Crickets, sheep & churchbells: Composing Times in Crete

A soundscape of crickets, sheep and church bells, chickens and most heartwarming songs slowly drift away from me as I exit the beautiful island of Crete, where I got to be a resident artist at Event Horizon for the past two weeks.

Blasting sunshine, hikes through gorges and across islands, a turquoise ocean, village dance parties, the Klidonas summer ritual I was lucky to have experienced:

I gave them one of my last three turkish lira coins, to throw into the jug of water. The lovely Kostakis girls part of the whole thing, wearing traditional clothes, singing prophecies, drawing items back out of the jug as they did so.

I didn´t recognise my coin when they held it up. In the middle of jumping over three fires in order to make the man of my dreams appear in my world, one of them was being taken away. The first time I got all three, though I forgot to focus on my man. God knows what´s going to happen now!

When I woke at 7am in the beautiful caravan overlooking the valley and the church bells were ringing to get people to go to mass, the musicians were still playing their beautiful songs and tunes. People must have still been dancing their circle dances, involving intricate little steps to and fro. I tried a good few of them, being taken to the dance floor by the lovely neighbours at our table or my own curiosity and party spirits. Though never lasting too long, in an attempt to avoid upsetting the local dynamics too much with micro chaos coming from my limbs and body ... Raki, wine, chips and souflaki ... what a beautiful evening gathering all the villagers. Major and everyone involved – singing, dancing, throwing money at the musicians and requesting tunes.

The young boys throwing their legs into the air in acrobatic episodes, cheering the band on with more and more enthusiasm as the content of a bottle of whiskey evaporates from their table ...

(Klidonas Fest Crete, June 2026)

Cycles to and fro the studio out in the wilderness in order to enter expansive spheres of sound and creation. Unplugged, off – grid, out of reach and fully there.

A last session of yoga in the early morning hours upstairs at the airport, a few more lines jotted into my diary, clinging on to my soulful, slow and present time on the island before the current of urgency, future planning and distraction fully takes hold of my body again, entering my veins and tensing my muscles, adding a layer of constant mild anxiety (excitement??). Oh how I reach for the out of reach!

Thank you Julienne Dolphin Wilding and Event Horizon for having me, sharing your beautiful space and looking after me <3 As well as the lovely Kostakis family, Steffi and her family at the Carob Tree for hosting our jam session, Evangelos, Lukasz and Gregory for learning my music and sharing your heart warming songs and tunes! I´ll be back :-)