Great musicians of Crete

At the age of 14, he started playing the Cretan lyra.  When he finished secondary school, he started performing music and worked with lute player Giannis Bernidakis (Baxevanis). During his short life he had his own band (‘zygia’) with lute player Stavros Psyllakis or Psylos from Episcopi, Rethymnon. Anreas Rodinos died at the young age of 22 from tuberculosis, but even in this short time his instrumental skill influenced the way the modern Cretan lyra is manufactured.   

He was born in Rethymno where he grew up listening to songs from Asia Minor. A singer and composer of many well-known Cretan songs, he elevated the bulgari into a melodic and solo instrument. His time in Athens and acquaintance with the creators of rebetiko songs must have been decisive for his evolution.

Along with Kostas Mountakis, he is considered as one of the greatest teachers of the lyra. He collaborated with lute players such as Giannis Markogiannakis, who also hails from Spili, Giannis Bernidakis (Baxevanis), and Nikos Manias.

Also known as “The Cretan Nightingale” because of his wonderful voice, he was much sought by lyra players, who vied with each other to work with him.  He accompanied the most famous lyra players of his time and left a wealth of recorded works that include not only Cretan but also songs from other islands and Smyrna.

His father also played music but died when Mountakis was a child. His principal teacher was Dimitris Kaffatos (1911), who was born in Vergiana (community of Margarites) in Mylopotamos and later settled in Alfa. He is considered to be one of the most important musicians of Cretan music. . He promoted Cretan music through the radio and made broadcasts on the programme of Simon Karas, showcasing Cretan music. He launched the learning and teaching of the Cretan lyra by establishing schools in the major cities of Crete and collaborated with the Institute forMediterranean Studies.

In 1975, after visiting Crete, he decided to settle on the island where he was taught how to play the Cretan lyra by the renowned teacher and virtuoso Kostas Mountakis. In recent decades he has been permanently living on Crete where he studies and teaches the Cretan musical tradition. In 1982 he founded the Labyrinth Musical Workshop in Choudetsi, Heraklion, in order to collect, preserve and promote traditional musical instruments from all over the world. He has performed at many concerts and has collaborated with numerous Greek and foreign musicians.

As a child, he had an aptitude for music. After a difficult childhood, due to the German occupation, he eventually settled in Heraklion in 1953 and started working as a musician. He gradually became an established figure and recorded his first album in 1958. In 1966 he participated in a folk music competition in San Remo, Italy, and won first prize. Afterwards, he becomes known throughout Greece and gradually began performing in Athens and collaborating with various artists.

Brother of the renowned Nikos Xylouris and Giannis Xylouris (1943), a lute player. His voice has a unique timbre and he has forged a personal playing style.

Born in 1951 in Alfa, Mylopotamos and died in 1983. He was an excellent lyra player, singer and very good mantinada reciter. He had given many mantinades to other lyra players for their records. Dandalos mainly performed with Manolis Maniadakis, i.e. they were a lyra - lute duo.

A violinist from Anatoli, Ierapetra who always performed with his son, Antonis, a self-taught guitarist. As he says in an interview, he initially started playing the lyra but did not like it and started learning how to play the violin. In his own words, he was a self-taught musician, listening to other musicians and learning from them. He mainly played in Lasithi and Heraklion. Apart from Cretan music, he played both European and Greek island songs.