History of the Musical Yards
Musical Yards
Musical Yards is a long-lasting music seminar that is organized in Raches, Ikaria, every summer, and is now completing more than ten years of presence.
The epicenter of the seminar is the large courtyard of Agios Ioannis, a chapel located in a countryside location very close to the village of Christos, while the courses and workshops of the Seminar are hosted and take place in the yards of the family homes of the valley around the chapel - hence the name ‘Musical Yards’.
The Musical Yards are being prepared and organized annually without assignments and without sponsors, solely thanks to the personal work of the members of the Citizens’ Movement of Raches Ikaria, following joint decisions taken in regular meetings throughout the months before the event.
The motivating force of the seminar is the love for music, as well as the eagerness to communicate with other people from Greece and the rest of the world who want to get together and play music, expand their knowledge and share their experiences in this art.
This was how Musical Yards started in 2012, at the beginning with only three musical workshops, while the first students were mainly members of the Citizens’ Movement and some other Ikarians who played a musical instrument.
In recent years we have also been organizing a winter music seminar, the Musical Fireplaces.
Focusing always on Εastern Traditional Music and embracing in the same time other music genres too, since then, the music seminar of Ikaria has grown, spread roots and matured thanks to the participation of many students from Greece and abroad, as well as the unwavering, warm support of great teachers.