Music heading for the hills

Why does everyone seem to be heading to the hills to listen to some music? Every summer, the Pindus, Helicon, Kallidromo and other mountain ranges echo with melodies, attracting tens of thousands of visitors seeking an experience far different from a concert in a city theater or stadium. The number of festivals is growing each year, including those in Anilio, Arvanitsa, Pozar, Elateia, Nestorio, Vovousa and Helmos. Some have been around for decades, while others are newly established, responding to the public’s thirst for mountainous musical adventures. Long-standing and newer events have thrived in recent years, drawing more campers and going to greater efforts to better accommodate them.

“The idea to launch a festival came up due to the lack of snow during the previous ski season. We decided to go ahead with it, and it succeeded, so we’re continuing,” says Alexis Agrios, director of the Kalavryta Ski Resort and head of the Helmos Mountain Festival, which will be hosted for the second year from June 21 to 24 at the foot of the ski slopes in the northern Peloponnese. “This ties into people’s desire to visit the mountains outside of winter. We want visitors to get to know the area and see how beautiful the mountain is in spring and summer. Let’s not forget that while the rest of Greece is experiencing temperatures of 30 to 35 degrees Celsius this time of year, up here it’s around 15 degrees.”

“Our goal is to develop alternative tourism and offer visitors a comprehensive experience of outdoor activities and parallel events that will fill their day,” says Agrios. “While we have musical performances by renowned artists for the finale, these are not the main focus. We also pay special attention to cleanliness, aiming to leave the mountain in a better state than we found it.” The newly established festival has expanded its activities this year, offering hiking, mountain biking, wild truffle hunting and wine tasting, along with other local products.

Besides concerts, organizers of the Anilio Park Festival offer activities like swimming in a nearby lake, climbing and yoga at an altitude of 1,650 meters

Nevertheless, the majority of people heading to the mountains in the summer do so primarily for the concerts. A glance at this year’s festival lineups reveals mostly the same names: Thanasis and Vasilis Papakonstantinou, Sokratis Malamas, Ioulia Karapataki, Giannis Aggelakas, Pavlos Pavlidis, Marina Satti and Villagers of Ioannina City.

Given that it’s 2024, there’s also a significant hip-hop presence with acts like Logos Timis, Novel 729, Ethismos and Taf Lathos. All these groups and solo artists are Greek, which fosters a unique connection with the audience at these festivals.

While international musicians who visit Greece annually are well-received, the atmosphere at a live performance by Thanasis Papakonstantinou or Aggelakas exudes a distinct authenticity. Additionally, singing about “fairies and spells,” “wild maenads” and “eavesdropping rocks” under a starry forest sky with the mountain breeze on your face is simply more fitting.

Each festival has its own unique identity. In Vovousa, a village of 35 residents in Zagori, Epirus, the community transforms into a hub of musical events, screenings, talks, performances, workshops and excursions in the Pindus Mountains from July 13 to August 10. A few dozen kilometers to the southeast, at the Anilio Metsovo Ski Resort, the Anilio Park Festival will be held for the first time this year from August 9 to 11. Besides concerts, organizers offer activities like swimming in a nearby lake, climbing and yoga at an altitude of 1,650 meters.

In the north, Nestorio in Kastoria hosts the River Party, Greece’s oldest mountain festival, from August 2-4. As the name suggests, it features camping and activities by the river, with Marina Satti performing on August 2, among others, in one of her first appearances since the recent Eurovision contest. The Pozar thermal baths hold a major festival from July 19 to 21 at the foot of Mount Kaimaktsalan, beside the banks of the Almopaios River. The musical lineup includes Aggelakas, Malamas, Eisvoleas, Nikos Portokaloglou and Paschalis, among others.

Beautiful and welcoming mountainous locales exist in Central Greece as well. Two summers ago, concerts by Sokratis Malamas and Thanasis Papakonstantinou drew unprecedented crowds, with over 25,000 spectators at each event, on the plateau of Arvanitsa, nestled at an altitude of some 1,000 meters on Mount Helicon. This year, the Kyriaki Mountaineering Association marks its 11th year and promises new thrills in from July 12 to 14). Further north, in the foothills of Mount Kallidromo, the Elateia Festival (August 4-6) has expanded its activities over three days in an area of exceptional natural beauty.