Saristra Festival started back in 2012 and takes place on an annual basis in Old Vlachata of Sami in the island of Kefalonia. Our inspiration for this project has been a group of local people who came together by their love for Old Vlachata, a village built on the mountainside of the Kefalonia, which collapsed completely after being struck by the catastrophic earthquake of 1953. It is named after
the central square of the village, ”Saristra”, the center of where their own grandparents had lived and created their whole life only to see it later on, within a few minutes, falling to pieces, hit by the destructive earthquake. Today, the group of “Saristra” in an attempt to keep the village’s history and heritage alive, motivated by the wish to create a collective memory based in culture, is aiming to promote findings of modern music and contemporary cultural art. Linking the present with the past, Saristra Festival pays tribute to the old village's celebrations, with a concept that applies to present-day terms.
