Camden Rocks!

So excited to be back in London and off to the Camden Rocks music festival for the second time. After the 21 hour flight from Australia – 7 to Doha then another 14 long haul hours to London, the tube from Heathrow conveniently conveys us the Camden underground station.

 

Blinking to adjust to the unexpected bright sunlight we were thrilled to be in London and especially to be in this exciting area. Walking the 1km up Camden Road to our bnb, early on Friday morning, we passed homeless rough sleepers, workers in business suits, workers in high vis labourers gear pulling along their tool boxes in the same way we pulled along our wheelie cases.

We made our way past a huge Sainbury supermarket with its own ATM out of the front where customers waited in a long cue to withdraw cash, past bus stops full of commuters on their way to work and over roads with and without pedestrian lights – which no one really took notice of anyway – until we found our home for the next three nights, a basement room in an old London home. Green garden at the back, shared kitchen at the front and a bed to sleep off our long flight and jet lag ahead in anticipation of a great day of music ahead.

Camden is a dynamic town within the city of London and buzzes with life everyday of the week. Friday market crowds, buskers, dodgy dealers, tourists and day to day people filled the streets as we wandered around, along and past Regents canal and the various sections of the Camden Markets. Each day of our stay the area was full of vibrant, from the old horse stables to the tent covered stalls selling copies of spring fashions, punk style gear, doc martin boots, retro and vintage clothes, jewellery of every descriptions and on this unseasonably warm day freshly squeezed orange juice.

On walls, doors, rooftop terraces and bridges Camden is covered in fantastic street art – the Camden Lock rail bridge by John Bulley, the Free West Papua wall by Dale Grimshaw countless versions of Amy Winehouse portraits and a variety of birds, animals, people and abstract designs bringing art to all who pass by.

The highlight and reason for our stay in Camden was the Camden Rocks Festival, an underground one day music festival with 250 acts spread across 24 venues. Venues ranging from the Doc Martin museum to the Underground, Electric Ballroom and Koko’s iconic London music venues, to tiny but atmospheric and historically important pubs like Dublin Castle (home of 90’s band Madness). From midday to midnight wandering between venues, only distinguished from the Camden locals and tourists, the festival goers coloured entry arm bands, band t shirts and especially happy faces gave away their purpose on this day – to see as much great music as they could fit in.

Between acts a wander down Camden High Street could take you to a delicious kebab shop, a bakery, a fish shop, an Italian restaurant to fill up ahead of some more music at a bar in the same block or down a tiny laneway.

Adventure and fun was the theme of the day thanks to the bands we enjoyed including – the Tequila Mockingbryds from Melbourne, the Ramona’s from USA, The Professionals and Public Image Limited (previous London legends Sex Pistols all represented), the BeatSteaks from Germany, Men they couldn’t Hang from the UK. All great acts for us topped up by John Lydon of PIL – thankyou uncle Johnny!

 

 

 

 

 

Festivals, Feast Days and Fun in Korcula (Half New Year, Regatta, Sword Dances, Corpus Christi and Donkey Races)

Korcula Island has a long and proud history of maintaining and celebrating ancient and new culture and traditions. Luckily for us many of the celebrations take place in the summer months so in June and July 2015  we have been  treated to a variety of popular events. Joining in and watching on has given us an interesting glimpse into the diverse history and mingling of cultures that have created the Korcula of today.

 
Our first taste of it all started in our first week in Korcula with the solemn procession for the Feast Day of Corpus Christi (All Saints Day). Armed with local knowledge on the best viewing  from Roko, our host, we sat at a cafe table at the bottom of the Revelin Gate steps. Bells rang out from the Cathedral as the procession began making its way down the small town streets to the steps and then around the town to where we waited and around the town to the canons outside the 13tj century All Saints  Church. At the head of the procession were the male members of All Saints confraternity dressed in medieval robes and carrying huge crosses, candles and religious icons and banners. Following were members of the three other confraternities, priests, nuns, and women dressed mainly in white and children in their Sunday best. The three confraternities of Korcula represent different types of professions – All Saints Confraternity is associated with ship building and sea faring – they follow ancient rituals like this and other religious processions and help out for each other’s families in times of hardship. The procession was solemn, silent except for chanting of hymns. When the procession reached the canons a priest said some final prayers while smoking incense filled the air signifying that it was time to put the crosses, candles and banners away until the next religious procession at the end of July.  

On the following Friday we were treated to the opening of the a Korcula Island Sword dance season. On Korcula Island each small village and the town of Korcula have their own version of the ancient tradition of sword dancing. Once performed all around the Mediterranean this tradition has survived and is now thriving in Korcula. To mark the summer season of performances for tourists this festival also involved a parade, this time along the water front of Sveti Nicoli to the round water front stage into the town and again along to the canons. Each village was strongly supported by its people who watched at the stage where a section of each sword dance was performed, together with a performance from special guest, Lastova Island. As swords clashed, flags were waved and goats skin pipes and drums played ancient tunes the sun set over the water adding to the spectacle of hundreds of sword dances dressed in traditional costumes, proudly representing their culture and tradition. To add further to the occasional, beer, popcorn, balloons and hamburgers were being sold on the street, keeping the onlookers both entertained and happy!   As the days of June passed by we had noticed a round looking boat, rowed by a crew of around ten very fit men practicing around the harbour in the evenings. We were soon to discover that this boat was the local crew preparing for the annual Lada Boat Regatta. Again a crowd of supporters from all over the island and from the mainland, gathered this time looking for good vantage points out to the western sea where the boats were expected from Kneze  about 15 km along the coast. With the spirit of a football crowd in supporter T shirts , banners and chants all were excited when  the first boats rounded the point followed by a flotilla of support boats. Excitement for the Korculians turned to dismay and dissappointment when the local crew took the wrong turn and were it of the race early. The winners celebrated just like a winning football team with the team song belted out in full voice.  Celebrations continued into the early hours night with a band playing in the main square and parties on the street. The next morning the only trace of the festivities was a lone row boat beached on the pebbles in the harbour.  

The first month of our time in Korcula was about to end, the second month about to start and by happy coincidence our half time, coincided with the traditional celebration in Korcula of Half New Year. Anticipation of the happy event was everywhere around town. Posters appeared on signs, flags of the world were strung across the Main Street together with the Christmas lights and a stage was set up over the top of the main square fountain. Even though June 30 is not a recognised public holiday it certainly felt like one here. All the hallmarks and more of New Year celebrations in Australia were in place – hot weather, summer holidays, long lunches with beer and wine and people in happy festive moods. But there were also some very distinct and exciting differences that certainly made this celebration something special.  

 

The celebration  included the tradition of a dress up theme and is know locally as the ‘masked welcome of the half new year’. From early afternoon the excitment built, spurred on by the arrival of the party boat, with music blaring and dressed up party people from the nearby mainland holiday town of Makaska. The party music bounced of the town walls and buildings and made a big impact as we watched and listened from our balcony. Keen to be involved we were off to town, passing local families all dressed as cats, from tiny babies, to teenage boys and girls to parents and grandparents, all in the spirit of the celebration. We waited near the water front stage with beers and wine, again bought from street stalls, part of the thousands strong crowd. As the procession passed by the all ages crowd was totally involved, music blared from the various groups in the procession including the Makaska party boat crew, the German beer drinkers, the local kids taking off Australians Sail Croatia gap year kids (in striped Croatia T Shirts drinking carafes of wine through huge coloured straws), and the first prize winners a Game of Thrones group with amazing costumes and music. This time the partying went even longer, through to dawn, encouraged by a DJ and street stage band as well as events in each bar and night club. The atmosphere was unique and everyone was included, all ages joined in and locals and tourists shared in the spirit of celebrating together and having fun.

  
To round things out all that was missing was a donkey race and this took place in July in nearby Lumbarda. We were unsure of what to expect, the question was raised – where the donkeys real or dressed up people? Sure enough there were real donkeys who were lead through the crowd to the accompaniment of the local brass band. After a comical examination by “vets” the donkey races began with 4 heats. The riders rode bare back and where by no means professional or even experienced. There a few styles of riding, some literally hanging on to the donkeys neck and hoping for the best and others sitting upright and urging the donkeys on. The final was won by a young girl who took home the prize of a leg of ham. We feasted on spit roasted lamb sold by the kilo and cut into chunks to be pulled apart and eaten with equally big and rustic chunks of bread. So another interesting event of this island that excels at having a good time and keeping traditions alive.