Brumpt-tum-tum, rat-tat-tat. The white-clad drummers march along the road and past the Constanza bastion of the 16th-century wall encircling the old town of Nicosia. They lead a stream of people down the narrow steps to the broad sandy moat.
Rat-tat-tat: the people carry bags of food they hand over to men and women who sort the bottles of oil from the bags of flour and sugar, the boxes of corn flakes and the sacks of beans and lentils to be packed into large boxes.
The 15 drummers of Batukinio, a percussion band, strike large silvery drums that have “Cyprus Aid” signs stuck to the sides. The snare drums reply in sharp, urgent tones. The drummers halt before the stage where they open the eight-hour free concert with a bravura performance.
Marina Maleni, an actress with Thoc, the Cypriot theatre company, says the idea for the concert came to a bunch of actors on March 18th while demonstrating against the euro group’s terms for a bailout for the country’s faltering banks.
“The idea did not get killed because actors believe in things,” she says. “Other people joined, different groups, but no political parties, just Cypriots.”
There are no flags here, although it is the 58th anniversary of the beginning of the Cypriot struggle for independence from Britain.
Fifty acts are donating their talent, including Cypriot star Anna Vissi, who flew in from Athens, where she was performing. The first group takes the stage and the vocalist sings, “Your love is beautiful and cruel at the same time . . . ”
The moat is filling with young and old, small children perched on shoulders, an elderly woman in a wheelchair, babies in arms and strollers. People sit on top of the high wall. Large tattooed motorcycle club men wear security badges. Volunteer Efi Spanou, who is sporting a Red Cross badge, says the food will go to the Red Cross, which is giving out 50-60 large plastic bags of dry supplies every day, and to community markets that have sprung up in Nicosia and other municipalities over the past six weeks.
“The first community market in Nicosia was at the archbishopric, now there are four or five,” she says.
The Red Cross also gives all elementary school children in Nicosia a sandwich and milk for breakfast on school days.
“We have no problem obtaining food wherever it’s needed,” she says. “I don’t believe Cypriots will allow anyone to be hungry.”
The need is great and growing due to the sinking economy and broken banks. More than 1,500 people queued up on Friday at the community market in the port city of Larnaca.
Greek heavy metal music booms from a new band as fine yellow dust blowing in from Libya envelops the throng. As the music plays, scouts carry parcels up the hill where vans and pick-ups wait to transport the supplies to storage.
