Reggae band in the Veggera bar!

In August much more effort is made to put on entertainment for the locals. Last week, in a beach side bar close to us, called the “Veggera Bar” they provided an amazing Reggae band from Athens.The Veggera bar is one of the coolest places to hang out, it is full of ‘beautiful’ young Greeks, on the beachfront, full of palm trees & umbrellas and at night there is a DJ with the best collection of tunes I have ever seen. This DJ doesn’t do any voice over tracks but any tune you ask for he seems to have it, & the music he plays is a sort of chill out rock, like early Chris Rea & JJ Cale mixed with Morcheba! Things you haven’t heard for years together with tunes you want to find out what they are so you can go out and add it to your ipod collection.

“Global Vibe” are a 7 piece reggae band with drums, bass, 2 guitars, keyboard, percussion & vocalist + a guest trombone player, white guys, some with “dreads” all from Athens but sounded like they came from Kingston Jamaica. They were due to start @ 10 we could hear them sound-checking from our house then @9.45 they started playing so we set off to see them. We didn’t need to rush, as the bar was fairly empty & we got great seats, they played 2 songs then stopped, they were still sound checking! Each of the 7 muso’s in turn asked the sound engineer (Yep they came with the full rig, desk multi-core, lights) for their sound to be raised slightly so they could be heard a bit better in the mix, but of course by the time he got to the last guy, the mix was as it was ½ hour earlier only generally a bit louder.In true muso & Greek fashion, time keeping was not an issue, they eventually ambled on stage @ 10.50 to start the gig, the place filled up & more people were on the beach, with plenty of space to dance.

It was all reggae, early Bob Marley, Toots & the Maytals stuff, some classic Ska songs & some, what I must assume were original Greek reggae songs, but they sung most songs in English with great Jamaican accents. It reminded me of a few years ago, when a crowd of us went to the cavern in Liverpool and saw a German Beatles tribute band, they all sang in English (with scouse accents) announced all the songs in English but when we spoke to them afterwards they didn’t speak any English (a bit bizarre.)Anyway “Global Vibe” were great, fantastic harmony’s, really tight rhythm section & the beach was full of people dancing, we left well before the end & we could still hear them playing from our home when we fell into bed, apparently it went on to the early hours & the band were seen leaving about 3 in the morning.

Chipero club
It would be wrong to call Chipero a drink it is an experience!
Chipero is a spirit, an illegal spirit in the same way that moonshine, raki or pocheen are. It is a mainly Albanian drink but it is also made in the northern mountains of mainland Greece, and arrives in Corfu via the Albanian workers who run bars & do a lot of the low paid manual work that the local Greek population won’t do.
Chipero is made from the residue left from wine making, all the pips, bits of leaves, twigs & unfermented grape juice are placed in a straw lined cauldron, suspended over an open fire, then distilled via a series of copper pipes & tubes leading through a large container of water to cool & aid fermentation. A clear strong liquid is drawn off, usually at least 40% volume & it is drunk neat!!!! It has an unusual smell to it a cross between petrol & the P20 sun cream that Liz uses,And is considered to be the elixir of life to those who know it well, offering apparently no hangovers or aftertaste just a nice warming glow as it goes down.

It is used, all over Corfu, Northern Greece & Albania as a cure for all ailments, as an after dinner shot, a first thing in the morning wake me up, & generally as an excuse for anyone who wants a “cheers” moment. A load of shot glasses are lined up on the bar, filled with chipero, then everyone downs it in one, with the cry of “yamas” & slams the empty glass down on the bar!

The chipero club at the “Tassos” apartments where we are living, is organised by Romeo, the Albania co- owner of the poolside bar, it is a group of old timers, by old timers I mean people who have visited this holiday site for several years & a few newer hangers on.Any time of the day you find chipero being offered up as a shot, but these guys, including a few women (chipero club is not a sexist organisation) drink it in the morning! They convene at the poolside just before 9am everyday, no matter how late they went to bed, and have a piece of cake a coffee & chipero just to start the day.
You can only drink chipero over here, not that it doesn’t travel, like the wine you bought on holiday & when you get it home tastes like cat pee. It’s just that you can’t buy it in the shops; it is kept in large demi-johns or old spirit bottles under bars or in a back room. Some of these chipero drinkers have tried to take it home, in 7up bottles in their suitcases & aroused the suspicions of the airport security people as the bags go through the scanners; it is promptly confiscated, maybe to be drunk later behind the hangers?Sounds an interesting club & I have seen them sat there with cake coffee & a silly grin, unfortunately we are never up early enough, to join in but I think my liver & kidneys are all the better for missing the experience.

Yamas!!!