Folklife

Bouzouki Workshops with Leonidas Zafiris
Sundays, 2-4pm, May 12, 19, June 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30, July 7, 2013
Safford House, 23 Parkin Ct. $5 per class.
Originally from Greece, Leonidas Zafiris is an outstanding professional bouzouki musician and teacher who just re-located to the Tarpon Springs area from Toronto.
Classes will be divided into adult (2-2:55pm) and youth (3-4pm) sections. There will be a few bouzoukis available for beginning students.

cooking Cooking Classes
June 8, 15, 22, and 29
Saturdays, 12-2 pm
Safford House
$20 per class. Space is limited to 12

Excellent community cooks teach and share the delicious cuisine of Greece’s Dodecanese Islands and Latin America. Join us for food, fun, and fascinating insights into culture and history.

June 8: Greek – Maria Pantelis –Stuffed peppers (vegetarian and with meat), Greek salad
June 15: Mexican – Teacher and dish TBA
June 22: Cuban – Marisella Veiga – ropa vieja (shredded beef), yuca with mojo sauce, guava and cream cheese
June 29: Greek – Katerina Zaronias – kreatopites (filo stuffed with meat and cheese), horiatiki (Kalymnian village-style salad), and rizogalo (rice pudding)

Journey Stories - This Smithsonian exhibition explores the powerful tales of how we and our ancestors came to America and to the place we now call home. In order to enhance visitors’ experience of the exhibit, the City of Tarpon Springs has created a series of public programs that explore local and regional connections.

April 11-July 6
Center for Gulf Coast Folklife Gallery, 101 S. Pinellas Ave.
Public reception: Thursday, April 11, 6-7:30pm.
Gallery hours: Monday-Friday 9am-4pm.

Friday, May 31: Xenitia: Journey Songs of the Greek Diaspora. Songs about immigration, its difficulties, and the havoc it creates in the lives of those who leave and those left behind are a staple of the Greek musical repertoire. Join Leonidas Zafiris, Elias Poulos, and Dino Theofilos from Ellada, as well as Jim Stoynoff (clarinet), Irene Karavokiros (vocals) for this unique performance. Free Admission. 7:30 to 9 pm

Saturday, June 22 – Journey Stories Film Event
America, America (1963) written and directed by Elia Kazan
In this tale, loosely based upon the life of Kazan’s uncle, Elia Kazan uses little-known cast members, with the entire storyline revolving around the central performance of Greek actor Stathis Giallelis (born 1941), twenty-two years old at the time of production, who is in virtually every scene of the nearly three-hour movie.The film begins in the late 1890s, as young Greek Stavros Topouzoglou (Giallelis), leaves his impoverished village on an odyssey to reach the faraway land of opportunity, America – famously portrayed with the iconic image of the Statue of Liberty as the boatload of immigrants docks in New York Harbor. Stavros puts his tribulations behind him, starting out as a shoeshine boy and gathering the pennies and dollars that will eventually bring his family to the land where their descendants, including Elia Kazan, will have the chance to fulfill their potential. The film won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction, and was nominated for three other Oscars: Best Director – Elia Kazan; Best Picture – Elia Kazan; Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen – Elia Kazan.

In 2001, America, America was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Free Admission 7 pm

Night in the Islands
Saturday nights, 6-11pm: May 11, June 1, July 13, August 3, September 7, October 5, & November 2, Sponge Docks
Night in the Islands re-creates the atmosphere of the Greek islands with monthly outdoor dining on the Sponge Docks, performances by outstanding musical groups Ellada and Odyssey, Greek dancing, and other arts. Free dance lessons will be offered from 6-7pm.

Greek Clarinet Workshops with James Stoynoff
Thursday, May 30, 7-8pm
Saturday, June 1, 12-1pm
Sunday, June 2, 12-1pm;
Heritage Museum, 100 Beekman Lane, Craig Park. $5 per class
James Stoynoff specializes in the research, performance and preservation of Greek folk music, with emphasis on the highly embellished regional clarinet styles of Greece and Turkey. He studied with Greek clarinet masters, performs regularly at Chicago’s Greek community functions, and has appeared throughout the U.S. and Greece. Students will learn songs typical of regional styles, and the history of the clarinet in Greek music. Students should have 1 year of clarinet, and should bring an instrument.

The Center for Gulf Coast Folklife offers a variety of programming focusing on traditional culture. Advance registration is highly recommended for cooking classes. Other classes can be paid for at the door. Please call 727-937-1130 or 942-5605 for more information. The CGCF is funded in part with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts’ Folk & Traditional Arts Program.