It’s a Greek state of mind

Imagine what would happen if Top of the Pops met The Late Show and then added in a touch of Zorba the Greek and you might start to understand Meraki TV. Meraki TV is a web broadcast show for second, third and fourth generation Hellenes living around the world. And, by using the world wide web to report and produce content, Ana Sevo and the Meraki TV team are able to connect with Greeks from Australia, to the USA, the UK, to South Africa, New Zealand and Argentina.
In it's first incarnation, Meraki TV is version 2.0 of It's My Meraki, a Greek Australian television show on Foxtel. Now upgraded to incorporate Greeks of the diaspora globally, the brains behind the operation Ana Sevo, says this was her purpose in life; to connect Greeks globally and help remind us who we are, where we are from and what being a Hellene is all about.
"Looking around we're a very global community now," explains Ana, "and I wanted to showcase this and the way to do it is on the web.
"I believe the next generation are all on their mobile phones and their computers so I'd like to take advantage of that, and so let's connect globally and not just Australia wide, let's see what similarities we have with Greeks all over the world," says Ana about going to the internet to connect with everyone.
By basing themselves online, Meraki TV is able to be downloadable to mobile phones and computer desktops allowing the viewer access to the part of the show they want to watch and giving them the choice to watch it when they please. And the show itself, can be described as educational entertainment.
"We are trying to educate in the fashion of say Rove, where you are so busy being entertained that you don't' realise you are learning something," explains Ana.
Segments include interviews with Greeks of the diaspora; history that's fun and entertaining with Homer the historian; Greek music hits and the latest news on music coming out of Greece with DJ Krazy Kon; and a word of the day in Greek that will interspersed through the show so by the end, you can add another Greek word to your vocabulary in a bid to keep the language alive.
"The idea is that everybody gets involved so anyone can get on the website and tell us what they'd like to see," Ana tells Neos Kosmos. "And it's funny that I research as much as I can but people are always sending me stuff to check out and that's the beauty of the internet, youtube and myspace that there is someone in a tiny corner of the world and it gets unearthed and winds up in my inbox somehow."
Ana explains that by showcasing these Greeks of the diaspora on the web-based show, she can "show the world what other Greeks are doing that we can be proud of, that we can be inspired by and that we can connect with".
And, given the current climate in Greece, it is as important as ever to express positive aspects of our culture and bring them back to the forefront. Ana wants to see the show focus on what Greeks are good at - comedy, arts, philosophy, history - and give that to the current everyday.
"I don't think Meraki TV is going to reinvent the world, its just going to help strengthen and reconnect, it's going to help bring all the branches out there altogether for a quick catch up. There is so much great original stuff being done and I just want to bring it to people's attention and find it in a quick easy manner."
For more information visit www.merakitv.com or you can contact Ana direct on 0404 480 873 or email anasevo@meraki.tv