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CYPRECO Folk Arts Program Is A Success

On Friday, February 17th, CYPRECO of America, Inc., launched its 2012 cultural activities with the successful presentation of the program, “The Folk Stories and Folk Poems of Cyprus” as Compiled and Published by the Late Lucy Maroulleti, author, poet, translator, storyteller.

In a big turnout at the Stathakion Cultural Center in Astoria, New York, members and leaders of the Cypriot and Greek American community, members from the general audience, Greek, Cypriot and American officials and other dignitaries attended the event which also coincided with the late Lucy Maroulleti’s birthday.

The multi-talented Lucy Maroulleti distinguished herself within the Greek and Cypriot American community and abroad for her important contributions to the promotion of the culture, folklore and literary arts of Cyprus and Greece in America through her work with CYPRECO of America, of which she was a co-founder, as well as through her poetry, novels, plays, her acting, her storytelling and her award winning literary translations from Greek (Modern and ancient) into English and from English into Greek. Some of Lucy’s activities were further highlighted in a mini-documentary.

The program featured Cypriot folk stories and folk poems from Lucy’s books, “Once Upon a Time, Folk Stories My Grandmother Told Me” and “Cypriot Folk Poems, 900-1900AD” which Lucy collected over the years and translated herself from Cypriot dialect into English. They were presented in Cypriot dialect by Polys Kyriacou, a poet and lyricist and in English by Elena Maroulleti, President of CYPRECO and Executive Producer of the event.

Referring to the folk stories and folk poems in these two featured books, Elena Maroulleti stressed that, “they are considered exceptional and important because Lucy was the first to ever translate them from Cypriot dialect into English while most of them do not exist in any other publication. In her English translation, Lucy adhered strictly to the original text without any adaptations or improvements. Both books comprise today an invaluable point of reference for anyone who wants to know about the folk stories and poems of rural Cyprus”.

The presentation included the folk stories, “The Sleeping Princess”, “The Ghoul” and “The Snake and the Merchant”. Referring to them Elena Maroulleti stressed that, “these are stories which survived orally through a span of one thousand or more years and which have travelled through the mouths of mostly illiterate and older people in rural Cyprus. However apart from the entertaining part they each convey very strong messages about mankind and the challenges we face and how we should always chose good vs evil, kindness vs greed, love vs hate among other”.

As far as the folk poems are concerned, the program included the legendary poem of Arodafnousa, found only in Cyprus and the poem, “Chrystalou and Charon”. As in the folk stories, these poems also survived orally over the centuries by word of mouth and they too convey special messages about life and mankind in general.

After the folk arts presentation followed greeting messages from the newly appointed Consul General of Greece to New York Georgios Eliopoulos, the Consul General of Cyprus to New York Koula Sofianou, the President of the Federation of Hellenic Societies Elias Tsekerides and the Vice President of the Cyprus Federation Chris Nikolaou.

All speakers praised CYPRECO for its ongoing dedication in bringing to the community unique programs which celebrate the rich history, culture and folklore of Cyprus. They also spoke with utmost admiration about the late Lucy Maroulleti and her work which was presented.

The program concluded with a musical performance with selected songs by great Greek composers such as Manos Hadjidakis. In a very unique performance, Greek American singer Fay accompanied on the keyboards by the well known musician and composer Glafkos Kontemeniotis truly moved the audience with her passionate interpretation of the songs, most of which were Lucy’s favorites.

The multi-talented and multi-awarded Lucy Maroulleti was born in Egypt by Cypriot parents and moved to Cyprus in the early 1940’s during the Second World War and she lived there until the Turkish invasion of 1974 which forced her to leave her ancestral lands in the north and become a refugee along with some other 200,000 Greek Cypriots. She moved with her family in London for a year and in 1975 she immigrated to America and settled in Astoria, New York where she lived until her death in 2005.

Lucy held a Certificate of “Proficiency in Greek and in English” from the Cambridge University in London, England and she has translated many famous Greek contemporary poets, as well as ancient playwrights while her work has been published in several newspapers and magazines here in the U.S., in Cyprus and in England. Lucy Maroulleti passed away on October 11, 2005 and she will be sorely missed by many. Always with a burning curiosity of life itself and the desire to share her unique and insightful visions with all those around her, Lucy opened her heart and focused her thoughts and spirit on the profound.

As with many before her throughout the centuries, Lucy Maroulleti endured severe hardships in life but never once did she cease to smile upon and recite upon the beauty and profundity of life. Lucy left this world with a warm and knowing smile on her face.

CYPRECO’s new folk arts program which was offered with free admission as a public service to the community, was under the auspices of the Cyprus Federation of America and it was made possible in part through the generous support of Arch Capital Services, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cyprus Federation of America and Astoria Federal Savings Bank, Ditmars Branch in Astoria, NY.

CYPRECO is now gearing up for its next folk arts program entitled, “The Traditional Cypriot Bread”. The program offered with free admission will take place on Friday, June 8, 2012 at 8pm at the Stathakion Cultural Center in Astoria, NY. It will feature the screening of a very rare hour-long original documentary that will transport the audience directly to rural Cyprus to discover the history behind the making of the traditional Cypriot bread.

According to early historians, the Cypriot bread, was not only of exceptional quality but in the 18th century it was also the best found in the entire Levant. The long road leading from wheat to bread is also the path followed by this film, which “reaps” the last opportunities for immortalizing scenes featuring individuals from the Cypriot countryside who for years were involved in traditional cereal-crop cultivation.

For more information about this program send an email to cypreco@earthlink.net. For regular updates regarding CYPRECO’s events please visit www.cyprecoofamerica.com.

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