15 and today!
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Remembering the same strong feeling of anxiety, I had felt weeks before finishing my 2 years mandatory Greek army services in the 90s, I caught myself whispering today :
"Dekapente kai simera " (=15 and today), until I hear the sound of my bouzouki!
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It is a common habit of senior Greek soldiers, to start the countdown, usually a month before they receive their discharge papers from the army service. And it is usually the only thing you will hear them talk about, in front of the newcomers.
I still remember my first night guard on the top of a hill, without any surrounding lights. My only company, the sound of the pumping water from a nearby water reservoir, and the symphony of a few flirty frogs, trying to find their mate!
My thoughts were interrupted by Gianni's surprising email, from his vacation place, advising me to reconsider a new design, for the headstock of my instrument. Even tho, this alteration will require a lot of extra work, he sounded driven and dedicated to compromise with nothing less, than perfection.
I will have to give a great thought at this point, before deciding to postpone the final completion of my bouzouki, for a couple more weeks. For sure Gianni's taste, dedication, passion and love in traditional lutherie, is what classifies him between the few remaining traditional luthier's in Greece.
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