regular vernacular insights with Haji Mike
In days of old when dentists lacked medical qualifications - violins and pliers can in handy. The tale of Yiannis Pipis a Cyprus Legend and World Record Breaker
Touring the USA in 2004 and playing at The Sierra Nevada World Music Festival - a long rant means a short set...
When Pierettis met The Vragaman by the beach.
How a kitten changes names following revelations by modern veterinary science.
A reflection on The Daily Chiofta journey and spontaneity - the rat, the cat and the dog...go to the good...
Memories of an oppressive school going through its own schizophrenic identity phase.
I went to MIDEM once in the late 1990s. This is the annual music gathering in Cannes, France and was full of coincidences for me.
A few thoughts on the most famous book on Cyprus by Lawrence Durrell.
My truck Sotiroulla is a double cabin and a saviour.
My life long love for a worldwide music that started in Jamaica...
A place deep in the heart of Nicosia old that I love to play at and some thoughts on people and places that just don't understand Reggae.
11th May 1981 is a sad day for music worldwide. The day Bob Marley died, I heard the news on a sound system at Essex University.
Around 1975 my brother George got a Skoda Coupe. Taking it for a first spin, excuse the pun, the rest as they say is history...
Living through a riot in a chippy, Liverpool 1981.
Riders are those things bands get before gigs. The more famous a band is the more elaborate the rider. Jeff Trump my drummer brother from San Francisco is an imaginative rider architect!
Names mean so much to us...we carry them for life...
Early 90s I interviewed Shaggy 3 times. Entertaining, clever and a total prankster!
Collecting records from age 14 I encountered a man in a shop who constantly called me John.
A powerful drink from Greece once taught me a simple lesson in life...Don't DJ when drunk!
A collection of mini chioftes on things that happened during gigs in Cyprus.
The illegal industry in Cyprus that affected many musical careers.
My first case of inclass punishment - the crime - knowing how to dance Zorbas!
The Military Coup in Cyprus 15th July 1974 changed the course of history.
Kantonas ,Vrajes and a close shave with the law in Chingford.
Sugar's only live radio interview in Cyprus in 1997 started off with an eruption of laughter...
My love for Sociology goes back to school and accidentally misprounouncing the word in Greek has become a Poumbouris family urban folk myth.
A painful story of infidelity, Maro-Maria, a song from my 2nd LP Aphrodite's Dream' and how the video clip got banned.
A great friend, DJ and supporter of my work since 1988.
I have known him since I was 12. Our friendship is like duracel batteries, it just goes on and on....
London was very different from Marathovouno and some things had to be learned the hard way...
The first day at school in Walthamstow was all about eyes...
The neighbours who took care of me and taught me so much.
The flight from Cyprus to London via Athens, at the age of 4 was traumatic.
The letter that changed the entire course of my life.
Travel is a very important part of my life which is thanks to my grandfather Poumbouris.
A visit to film maker Panicos Chrysanthou in Peladousa turned out to be a real cliffhanger.
Paphos is where it all began for me in Cyprus. I had an amazing time there in the summer of 1993. Lesson 1 was also learned...never cross a Paphian...
An encounter on a 29 bus with a Haringey Urban Legend.
Bands played a big role in the Wedding business in the UK.