London Greek Radio

The leaders of the two communities in Cyprus, President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, will hold a new meeting on Monday, in the framework of the UN- led Cyprus talks.

T/C Leader Mustafa Akinci (L)-Esper Barth Eide(M)-Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades

UNSG`s Special Advisor for Cyprus Espen Barth Eide will participate “facilitating the leaders’ meeting, as the leaders progress in the ongoing substantive negotiations on all unresolved core issues”, a press release by UNFICYP said.

In a statement after their previous meeting on the 17th of June, Eide had said that “with strong determination, and driven by their joint commitment,” the two leaders “pursued their goal of reaching a comprehensive settlement as soon as possible.”

He added that “upon completing the baseline assessment, the leaders are now entering into substantive negotiations on unresolved core issues. The leaders agreed that these negotiations will be the centerpiece of their work from now on and that they will be dealt with in a holistic and interdependent manner”.

Therefore, he added, “Mr. Anastasiades and Mr. Akıncı have tasked their negotiators to focus their work on a specific set of core issues across chapters. They will work intensively on this task and report back to the next leaders’ meeting to be held on 29 June 2015.”

Eide said that the leaders also reviewed the implementation of those confidence building measures that were previously announced and that Akıncı and Anastasiades continued their work on further confidence-building measures in parallel to the negotiation process.

Eide will remain in Cyprus until Thursday, July 2, to continue his contacts with key interlocutors. In the course of his stay on the island, he will also chair the joint negotiators’ meetings which will be held following the leaders’ meeting.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied 37% of its territory. UN-led talks, aiming to reunite the island under a federal roof, resumed on May 15, this year.

The negotiators of the two communities in Cyprus continue on Friday their discussion in the framework of the resumed UN – led peace talks.

Greek Cypriot negotiation Andreas Mavroyiannis and Turkish Cypriot negotiator Ozdil Nami began their meeting this morning continuing the discussion on issues of substance according to the guidelines they received by the leaders of the two communities on the island, President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.

Last week, President Anastasiades said that the two negotiators “have done a great job in identifying convergences and divergences on all issues”.

This, he noted, allows him and Akinci “to give further instructions for processing based on the interconnected negotiation of chapters, so that on the 29th of June we actually enter into a substantive negotiation on the chapters that will be before us”.

It is recalled that UN SG`s Special Advisor for Cyprus Espen Barth Eide was present in the negotiators` meeting on the 19th of June. In a twitter message after the meeting Eide wrote that he is “impressed by how the two Cyprus negotiation teams, led by Nami and Mavroyiannis demonstrate courage, creativity, and mutual respect”.

The next meeting of the two leaders will take place on the 29th of June. UN SG`s Special Advisor will also be present at that meeting.

The Republic of Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and since then occupies 37% of this Mediterranean EU island`s territory. UN-led talks, aiming to reunite the island under a federal roof, resumed on May 15, this year.

Unloved

Tamta goes American Horror Story with her new video and we absolutely love it!

The story begins inside the dark filthy rooms of a hospital where Tamta is using young males as guinea pigs to test her poison.

The singer chose a dramatic vintage look with pin curls and a bold berry-red lipstick to recreate the black-widow look. She shows off her fit figure with revealing beige lingerie and she seems determined to kill all these helpless men in order to discover  the secret for the elixir of eternal love.

The video is directed by Apollonas Papatheoharis and it is inspired by the famous series American Horror Story.

The second season of the American TV program was called Asylum and portrayed the tortured lives of patients inside the mental institution at the hands of doctors. The dirty brick walls and the abused male bodies exposed the inspiration for the video. The video is different and interesting and the song is expected to be a big hit in many European countries this summer.

Watch the official music video here:

Kostas Martakis

Kostas Martakis has just released his new official music video for the song ‘Pes To Nai’. After three intense days of shooting with Kostas Kapetanidis in the Ionian Island Zante, the result is magnificent.

The majority of the video was shot on the famous Navagio Beach (Shipwreck Beach). Kostas had an interview today in which he was asked about his new video. He jokingly mentioned that he got really upset when the director wanted him to stand closer to the edge of the cliff so they could get a breath-taking frame of Martakis over the shipwreck.

He also commented on his latest transition from pop to the more laiko style of his songs.

Although the Kostas confirmed that he is still going to perform pop song, he feels he needs to have a slight change in career path and that includes music style. When asked if he is anxious about this musical transition he responded with certainty that he is confident with his new path because he loves laiko as much as he loves pop.  ‘I can’t please everyone’ said the popular Greek singer in order to defend his decision. Though the song ‘Pes To Nai’ seems to be closer to the dance genre rather than laiko.

Music style aside, we couldn’t help but notice that Kostas, the Greek with the baby blue eyes, looks more handsome and radiant than ever in his latest music video.

Watch the official video to ‘Pes To Nai’ here:

The government has dismissed allegations of an abduction attempt of British children by a gang in Cyprus, noting that all the fuss made by British media over this issue was unnecessary and unsubstantiated.

In a written statement he made in the wake of allegations by the media that a gang attempted to abduct three British children in Protaras, a popular holiday resort, Deputy Government Spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos underlined that Cyprus has been and remains one of the safest tourist destinations all over the world, both for locals and foreigners and their children.

Papadopoulos said that British tourists staying at a hotel in Protaras had filed a complaint with the Police that an unknown man was taking pictures and approached their children. He noted that the police acted quickly and arrested a 19-year-old man of Bulgarian origin.

The man was questioned and his mobile phone was confiscated, however nothing inappropriate was found. The police also conducted investigations at this house, where nothing suspicious or inappropriate was found as regards this case or any related offences, Papadopoulos added.

He noted that moreover the police visited the hotel premises and took statements from the British parents that had filed the complaint as well as from their children, however nothing inappropriate came up.

“Consequently the Cyprus government considers that the fuss made by British media is unnecessary and unsubstantiated,” Papadopoulos added.

Southgate Summer Festival

Southgate Summer Festival:

Saturday 11th July 2015

Where: Chase Side, Southgate Roundabout, Ashfield Parade

Time: 11am til 5pm

Local company Little N’ Large started the Southgate Festivals 2 years ago, in order to improve community spirit in Southgate and the surrounding areas.

Transport For London reported that last year’s summer festival attracted 4,500 more people than normal to the area by tube and it is expected that this figure will increase again this year!

This is a a non profit event.

Entertainment on the day will include: Live Music, Professional Skateboard/Bike Ramp Shows, Bouncy Castle, Kids Carousel, Disney Characters, Face Painting, Horse & Carriage Ride.

This is a free festival so no tickets are needed, just turn up and enjoy!

Special Thanks

Panos Kiamos has just released a new animated music video for his single, “Apo Asteri Se Asteri”. The song was already very popular on YouTube and so fans have been anticipating the video for almost a month now.

The Greek singer just finished a string of appearances in Athens and is now in Australia promoting his brand new album. His tour is expected to be very successful, since Panos has worked hard this year to create and promote his new album.

Yannis Papadakos, the director, chose a different and unique way to orchestrate his latest music video starting with a close up frame of Panos Kiamos singing and then introducing us to the singer’s animated counterpart.

The drawings are of an altered reality far away on another planet, or star, where the trees are pink and lollipops are growing from the ground and flying is a normal phenomenon.

We love animated Kiamos, but check out the full music video here and see what you think:

Vegas

The Greek pop group Vegas performed their latest single “Apopse” last night in the semi-finals of the show ‘The voice’.

Two hours ago Vegas uploaded the new single onto their YouTube channel, making fans wonder when the music video will be available.

Melina, ZeRaw and DJ Airth, the three members of the group, have created multiple hits and dominated the Greek music industry since 2009.

The female singer of the group, who is known for her peculiar style, wore a long see-through white dress with red details, paired with long earrings and black peep-toe ankle-strap heels.

Vegas have been working very hard, reportedly rehearsing day and night as their official Facebook page reports they are now getting prepared for multiple live performances.

The creators and singers of the songs “Mi Stamatas” “Irthe I Stigmi” and “Tus Ponaei” have yet to release the official video for their new song but the fans are expecting it to be spectacular. The group has filmed high budget videos in the past; the video for the song “Akoma” was shot in the United States and included multiple scenes from the streets of New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Palm Beach and Miami.

Vegas’s modern aesthetic combined with their previous work is creating high expectations from the public but for the moment we can only enjoy the audio version of their latest song.

Here is a clip of their performance in last night’s episode of ‘The Voice’:

BBC Radio

If you are wondering what the ultimate Eurovision song of all time is, BBC radio 2 has the answer.

Helena Paparizou and her song ‘My Number One’ was voted as the all-time favourite in a BBC poll. The song competed against the other 60 winners of the competition and Paparizou succeed, taking first place once again.

10 years after its release ‘My Number One’, the song that took Europe by storm in 2005, proved to be the most popular of all the Eurovision songs ever.

Abba’s ‘Waterloo’ landed second despite Abba’s still very active fan base.

BBC Radio 2 noted: “This was Greece’s first ever victory in the competition back in 2005 and it actually led to mass celebrations on the streets of Athens. After the show, nationals descended on the streets to wave their flags and sing her song. The folk-dance love song then went on to gain top 40 chart positions in countries across the world, was later covered by a heavy metal band and was even featured as a soundtrack in a karaoke video game.”

Helena, singer and songwriter, was a member of the group Antique which became extremely popular after their participation in the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2001 with the half-Greek half-English song ‘Die for you’.

As of late, Paparizou has released her new song ‘Angel’ and once again her fans are responding enthusiastically, with more than 20 thousand views already, the song is promising to be another great hit.

Listen to Helena’s latest hit here:

The Cypriot community is effectively a bystander in British politics, when other ethnic communities are doubling numbers in Parliament and across British politics.  This general election saw a record number of (British Minority Ethnic) BME politicians elected to Parliament, with eight new BME MPs coming from Labour, seven from the Conservatives, and one SNP.  Ten new BME female MPs have been returned to the House of Commons.  None of them Cypriots.  The number BME MP’s is up to 41 from 25 in 2010.

According to John Kaponi  National (pictured above) Chairman of  ‘Future  Cyprus’, an organisation aiming to promote Cypriots in British public life,  “It’s now time the UK Cypriot community started to look at itself very closely and understand that without political muscle the “Cypriot community” will not be able to protect its interests and issues.  We therefore call on Cypriot associations and organisations to sign up to be members of British political parties and participate in local and national British politics.”

 The General election results saw the return to Parliament by some of the Cypriot community strongest friends; but at the same time failed to bring back people like Nick De Bois, a tireless supporter of the Cypriots in London.  Cyprus Future played an active role across London and the South East of England encouraging as many Cypriots to vote in the general election. Some of the efforts worked, but on the whole the community did not play the role it should have at these very important elections.

 The biggest problem that Cyprus Future has identified, and this applies to all political parties, is the lack of Cypriots affiliated to British political parties.  This has unfortunately meant that very few, if any Cypriots are active politically at local, national and European levels, which directly affects the influence the community has in British politics. It is a known fact that some of the older generation of British Cypriots  are members of political parties from Cyprus instead of British political parties.

 An example of the lack of involvement in “main-stream” politics was seen starkly at the canvassing, leafleting, phone calling, emailing, talking to residents on the doorstep and manning stalls sessions of all the main parties in London.  With a handful of Cypriots out knocking doors, our “friends” who looked during the campaign  to see who their friends are, were clearly disappointed by the same old faces turning up.  More must be done to encourage more Cypriots to be actively involved in British politics.

 John Kaponi said, “What is more worrying is that with elections now expected in 2016 for the London Mayoralty and London Assembly, the EU referendum in 2017, “the Cypriot community” must play its role and should be looking to be players, and not spectators which is what we will be, bystanders in the democratic process.  Does the community feel comfortable with the fact that the Cypriots do not have any representatives in the House of Commons, no representatives in the House of Lords, no representatives in the European Parliament or the London Assembly?  How long can this continue?”