance of the groups
• 5th Aug: Performance at the courtyard of Panayia Chrisaifiliotisa church (where is this?) at Agia Fyla
• 6th Aug: Performance at the "Kostas Partasides Park" at Agios Nicolas
• 7th Aug: Performance at the courtyard ofAgia Varvara churc at Zakaki
• 8th Aug: 19:30; Parade of the groups from the Limasosl Municipal Gardens to the Old Port, 20:30;Performance at the old port and then the closing ceremony.

If you get a chance, do visit the performance on one of the days, it is really good!

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James Blunt concert in Cyprus

Date: 21st June 2008
Venue: Spyros Kyprianou(PALAIS DE SPORT), Limassol
Prices: Arena Euro 42(£24.58) Seats Euro 50(£30) and a very limited number VIP Euro 85(£50)
INFO: 77 77 29 39
Tickets: Go to moonlightshow.com or interticket.com.cy

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Dogstock Jazz Music Festival in Pomos, Cyprus

This year's dogstock festival is going to happen at "Paradise Place" in Pomos, Cyprus on August 25th. This festival is self-organised by some professional and amateur musicians and has proven to be a big hit over the last years. One more reason to visit this festival is that you don't need to bother about accommodation. All you have to do is to get yourself a tent and go over to the Polis camping site nearby.

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2nd Euro-Mediterranean Festival in Limassol

If you are reading this (before August 10th) and you still haven't watched the show, WATCH IT! It happened on August 6th (in Downtown Limassol) and August 7th(inside the Municiapal Gardens Theatre) and will happen on August 9th at Ayias Fylas/Zakaki (not sure where exactly) and on August 10th on the sea-front near the Old Port. I went to this show on Thursday not expecting much out of it. But, it was awesome. So, I went again yesterday, this time with my camera, to the Municipal Gardens and it was much better here with proper seating and a good view of the stage. There were some new sequences on the second day probably because this was a proper stage with a Green room etc where artists could change costumes and do more than one sequence. Enjoy the photographs below and don't forget to watch the show.

There were artists from many countries in Europe like Belgium, Serbia, Bulgaria (or was it Belgrade/Serbia), Greece and of course Cyprus.

The girl in the photograph below, from serbia, had the crowd behind her and she could have put any belly dancer to shame with her amazing dance sequence.

When i was in switzerland, I had been to Pilatus near Lucerne. There, they had these long horns (called as alphorns) on display. This was the first time i was hearing them being played. The sound was amazing and it looked like they were just controlling it with the way they blew air into the horn.

When the group from Belgium came on stage, i was wondering as to what they are going to do with flags. They showed a lot of things that can be done with them! They threw the flags high up in the air in unison and caught it perfectly in tune with the beats of the song. Their choreography was great and the music was even greater. In fact, one of the songs was played has been directly copied in one of Indian movie songs. I guess we should appreciate the Indian music directors for spending so much time on research and look for remote folk songs to copy over! According to one of the commentors on this post, this group/folk-art is called "Flago" in the esperanto language (the universal language). You can see more details about this group at the Flago Website.

Yes, i took photos of guys too. One of them had funny looking shoes! One group did an interesting sequence standing on a pot.

The group from Serbia was the best of the lot with the girls performing a routine lasting for almost 15 minutes with a very fast beat and some amazing co-ordination!

and, of course, we had the cypriots and the greeks doing their thing of getting around in a circle and watching a guy sit down/stand up/touch his leg and doing the rest of the things which they usually do.

Hope you enjoyed the photos and if you are reading this before 10th, don't miss the show.

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2nd Ethnic Festival - Multicoloured World

The Ethnic Festival under the title “Multicolored World” is a meeting of musicians from the neighbouring countries that offers the opportunity for the Cypriot audiences to encounter different sounds of other cultures that show common characteristics and points of contact through the ages and the history of the countries.

Location: Behind Heroes' Square, Limassol

Dates: From 6th-28th July from 20:30 onwards

Entrance: Free

Programs:

July 7 - Musical Ensemble Encardia, Greece

July 11 - Saulaf, Lebanon

July 12 - Alkis Agathokleous & Ethnic Co., Cyprus

July 18 - Common Bond, Israel

July 25 - Xarabanda - Madeira, Portugal

July 28 - "multi-coloured musical performance" from Nikos Portokaloglou

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Medfest Cyprus 2007 - Mediterranean International Music Festival

MEDFEST is supposed to be the first ever International Music Festival to be held in Cyprus. MEDFEST is a 4 hour long music show featuring some big artists as well as local talent. There is also going to be grand fireworks display at the end of the show.

The artists on show are Curtis James Jackson III (50 Cent), Akon, Julian Marley and Memphis Bleek. This event is going to be held in GSP Stadium in Nicosia, Cyprus, on Saturday 28th July. Tickets for this show can be purchased online at ticketweb.co.uk.

With the Bryan adams show 2 weeks back, Scorpions show lines up in July and this one, Cypriots are in for a musical treat this summer.

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SCORPIONS show in Limassol on July 23

Scorpions are back in Cyprus. They were last here in Cyprus in 2004 when the concert was held in Nicosia. This time, they are playing at the Tsireion Stadium in Limassol. Tickets for the show can be purchased online here.

Tickets can be purchased at the following outlets in Cyprus.

Lemesos/Limassol: Brent Cross 1. Anexartisias 2. Makariou; Musical Paradise; K-Cineplex; Top Kinisis

Nicosia: K-Cineplex;MegaLand;Mobile Trends;Armenias;Mad Record store

Larnaca: K-Cineplex;Acappela Music Stores

Paphos: Calypso

Ayia Napa: Acapella

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Bryan Adams concert in Limassol, Cyprus

I had been to the Bryan Adams Concert held last Friday. Below are some of the photographs i took at the concert. Please note that these photos were taken from more than 25 metres away with light just on the stage. So, they are grainy because of the high ISO.

There was a huge crowd even when we entered the stadium more than an hour before the show.

The lighting on the stage was impressive with the lights changing with the mood of the song.

I am glad that i didn't choose the standing option. From the photo below, it is clear that there wasn't even space to keep your hands to the side forcing everyone to lift their hands in the air! Even bryan adams felt sorry for the people and tried to console them by keeping his hands in the air too!

No, the show was not held in space, but it is just the number of mobile phones which were recording the show which show up as stars in the photo below.

Below are some close-up shots of Bryan Adams (cropped from bigger photos).

Parting shots of the entire group.

The show was awesome. My first ever live concert, i enjoyed every minute of it!

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