Two years of absence. Two years of waiting.
As if all the lost joy, celebration and experience of two years gathered and swelled, grew and became expectation and need all at once.
The Melitzazz Festival returns this year to the alleys and squares of Leonidi, opens and visits the 200 year old mansions and tower houses, navigates with joy, mood and vitality, in a great reunion and reunion, a great reunion for all of us.
Kaur emasumay!
Welcome back! (in Chakonian) in a packed four-day event where Chakonian heritage meets modern sounds and music, contemporary art, exhibitions, cinema, workshops, games, workshops, guided tours, tours of the city’s paths under the red-hot sun and, of course, local flavours, culinary delights and treats based on Chakonian eggplant and local delicacies.
Melitzazz 2022 Reunion
Melitzazz 2022, after 9 years of life and 2 years of absence due to pandemic, returns with its 10th edition, promising beautiful moments and experiences.
This year’s reunion will bring back together the visitors of the festival as well as old classmates and teachers, opening and inaugurating the newly renovated old Leonidi High School, an emblematic building of the city, filling it with memories, stories, archival material and new artistic creations, where the traditional meets the contemporary. The building will host exhibitions and activities and, of course, many reunion of old students and teachers! For the future the building will function as a “Centre for the promotion of the biosphere reserve of the Eastern Peloponnese”.
Excellent musicians will accompany us in enjoyment, joy and dance, through different musical styles, discovering new sounds and traditional music. We will be joined by the Adult Choirs of South and North Kynouria with a tribute to contemporary young Greek composers, the Amorosa ensemble with traditional music from the Aegean and Asia Minor, the Vassia Vougioukli trio with melodies from Smyrna and jazz fusion, The Storyville Ragtimers with music from New Orleans in the early 20th century (Dixieland, Ragtime, Blues), Idra Kayne X MCD with pop, soul, funk, r&b, jazz, disco and hip-hop music, Coslee with conscious hip-hop, lo-fi, jazz/blues elements and the Alcedo Folk Band, who will lead us on a musical journey with “songs from homelands without borders”.
Cine-Melitzazz will screen 3 films, the children’s films “Icarus and Daedalus” (2022) and “Aeinbo: Princess of the Amazon” (2021) and the award-winning “Magnetic Fields” (2021).
Exploring the local “biosphere reserve”, the Tsakonian tradition, dialect, dance, architecture, gastronomy, the festival includes several other activities. Visual artist Maria Varela will present contemporary art actions at the Old Gymnasium through the theme “Weaving the words” and the exploration of the Tsakonian weaving art in combination with the Tsakonian dialect, while German artist Christian -Lake-Wahle will present an exhibition of contemporary paintings at the Tower of Tsikaliotis, featuring works he created during the last five years in Leonidio and Pragmateti.
The treasure game in Tsakonian “to fate p’ehatte” – an educational tour and augmented reality activity organized by the “Tsakoni Melettide”, the creative basketry workshop “Koithinacsi”, puppet theatre for our young friends, informative workshops and other events will be implemented.
The three permanent exhibitions will operate: in the Fabrika of Culture about the Tsakonian history and tradition, in the Tsikaliotis Tower about the architecture of Tsakonia and in the old primary school the “Information Centre for the flora of Parnonas” and the Interpretation Exhibition for the Biosphere Reserve of Parnonas – Maleas in the Old Gymnasium.
Welcome to this year’s reunion!
INFO
Web site: www.melitzazz.gr | E-mail: [email protected]
Facebook: @Melitzazz Melitzazz www.Facebook.com/melitzazz
Phone: 27570.22807
Organization. Municipality of South Kinourias, Development Parnona A.A.E.
Co-organized by. Municipality of Peloponnese, Little Mediterranean Tales
Artistic actions curator: Sofi Mutafi
Production Management: Dimitris Koliniotis
MELIZAZZ FESTIVAL
The Leonidio Melitzazz Festival is a colourful, multi-ethnic meeting of cultures in the capital of Tsakonia. Guest artists and chefs contribute to the celebration with music, dance, culture and flavours. Scattered events are spread in the alleys, squares and tower houses of the traditional picturesque settlement of Leonidi, street concert tents are set up all over the town of Leonidi, the streets are transformed into open air bars and street food takes on a new dimension, where music and dance intertwine with smells and flavours from local and international gastronomy.
Leonidio and Tsakonia celebrate, showcasing their rare qualities, the Tsakonian language with its foundations in the Doric dialect, the Tsakonian dance with its roots in the myths of Apollo and Theseus, the special local weaving art, the local tradition and hospitality and the exceptional natural environment.
The reason and guide is the famous P.O.P. Tsakonian eggplant of Leonidion.
In the alleys and squares, in the 200 year old mansions and tower houses of Leonidi Arkadia, beautiful things are happening in the 9 years of the Eggplant Festival and the 5 years of the preceding Tsakonia Festival. Nine years of Melitzazz full of concerts, from jazz and Balkan music to rock and traditional music, exhibitions of contemporary art, photography, posters, ceramics, painting, film screenings, workshops, dance classes, lessons in the Tsakonian language, Tsakonian weaving, oral history, tours and guided tours, acquaintance with various cultures of the Mediterranean and the world, architecture and opening of traditional buildings, local flavours, gastronomic delights and treats based on the Tsakonian eggplant and local delicacies. The theme of the festival has so far hosted and presented rebetiko, oriental, flamenco, Serbian brass, gypsy swing, jazz, Balkan, Cypriot, tarantella, operetta, Latin, samba, tango, salsa, capoeira, maculele, fusion, rock, funky, choirs, philharmonic, theatre dance groups and clubs, film screenings and premieres, workshops and information events, workshops and courses and much more.
The Melitzazz festival has been distinguished:
With the European label “EFFE Label 2022-2023, Remarkable Arts Festival” with inclusion in the network of the elite European festivals since 2015,
“European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018” label,
with various awards and presentations at conferences as a case study,
as a subject of study for postgraduate and scientific papers.
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