Nick Giannopoulos may have made Zorbadundee famous in the movie, The Wog Boy but the concept of a Zorba-Kalabresi is a first in ethnic performance.
Home-grown gardening guru, Vasili Kanidiadis (Vasili’s Garden) and popular Italian singer/entertainer, John St Peeters will be uniting the culture and people of Italy and Greece in a musical spectacular at Dallas Brooks Centre, on June, 27.
“This is not half a dozen guys on stage talking wogs of work, this is a tribute to all the Europeans.
“We are taking it one step further by uniting two countries live on stage; two countries which have brought so much culture and history,” Vasili said to Neos Kosmos English Edition (NKEE).
“There will be skits representing the Greeks and Italians and what they’ve gone through assimilating to the Australian culture. There will be over 70 performers, Greek and Italian bands and a lot of audience interaction – getting people involved through singing and dancing.”
“Can you imagine an arena of 2000 people packed with Italians and Greeks, and the roar we are going to get from these two nations?” St Peeters said laughing. “That’s what it’s all about.”
The unlikely duo met three years ago when St Peeters saw Vasili playing his famous accordion on Vasili’s Garden.
“You’ve got to be joking, a Greek playing an accordion? I always thought a bouzouki was Greek!” St Peeters reminisces. (Vasili mischievously laughs in the background whilst he plays Italian piano tunes).
Vasili interrupts: “Then he rings me up and he goes, ‘Mate I’m going to show you how to play the accordion properly,’ and all he could do at the end of the day is drink half a litre red wine. That’s part of the rules and regulations of being Italian!”
“That’s what he’s saying, I had to drink the wine because I just had a quadruple bypass and the doctor said I could drink a little red wine!”
I am bemused by their ability to bounce off each other. They effortlessly finish each other’s sentences and endlessly mock each other and joke around.
This shared sense of spontaneity and energy will be an essential part of their live show.
Vasili, who has not performed on stage for seven years is looking forward to bringing the unpredictability of Vasili’s Garden to the stage.
“We don’t know what each other is doing; I’m putting a show together for the Greek people and he is doing the same for the Italian people but we haven’t brought the two parties together yet!
“There will also be John and I with accordions on stage and we know who’s going to win that one at the end of the day!”
What they also know is that both have travelled to Greece and Italy and will be providing a visual tribute on a big screen to their home countries.
They have interviewed some of the biggest names overseas, and will be dedicating visual tributes to famous singers including the late Stelios Kazantzidis, and most notably, Luciano Pavarotti.
The voice of Channel 7, John Deeks will also be presenting tributes to some of the most prominent Greek and Italian names in the business, sports and food industry for their contribution to Australia.
The visual spectacular will be topped off by performances by several Greek and Italian youth dance groups including Manasis Dance. “They wear dresses, they’re really good,” St Peeters said laughingly.
“John likes them like that,” Vasili parried. St Peeters’ counter thrust was direct: “You’ll never see me in one of those outfits. Never! You’re going to have to drug my souvlaki!”
For booking call 1300 627 374.