Music of Crete
Encyclopedia
The music of Crete is a traditional form of Greek
folk music
called κρητικά (kritika). The lyra is the dominant folk instrument on the island; there are three-stringed and four-stringed versions of this bowed string instrument, closely related to the medieval Byzantine lyra
. It is often accompanied by the askomandoura
(a type of bagpipe) and the Cretan laouto
(λαούτο). Thanassis Skordalos
and Kostas Moundakis are the most renowned players of the lyra.
. Cretan music like most traditional Greek, began as product of ancient
, Byzantine
and western inspirations. The first recorded reference to lyra was in the 9th century by the Persian
geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih (d. 911); in his lexicographical discussion of instruments, he cited the lyre
(lūrā) as the typical instrument of the Byzantines along with the (organ
), (a type of lyre
). The lyra spread widely via the Byzantine
trade routes that linked the three continents; in the 11th and 12th centuries European writers use the terms fiddle
and lira interchangeably when referring to bowed instruments. Bowed instruments descendants of the Byzantine bowed lyra (lūrā) have continued to be played in post-Byzantine regions until the present day with few changes, for example the Calabrian Lira
in Italy
, the Cretan Lyra, the Gadulka
in Bulgaria
, and the Pontian lyra (Πολίτικη λύρα) in Istanbul
, Turkey.
Following the Crusades
, however, the Franks
, Venetians
and Genoese
dominated the island and introduced new instruments and genres and in particular the three-stringed lira da braccio
. By the end of the 14th century, a poetic form called mantinada
became popular; it was a rhyming couplet of fifteen syllables. The introduction of the violin
by the end of 17th century was especially important.
, many Byzantine musicians took refuge on Crete and established schools of Byzantine music, as did numerous Venetians. A French physician in 1547 (Pierre Belon
) reported warrior-like dances on Crete, and Sherley, an English traveler, reported in 1599 of wild dances performed late at night.
The oldest transcription of folk songs in all of Greece can be traced to the 17th century, when songs in the rizitika type (see below) were "recorded" by monk
s at Iviron and Xyropotamos Monasteries on Mount Athos
. Recording secular folk songs was almost certainly forbidden by the monks' code of conduct. However, the connection between music and religion continues in modern Crete; priests are said to be excellent folk singers, including the rizitiko singer Aggelos Psilakis. It was during this period, when modern Cretan folk music was formed, that Francisco Leontaritis
was active. Leontaritis is said to be the father of modern Greek music. The explicit musical connection between Cretan music and Byzantine chant was documented in the seminal study "La chanson grecque", by Swiss musicologist and archivist Samuel Baud-Bovy.
By the early 20th century, the violin was playing a more prominent role in Cretan folk music, and was preferred in Eastern Crete, while the lyra was preferred in Western Crete. The West Cretan highlands also features rizitika; these are heroic ballads without instrumental accompaniment.
A combination of the violin and lyre, the viololyra, was created in 1920. Twenty years later, the modern form of the lyra appeared when a lyraki and violin
were combined replacing the lyra drone strings with three strings in succession (d-a-e'). As a result the range of the lyra was increased, and the lyra could start playing dances from the violin repertoire as well. Replacing the falcon bell
s which had traditionally been used to keep the rhythm was the boulgari (which was used in Tabachaniotika). Nowadays the laouto is used in this role.
The most exactly coming of the word tambahaniotika is that they come from the eponymous district area of Greek city of Patras
Ταμπαχανιώτικα. Also, various conjectures are advanced to explain the meaning and origin of the term tabachaniotika. Kostas Papadakis
believes that it comes from tabakaniotikes (*ταμπακανιώτικες), which may mean places where hashish ( 'tobacco') is smoked while music is performed, as was the case with the tekédes (τεκέδες; pl. of tekés) of Piraeus
.
This kind of genre found in Crete
and Smyrna
, too and played with the Greek musical instruments
lyre
and laouto
.
Major features of the tabachaniotika songs are Dromoi
(sing:in Greek
dromos - δρόμος) and musical instruments like Laouto
, boulgarí (μπουλγκαρί, the Cretan
orelse Mantinada
, and local Cretan music.
The rebetiko
like the tabachaniotika often share the political verse, that is, fifteen syllable lines divided into two hemistich
s - ημιστίχια (8+7), generally realized as couplet
s. In Crete such couplets are called mandinádes
(μαντινάδες), as are extemporary texts sung to the music of dances, mainly the syrtós
, and the kondyliés (οι κοντυλιές).
They focus mainly on the themes of existential grief and lost love, also common to the rebetiko
.
Unlike rebetiko
(which is described below), the tabachaniotika did not considered underground music and was only sung, not danced, according to Nikolaos Sarimanolis, the last living performer of this repertory in Chania
. Only a few musicians played the tabachaniotika, the most famous being the boulgarí (a mandolin like instrument) player Stelios Foustalieris (1911–1992) from Réthymnon
. Foustalieris bought his first boulgarí in 1924. In 1979, he said that in Réthymnon, the boulgarí had been widespread during the 1920s.
Notwithstanding the dearth of performers, tabachaniotika songs were widespread and could also be performed at domestic gatherings. Notable artists of this genre who were originally refugees from Asia Minor
include the bouzouki
player Nikolaos "Nikolis" Sarimanolis (Νικολής Σαριμανώλης; born in Nea Ephesos
in 1919) as a member of a folk-group founded by Kostas Papadakis in Chaniá in 1945, Antonis Katinaris
(also based in Chaniá), and the Rethymnon-based Mihalis Arabatzoglou and Nikos Gialidis.
, Kostas Mountakis
and Thanassis Skordalos
. Later, in the 1960s, musicians like Nikos Xylouris and Yiannis Markopoulos combined Cretan folk music with classical techniques. For the above choices, Nikos Xylouris received the negative criticism of conservative fans of the Cretan music but he remained popular, as did similarly styled performers like Charalambos Garganourakis and Vasilis Skoulas. Nowadays, prominent performers include Antonis Xylouris or Psarantonis
, Giorgis Xylouris, Ross Daly
, Stelios Petrakis, Vasilis Stavrakakis, the group Chainides
, Zacharias Spyridakis, Michalis Stavrakakis, Mitsos Stavrakakis, Dimitrios Vakakis, Georgios Tsantakis, Michalis Tzouganakis, Elias Horeftakis, Giannis Charoulis, etc.
As Magrini (1997) has argued, modern marketing of Cretan music has concentrated on the lyra as the most distinctive Cretan instrument, to the extent that other instruments are seldom heard. This includes the violin, as well as the bagpipes [askomadoura].
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
called κρητικά (kritika). The lyra is the dominant folk instrument on the island; there are three-stringed and four-stringed versions of this bowed string instrument, closely related to the medieval Byzantine lyra
Byzantine lyra
The Byzantine lyra or lira , was a medieval bowed string musical instrument in the Byzantine Empire and is an ancestor of most European bowed instruments, including the violin. In its popular form the lyra was a pear-shaped instrument with three to five strings, held upright and played by stopping...
. It is often accompanied by the askomandoura
Askomandoura
The askomandoura is a type of bagpipe played as a traditional instrument on the Greek island of Crete, similar to the tsampouna.Its use in Crete is attested in illustrations from the mid-15th Century.-External links:**...
(a type of bagpipe) and the Cretan laouto
Laouto
The laouto is a long-neck fretted instrument of the lute family, found in Greece, and similar in appearance to the oud. It is played in most respects like the oud .- Construction :...
(λαούτο). Thanassis Skordalos
Thanassis Skordalos
Thanassis Skordalos was a musician from Crete, noted for playing the lyra, the bowed string instrument of Crete and most popular surviving form of the medieval Byzantine lyra....
and Kostas Moundakis are the most renowned players of the lyra.
Origins
The earliest documented music on Crete comes from Ancient GreeceAncient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
. Cretan music like most traditional Greek, began as product of ancient
Music of Ancient Greece
The music of ancient Greece was almost universally present in society, from marriages and funerals to religious ceremonies, theatre, folk music and the ballad-like reciting of epic poetry. It thus played an integral role in the lives of ancient Greeks...
, Byzantine
Byzantine music
Byzantine music is the music of the Byzantine Empire composed to Greek texts as ceremonial, festival, or church music. Greek and foreign historians agree that the ecclesiastical tones and in general the whole system of Byzantine music is closely related to the ancient Greek system...
and western inspirations. The first recorded reference to lyra was in the 9th century by the Persian
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih (d. 911); in his lexicographical discussion of instruments, he cited the lyre
Lyre
The lyre is a stringed musical instrument known for its use in Greek classical antiquity and later. The word comes from the Greek "λύρα" and the earliest reference to the word is the Mycenaean Greek ru-ra-ta-e, meaning "lyrists", written in Linear B syllabic script...
(lūrā) as the typical instrument of the Byzantines along with the (organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
), (a type of lyre
Lyre
The lyre is a stringed musical instrument known for its use in Greek classical antiquity and later. The word comes from the Greek "λύρα" and the earliest reference to the word is the Mycenaean Greek ru-ra-ta-e, meaning "lyrists", written in Linear B syllabic script...
). The lyra spread widely via the Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
trade routes that linked the three continents; in the 11th and 12th centuries European writers use the terms fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
and lira interchangeably when referring to bowed instruments. Bowed instruments descendants of the Byzantine bowed lyra (lūrā) have continued to be played in post-Byzantine regions until the present day with few changes, for example the Calabrian Lira
Calabrian lira
The Calabrian Lira is a traditional musical instrument characteristic of some areas of Calabria, region in southern Italy.- Characteristics :The Lira of Calabria is a bowed string instrument with three strings...
in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, the Cretan Lyra, the Gadulka
Gadulka
The gadulka is a traditional Bulgarian bowed string instrument. Alternate spellings are "gudulka" and "g'dulka". Its name comes from a root meaning "to make noise, hum or buzz"...
in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, and the Pontian lyra (Πολίτικη λύρα) in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Turkey.
Following the Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
, however, the Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
, Venetians
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
and Genoese
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
dominated the island and introduced new instruments and genres and in particular the three-stringed lira da braccio
Lira da braccio
The lira da braccio was a European bowed string instrument of the Renaissance. It was used by Italian poet-musicians in court in the 15th and 16th centuries to accompany their improvised recitations of lyric and narrative poetry. It is most closely related to the medieval fiddle, or vielle, and...
. By the end of the 14th century, a poetic form called mantinada
Mantinada
A mantinada, — are Cretan rhyming couplets, typically improvised during dance music. Rhymed Cretan poetry of the Renaissance, especially verse epic Erotokritos, are reminiscent of the mantinada, and couplets from Erotokritos have become used as mantinades. Mantinades have either love or...
became popular; it was a rhyming couplet of fifteen syllables. The introduction of the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
by the end of 17th century was especially important.
Post-Byzantine era
After the fall of ConstantinopleFall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...
, many Byzantine musicians took refuge on Crete and established schools of Byzantine music, as did numerous Venetians. A French physician in 1547 (Pierre Belon
Pierre Belon
Pierre Belon was a French naturalist. He is sometimes known as Pierre Belon du Mans, or, in Latin translations of his works, as Petrus Bellonius Cenomanus.Belon was born in 1517 at Soulletiere near Cérans-Foulletourte...
) reported warrior-like dances on Crete, and Sherley, an English traveler, reported in 1599 of wild dances performed late at night.
The oldest transcription of folk songs in all of Greece can be traced to the 17th century, when songs in the rizitika type (see below) were "recorded" by monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s at Iviron and Xyropotamos Monasteries on Mount Athos
Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...
. Recording secular folk songs was almost certainly forbidden by the monks' code of conduct. However, the connection between music and religion continues in modern Crete; priests are said to be excellent folk singers, including the rizitiko singer Aggelos Psilakis. It was during this period, when modern Cretan folk music was formed, that Francisco Leontaritis
Francisco Leontaritis
Francisco Leontaritis or Francesco Londarit or Francesco Londarit, Franciscus Londariti, Leondaryti, Londaretus, Londaratus or Londaritus was a Greek composer, singer and hymnographer from today's Heraklion of the Venetian-dominated Crete at the Renaissance age...
was active. Leontaritis is said to be the father of modern Greek music. The explicit musical connection between Cretan music and Byzantine chant was documented in the seminal study "La chanson grecque", by Swiss musicologist and archivist Samuel Baud-Bovy.
By the early 20th century, the violin was playing a more prominent role in Cretan folk music, and was preferred in Eastern Crete, while the lyra was preferred in Western Crete. The West Cretan highlands also features rizitika; these are heroic ballads without instrumental accompaniment.
A combination of the violin and lyre, the viololyra, was created in 1920. Twenty years later, the modern form of the lyra appeared when a lyraki and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
were combined replacing the lyra drone strings with three strings in succession (d-a-e'). As a result the range of the lyra was increased, and the lyra could start playing dances from the violin repertoire as well. Replacing the falcon bell
Bell (instrument)
A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...
s which had traditionally been used to keep the rhythm was the boulgari (which was used in Tabachaniotika). Nowadays the laouto is used in this role.
Tabachaniotika
The "tabachaniotika" (tabaxaˈɲotika; sing.: tabachaniotiko - ) songs are a Cretan urban musical repertory which belongs to the wide family of musics.The most exactly coming of the word tambahaniotika is that they come from the eponymous district area of Greek city of Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...
Ταμπαχανιώτικα. Also, various conjectures are advanced to explain the meaning and origin of the term tabachaniotika. Kostas Papadakis
Kostas Papadakis
Kostas Papadakis was a popular Cretan violinist, famous for playing Cretan folk music. He was known by the nickname "Naftis" which, in Greek, means sailor. He began playing the violin at age seven. Papadakis played an Italian violin dated back to 1710, when Crete was under Venetian occupation...
believes that it comes from tabakaniotikes (*ταμπακανιώτικες), which may mean places where hashish ( 'tobacco') is smoked while music is performed, as was the case with the tekédes (τεκέδες; pl. of tekés) of Piraeus
Piraeus
Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....
.
This kind of genre found in Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
and Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
, too and played with the Greek musical instruments
Greek musical instruments
Greek musical instruments, were grouped under the general term of Lyre, all developments from the original construction of a tortoise shell with two branching horns, having also a cross piece to which the strings were attached.The strings varied in number from an original three to ten or even more...
lyre
Lyre
The lyre is a stringed musical instrument known for its use in Greek classical antiquity and later. The word comes from the Greek "λύρα" and the earliest reference to the word is the Mycenaean Greek ru-ra-ta-e, meaning "lyrists", written in Linear B syllabic script...
and laouto
Laouto
The laouto is a long-neck fretted instrument of the lute family, found in Greece, and similar in appearance to the oud. It is played in most respects like the oud .- Construction :...
.
Major features of the tabachaniotika songs are Dromoi
Dromoi
Dromoi is the word for a melody type of the Greek music system.In eastern music theory for Greek music, dromoi is not only characterized by a sequence of phonemes, but by individual characteristics such as specific sounds that attract the neighbors sounds and concrete ways to jump from one dromos...
(sing:in Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
dromos - δρόμος) and musical instruments like Laouto
Laouto
The laouto is a long-neck fretted instrument of the lute family, found in Greece, and similar in appearance to the oud. It is played in most respects like the oud .- Construction :...
, boulgarí (μπουλγκαρί, the Cretan
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
orelse Mantinada
Mantinada
A mantinada, — are Cretan rhyming couplets, typically improvised during dance music. Rhymed Cretan poetry of the Renaissance, especially verse epic Erotokritos, are reminiscent of the mantinada, and couplets from Erotokritos have become used as mantinades. Mantinades have either love or...
, and local Cretan music.
The rebetiko
Rebetiko
Rebetiko, plural rebetika, , occasionally transliterated as Rembetiko, is a term used today to designate originally disparate kinds of urban Greek folk music which have come to be grouped together since the so-called rebetika revival, which started in the 1960s and developed further from the early...
like the tabachaniotika often share the political verse, that is, fifteen syllable lines divided into two hemistich
Hemistich
A hemistich is a half-line of verse, followed and preceded by a caesura, that makes up a single overall prosodic or verse unit. In Classical poetry, the hemistich is generally confined to drama. In Greek tragedy, characters exchanging clipped dialogue to suggest rapidity and drama would speak in...
s - ημιστίχια (8+7), generally realized as couplet
Couplet
A couplet is a pair of lines of meter in poetry. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.While traditionally couplets rhyme, not all do. A poem may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets with a meter of iambic pentameter are called heroic...
s. In Crete such couplets are called mandinádes
Mantinada
A mantinada, — are Cretan rhyming couplets, typically improvised during dance music. Rhymed Cretan poetry of the Renaissance, especially verse epic Erotokritos, are reminiscent of the mantinada, and couplets from Erotokritos have become used as mantinades. Mantinades have either love or...
(μαντινάδες), as are extemporary texts sung to the music of dances, mainly the syrtós
Syrtos
Syrtos , is the collective name of a group of Greek folk dances. Syrtos, along with its relative kalamatianos, are the most popular dances throughout Greece and are frequently danced by the Greek diaspora worldwide. They are very popular in social gatherings, weddings and religious festivals...
, and the kondyliés (οι κοντυλιές).
They focus mainly on the themes of existential grief and lost love, also common to the rebetiko
Rebetiko
Rebetiko, plural rebetika, , occasionally transliterated as Rembetiko, is a term used today to designate originally disparate kinds of urban Greek folk music which have come to be grouped together since the so-called rebetika revival, which started in the 1960s and developed further from the early...
.
Unlike rebetiko
Rebetiko
Rebetiko, plural rebetika, , occasionally transliterated as Rembetiko, is a term used today to designate originally disparate kinds of urban Greek folk music which have come to be grouped together since the so-called rebetika revival, which started in the 1960s and developed further from the early...
(which is described below), the tabachaniotika did not considered underground music and was only sung, not danced, according to Nikolaos Sarimanolis, the last living performer of this repertory in Chania
Chania
Chaniá , , also transliterated Chania, Hania, and Xania, older form Chanea and Venetian Canea, Ottoman Turkish خانيه Hanya) is the second largest city of Crete and the capital of the Chania peripheral unit...
. Only a few musicians played the tabachaniotika, the most famous being the boulgarí (a mandolin like instrument) player Stelios Foustalieris (1911–1992) from Réthymnon
Rethymno
Rethymno is a city of approximately 40,000 people in Greece, the capital of Rethymno peripheral unit in the island of Crete. It was built in antiquity , even though was never a competitive Minoan centre...
. Foustalieris bought his first boulgarí in 1924. In 1979, he said that in Réthymnon, the boulgarí had been widespread during the 1920s.
Notwithstanding the dearth of performers, tabachaniotika songs were widespread and could also be performed at domestic gatherings. Notable artists of this genre who were originally refugees from Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
include the bouzouki
Bouzouki
The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
player Nikolaos "Nikolis" Sarimanolis (Νικολής Σαριμανώλης; born in Nea Ephesos
Kusadasi
Kuşadası is a resort town on Turkey's Aegean coast and the center of the seaside district of the same name in Aydın Province. Kuşadası lies at a distance of to the south from the region's largest metropolitan center of İzmir, and from the provincial seat of Aydın situated inland. Its primary...
in 1919) as a member of a folk-group founded by Kostas Papadakis in Chaniá in 1945, Antonis Katinaris
Antonios Katinaris
Antonios Katinaris was born in Chania, Crete, the first son of a refugee family from Asia Minor. Since his earliest years, he demonstrated his interest and his talent in music. He was already a music professional at the age of 16...
(also based in Chaniá), and the Rethymnon-based Mihalis Arabatzoglou and Nikos Gialidis.
Modern music
Some of the earliest popular music stars from Crete were Andreas Rodinos, Yiannis Bernidakis (Baxevanis), Stelios Koutsourelis, Stelios Foustalieris, Efstratios Kalogeridis, Kostas Papadakis, Michalis KounelisMichalis Kounelis
Michalis Kounelis was a popular Cretan violinist ....
, Kostas Mountakis
Kostas Mountakis
Kostas Mountakis was a Greek musician who popularized the traditional music of the island of Crete, primarily with the lyra, the bowed string instrument of Crete and most popular surviving form of the medieval Byzantine lyra. His parents came from the village Kallikratis in Sfakia, Crete...
and Thanassis Skordalos
Thanassis Skordalos
Thanassis Skordalos was a musician from Crete, noted for playing the lyra, the bowed string instrument of Crete and most popular surviving form of the medieval Byzantine lyra....
. Later, in the 1960s, musicians like Nikos Xylouris and Yiannis Markopoulos combined Cretan folk music with classical techniques. For the above choices, Nikos Xylouris received the negative criticism of conservative fans of the Cretan music but he remained popular, as did similarly styled performers like Charalambos Garganourakis and Vasilis Skoulas. Nowadays, prominent performers include Antonis Xylouris or Psarantonis
Psarantonis
Antonis Xylouris , nicknamed Psarantonis is a Greek composer, singer and performer of lyra, the bowed string instrument of Crete and most popular surviving form of the medieval Byzantine lyra...
, Giorgis Xylouris, Ross Daly
Ross Daly
Ross Daly is a world musician who specializes in music of the Cretan lyra. Although of Irish descent, he has been living on the island of Crete for over 35 years.-Biography:...
, Stelios Petrakis, Vasilis Stavrakakis, the group Chainides
Chainides
Chainides is a Cretan folk music group who are inspired bythe vast legacy of traditional Cretan music and whose lyrics borrow wordsfrom the Cretan Greek dialect...
, Zacharias Spyridakis, Michalis Stavrakakis, Mitsos Stavrakakis, Dimitrios Vakakis, Georgios Tsantakis, Michalis Tzouganakis, Elias Horeftakis, Giannis Charoulis, etc.
As Magrini (1997) has argued, modern marketing of Cretan music has concentrated on the lyra as the most distinctive Cretan instrument, to the extent that other instruments are seldom heard. This includes the violin, as well as the bagpipes [askomadoura].
Cretan musicians
- Alekos KaravitisAlekos KaravitisAlekos Karavitis was born in Aktounta, a small village in the region of Aghios Vasileios, prefecture of Rethymnon in Crete. A talented child, he very early fell in love with and started learning to play the lyra, the heart instrument of Cretan music, a descendant of the ancient string mini-harp of...
- PsarantonisPsarantonisAntonis Xylouris , nicknamed Psarantonis is a Greek composer, singer and performer of lyra, the bowed string instrument of Crete and most popular surviving form of the medieval Byzantine lyra...
- Antonis PapadakisAntonis PapadakisAntonis Papadakis, or Kareklas was a Cretan musician and famous for his superb lyra performance. He was born in Pervolia, Rethymno and started playing the lyra since he was a kid. He is considered as one of the most important lyra performers of the early 20th century...
, or Kareklas - Giorgis KoutsourelisGiorgis KoutsourelisComposer Giorgis Koutsourelis was born at Kissamos, Crete in 1914. He composed "Armenohorianos Syrtos", which was later was recorded by Mikis Theodorakis and was popularly known as "Zorba's dance". He died in Kissamos in June 1994.- External links :...
- Kostas MountakisKostas MountakisKostas Mountakis was a Greek musician who popularized the traditional music of the island of Crete, primarily with the lyra, the bowed string instrument of Crete and most popular surviving form of the medieval Byzantine lyra. His parents came from the village Kallikratis in Sfakia, Crete...
- Michalis KounelisMichalis KounelisMichalis Kounelis was a popular Cretan violinist ....
- Nikos XilourisNikos XilourisNikos Xylouris , nicknamed Psaronikos , was a Greek composer and singer from thevillage of Anogeia in Crete and also the older brother of two other great musicians of Cretan music, Antonis Xylouris or Psarantonis and Yiannis Xylouris or...
] - Thanasis Skordalos