The visitors will have access to more than 30 food stalls with Greek delicacies from all corners of Greece, including mousaka, dolmades dum-dums, feta cheese and honey puffs.

“A virtual Spanakopita famine,” as the organizers noted. “You would rather pass on imposters and hold out because there’s nothing like the one from the Paniyiri Greek Festival stall. That, and your best mate won’t let you borrow his Yiayia (that’s Greek grandmother to you).”

“The other good news this year the People behind Paniyiri – the Yiayias – are revealing their secret, fool-proof recipes so that Paniyiri devotees don’t have to starve for another 12 months. Honorary Greek cooks unite!,” as reported in the Brisbane Times.

Paniyiri Greek Festival started in 1976 by a group of passionate Greek-Australians who wanted to share their cultural traditions with Brisbane. During the annual festival, Brisbane residents have the opportunity to participate in a colorful celebration of dance, music, culture and food, go on a gastronomical tour through secret recipe books and travel through a history rich in color and passion.

Since the Festival’s inception, more than four million honey puffs, 250,000 coffees, almost 20 tons of haloumi cheese, 3.5 million souvlakia and 400,000 dolmades have been served to some 750,000 festival goers.

More than 50,000 genuine and honorary Greeks will gather in South Brisbane to smell the Greek barbecues, dance the traditional and famous Zorba dance, watch main stage performances, listen to traditional Greek instruments, such as bouzouki, lira and laouto, watch films, go to cooking school and tour the Greek Orthodox Church.

Paniyiri is the largest cultural festival in Queensland and the longest running Greek festival in Australia. Now in its 36th year, Paniyiri is a community initiative of the 25,000-strong Greek community of South East Queensland.

Funds raised are channeled back into the community via the Greek Orthodox Community of St George, established in the 1920′s.

Others in attendance were Opposition leaderTony Abbott, the Premier of Victoria Denis Napthine, the Leader of the Opposition in Victoria Daniel Andrews, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne Robert Doyle, many federal and state MPs and Senators, the Greek Ambassador Haris Dafaranos, the Bishop Ezekiel of Dervis and many more dignitaries, attended the opening of Antipodes Festival at Lonsdale Street, the Greek Precinct in the center of Melbourne.

Gillard and Abbott kept asking the President of the Greek Community of Melbourne & Victoria Bill Papastergiadis, if the interest in politics is so big, that a great number of people attended the festival holding umbrellas. “Greeks are interested in politics, but the main reason they are here tonight is to show that they are proud of their Greek origin”, Papastergiadis answered.

Gillard stressed at her speech that she can’t imagine how would Australia be without Greeks. “You have changed this country for the better”, she noted as signing Hellenism’s praises, same as the other Australian politicians did, a fact covered by the Australian mass media as well. A concert with Mihalis Hatzigiannis followed. The popular singer gave also a concert the next day and there was also an appearane by the well-known Cretan artist Psarantonis.

Melpomeni grew up in Oakleigh but moved to the UK in the 1990′s to pursue an eclectic music career encompassing classical, rock, country, electronic and Greek styles. According to the Herald Sun, the acclaimed musician has observed a change regarding the Greek community.

“I’ve noticed that people are more settled in their new country, they are much more secure. Not only because they’ve built their lives here, but there’s a comfort of being foreign which has changed.”

The Antipodes festival has scored somewhat of a coup by bringing together Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott for the event. The political foes will temporarily suspend hostilities and share a stage on March 16 with Greek community leaders.

Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria President Bill Papastergiadis said their attendance was a win for multiculturalism. “The presence of Gillard and Abbott reflects the esteem with which the Greek Community of Melbourne is held and its contribution to the fabric of our multicultural nation,” he said.

Papastergiadis said that the financial crisis in Greece had led to thousands of dual Greek and Australian citizens returning to live in Melbourne, as well as about 1000 Greek students.
(SOURCE: Herald Sun)

As part of the Synapantema events, the famous Pontian actror Lazos Terzas and academic Panayiotis Diamandis gave speeches in regard to the rich Pontian history, culture and language, while several Pontian associations presented impressive performances.

Pontians from all cities of Australia met in the port city of Sydney to celebrate and show their rich tradition in dance and music accompanied by the Pontian Lyra known also as Kementche and the several traditional tastes from Pontus.  Lazos Terzas, as a guest of the Frontiersmen of Pontus Association and the Greek Community of Melbourne, is expected to give lectures in Melbourne as well.

The Synapantema is an annual Federaton event held in a different city every year throughout Australia. Literally meaning the gathering, the Synapantema brings Pontians from all over Australia together and celebrate being Pontian.

Hatzigiannis was born in Nicosia, Cyprus on November 5, 1979. He is a graduate of the Cyprus Music Academy (Royal College of London) with a degree in piano, guitar and music theory.

When he was 18, he participated in a song contest in Cyprus, Afetiries where he won first prize. He also participated in a musical production in Cyprus called Pygmalion in addition to also performing a number of concerts in major city tour in Cyprus titled Mixalis Xatzigiannis, Andreas Gerolemou.

Both Antipodes Festival in Melbourne and the Greek Festival of Sydney are known around the world as signigicant cultural events and regularly draw large crowds.

Hatzigiannis’ performance in these two festivals is a continuation of performances of well-known musicians and singers such as Eleftheria Arvanitaki, George Dalaras, Haris Alexiou, Glykeria, Dimitra Galani, Alkistis Protopsalti and Pantelis Thalassinos.

The Glenti on Lonsdale Street is the leading event of the Antipodes Festival, which is the cultural basis of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria. As a part of the festival, the famous Greek center  of Melbourne turns into a giant party attended by local and other artists, including events for children and offering a variety of Greek tastes.

The Greek Festival of Sydney is expected to fill Darling Harbour, during the weekend, March 16 and 17, with Greek music sounds, Greek cuisine’s flavors and tastes, Greek dancing performances and various surprises for kids. The festival is the best way for the celebration of multicultural city of Sidney and the wonderful Greek cultural tradition.

Seeing Psarandonis live is considered to be a unique lifetime experience. In January 2009, Psarandonis gave memorable performances at the All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival curated by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and hosted on Cockatoo Island, Sydney and Mt. Buller in Victoria.

A review from ATP Mt. Buller gushed: “The input of Cave’s current artistic muse and Bad Seed protagonist Ellis was no more evident than in the choice of Greek lyre player Psarandonis who, despite limited prior exposure, whipped the crowd into a dancing frenzy to conclude Saturday night’s proceedings on the small stage.”

ATP Sydney wrote: “Psarandonis is a Greek musical legend and master of the lyra, a traditional Cretan folk instrument. Accompanied by his son George Xylouris (Xylouris Ensemble) also on lyra and Jim White (Dirty Three) on drums they were a breath of fresh air from the electricity filling the island air. The mood was different and the crowd gave a standing ovation for his instrumental and singing mastery. It was a musical education for many of the audience who got to hear him.”

George Xlyouris and Jim White will again join the master lyra player at shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Castlemaine in addition to the already announced performances at Womadelaide and at Meredith’s Golden Plains Festival. Tickets for all headline shows are on-sale on Jan. 23. The March 9 shows at Meredith, Golden Plains Festival are sold out.

For March 10^th and 11^th: Adelaide, Womadelaide. You can find and buy your tickets for both shows at: www.womadelaide.com.au

For March 15th: Marrickville (Sydney), The Factory. You can buy your tickets at the price of $56.70 + bf, at: www.thefactorytheatre.com.au

For March 21st: Castlemaine, Theatre Royal, tickets are available for $40.00 + bf, from www.theatreroyal.info

Finally for March 22nd: Melbourne, The Forum (reserved seating only). You can buy your tickets at the price of $62.70 (includes inside charge and booking fee, some transaction fees may apply) at  www.ticketmaster.com.au or phone: 1300 11 10 11. Media inquires should be addressed to: natalie@feelpresents.com

She will sing in the choir, perform traditional dances and introduce a new generation to the event. Her four-year-old grandson Harry, started Greek dance lessons last year and will make his debut at the festival this weekend.

More than 30,000 people are expected to attend the two-day event, which will fill the air with Greek food, music, dancing and rides with special guest star comedienne Mary Coustas, who plays the character of Effie Stephanidis, a stereotypical second-generation Greek-Australian.

Vakitsidis says the festival helps keep the culture alive and allows people of all nationalities enjoy Greek culture without having to travel all the way to Greece. “People can travel to Greece and the islands, but we are bringing all of Greece, its sweets and music to Semaphore. Each year when people tell me they are enjoying themselves, you know how proud I am?”

The Semaphore Greek Cultural Festival will be held at the Semaphore Foreshore on January 12-13, from 10:00 a.m. Admission is free.

According to the Herald Sun, the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria board Chairman, Stephen Spargo, noted poultry competitions would take place as scheduled, following speculation they would be cancelled.

“The pavilion which we normally use is currently used by the MasterChef organization where they’re doing all filming for MasterChef and they will be doing a major event in it during the show,” Spargo said. “We’re currently just looking at where we can coordinate the competition for this year,” he added. The poultry competition at the 2012 Royal Melbourne Show had more than 1,200 birds, including bantam chickens, ducks, geese, guinea fowl and turkeys.

Psarantonis comes from the mountainous village of Anogeia in Crete and is the younger brother of the late Nikos Xylouris, a notable Cretan singer/musician as well as the older brother of Yiannis Xylouris, an equally notable Cretan musician.

In May 2005, Psarantonis performed at the World Music Institute’s 20th anniversary benefit concert at Town Hall, New York. In 2007 at the festival Rock All tomorrow’s Parties in Minehead, U.K. In January 2009, he gave memorable performances in the rock music festival All Tomorrow’s Parties hosted in Brisbane, Sydney and Mount Buller (in Victoria) and curated by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.

Psarantonis has a special relationship with Australia as is son is married in Australia and his grandchildren are born there.

According to “WOMADelaide website” over the past 20 years WOMADelaide has become one of the nation’s favourite outdoor festivals, not only because of the unique and extraordinary music it presents, but also because of its beautiful and friendly vibe. WOMADelaide runs over four days in Botanic Park in inner-cityAdelaide.

The program features performances and workshops on seven stages by the world’s best traditional and contemporary musicians, dancers and DJs, a KidZone activity area, street theatre and visual artists, the Taste the World cooking program, The Planet Talks environmental discussions program, Artists in Conversation and around 100 food, retail and charity stalls