This hybrid museum theatre programme combined in-person/in-situ and online virtual formats to transport learners back (waaaay back!) to 1991 when the Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments had just opened its doors. Our friend Kostis, an accomplished musician himself, has come to Athens especially to visit the new museum. He is a friend and former student of the famous Roma musician Vangelis Soukas, and he wants to see how the history of Roma musicians and Romani musical heritage has been put on display in this new, National Museum exhibition.
‘In the Footsteps of Vangelis Soukas’ was first performed for a live, in-situ audience as part of a programme (designed and curated by the Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments / Foivos Anogianakis Center of Ethnomusicology – ‘MELMOFAKE’ – working together with Dr. Foteini Venieri) of talks, live music and cultural exchange within the context of the 2023 European Heritage Days. It has since been delivered as a virtual museum learning programme to primary and secondary school pupils in Athens, Thessaloniki, Thebes, Karditsa, Agrinio and Arta thanks to support from The Greek Ministry of Culture and MELMOFAKE’s partnership with the MUSEOTEK virtual learning platform. During each encounter, Kostis introduces students to the museum’s rich collection of folk musical instruments as he searches for traces of his friend and tutor Vangelis Soukas. The students are invited to express themselves creatively through music and song as they help Kostis to find his way.
Funders / Partners: The Greek Ministry of Culture, The Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments / Fivos Anoyanakis Research Centre for Ethnomusicology (‘MELMOFAKE’) and Museotek. Production Team: Foteini Venieri, Lefteris Katachanas (Kostis), Vassiliki Polizoi.
