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‪In the island of Chios, music enthusiasts evaluate the success of a party by the quality and the number of manés sung during the night. While it is not absolutely necessary for manés to be included, this melismatic and improvised unmeasured song with an instrumental accompaniment in 4/4 adds emotion and “soul” that are greatly appreciated by conoisseurs. But is manés an uniform musical genre? How does its performance occur during a musical event? On what criteria do participants express judgements about its beauty, quality, and originality? How does manés arouse empathy among participants and what role does it play in the transmission and appropriation of cultural skills around partying? In this paper we take the performance of different manés as a starting point to examine the typical progression, sequences, and unavoidable, unexpected parts of a musical gathering. This analysis highlights the fundamental role of the reveller (meraklís) who, through his social and musical skills, as well as the power and weight the other participants credit him with, acts as “experience-bearer” who is able to pass on life stories and transmit the musical tradition of the island.‪