Cretan music artists
Nikos Xilouris
Nikos Xylouris (7 July 1936 - 8 February 1980) was a Greek composer and singer from the village of Anoghia in Crete and also the older brother of another great musician of Cretan music, Antonis Xilouris or Psarantonis. He was part of the movement that brought down the Greek military Junta of 1967. His songs and music captured and described the Greek psyche and demeanor.
He acquired his first lyre at the age of twelve and displayed potential to play local folk music. Xilouris was 17 years of age when he started performances at Kastro folk music-restaurant in Heraklion.
A turning point in Nikos Xilouris career occurred with a recording in 1958. He first performed outside Greece in 1966 and won the first prize in the San Remo folk music festival. In 1967 he established the first Cretan Music Hall, Erotokritos, in the city of Heraklion on the island of Crete. The recording of Anyfantou in 1969 was a big success. Xilouris soon started performances in Athens, which became his new permanent residence, at the Konaki folk music hall.
He died in 1980 from a brain tumor.
Kostas Papadakis
Kostas Papadakis was a popular cretan violinist, famous for playing Cretan folk music . He was born in 1920 at Kasteli, Kissamos, Chania and was known as Naftis which in Greek, literally means sailor. He started playing the violin at age seven. Papadakis played on an Italian violin dated back to 1710 (when Crete was under Venetian occupation.) His first public performance took place at a wedding reception when he was ten. From 1959 to 1976 he lived in the United States and in 1981, he moved to Australia where he stayed for five years. He performed live in numerous musical events and festivals in different countries.
Kostas Papadakis first recorded an album in 1938. Throughout his career, he participated in several recordings that included his own compositions. He also published a book in 1989 titled The Cretan Lyre, a Myth which supported the idea that the first instrument, used by early cretan musicians to play cretan music, was the violin and not the lyre. He died at the age of 82, in May 2003.
Stelios Foustalieris
Born on a Sunday evenfall at about three o’clock– as he liked to point out - June 19, 1911. Stelios Foustalierakis was born and raised in Rethimnon his father was Stilianos Foustalierakis and his mother Kiriakoula. He went to night school till the third grade and at the age of 11 he started learning the craft of making watches. The latter was to become his second greatest passion after the bulgur.
Two years later, on New Year’s Eve, he received his first paycheck that was no more than 100 drachmas (approx. a third of a Euro). He already knew where he was going to spend his money. With the help of his father and 75 drachmas, he bought a small bulgur that had been left to a tavern by one of the clients.
Those days, there were a lot of bulgurs in Rethimnon. Each tavern had one. It was there that I first listened to music. I used to watch the others play and – honest to God- I used to cry. Those days playing the bulgur with Antonis Kareklas, a known lyrist, was Giorgis Agioutis or Vladimiros. Later on Foustalieris, still a beginner, started playing with them.
Soon after Foustalieris started playing a little bit of everything: sirtos, pentozalia, ‘pidihta kastrina, taxsimia kathistika even rempetika. So he started creating his own school of characteristic playing thus allowing the bulgur to surface as an instrument of pure melody and at the same time being regularly used when recording 78 albums. Among numerous works and collaborations with many artists, the one that proved to be the most fruitful was with Giannis Bernidakis - known as Baxsevanis - from Rethimnon (1910-1972). From 1937 to 1992 that Stelios Foustalierakis died, he lived in Rethimnon and devoted his time to his two great passions, watches and the bulgur. Because these two crafts share a common characteristic, they both require delicate work.
Michalis Kounelis
Michalis Kounelis was a popular Cretan violinist (see cretan folk music). He was born on December 21, 1928 in Karfiana of Polyrrhnia in the provice of Kissamos. He started playing violin since he was ten years old. It is known that when he was in the elementary school, he was usually playing his violin with his cousin, Manolis Katsonakis, another popular cretan musician. He and Manolis Kartsonakis were one of the most popular musical duet during the 50's in Chania. They were also known as kounelakia which in greek means little bunnies (as Kounelis means bunny in greek).
In 1957, he went to Athens and stayed there until 1982 where he played in numerous cretan folk music festivals. In Athens, he recorded his first and only album with his friend, Panagiotis Kastanis. He also recorded several audio cassettes in the town of Kissamos in the Ioannis Stamatakis studio that contributed significantly to the propagation of cretan music.
In 1981, he travelled to United States, invited by the Pancretan Association of America. He stayed there for one year and he performed in several festivals throughout United States and Canada. He also performed in many cities in Greece and Europe. He died on September 8th, 1999.
Kostas Mountakis
Kostas Mountakis (born February 1926, Alfa in Milopotamos, Rethimnon) is a Greek musician. His parents came from the village Kallikratis in Sfakia. His older brother Nikistratos was playing the lyre and so did Mitsos Kafatos - one of the best musicians in Rethimnon at that time - who was to become Kostas tutor.
When the military occupation started Kostas was only 15 years old. Those days, he used to play his lyre and sing at the villages coffee shop. Sooner than later, however, he managed to play all alone at his first wedding reception.
Near the end of 1952, Kostas Mountakis participated for the first time in an album recording when he accompanied Stelios Koutsourelis at the song Arpaxsa kai Baildisa. In 1954, he recorded his first personal album accompanied by the Koutsourelis brothers with the all time classics De thelo stin kardia, O pramateutos, O argaleios, Milonades kai mazoxtres, Sto stadio pou mefere, Rethemniane mou kantife, Harami sou, Erotokritos, Kritikos Gamos, H mahi tis Kritis, O thanatos tou lirari. These songs are a small sample of his music.
Kostas Mountakis played an important and vital role to the popularization of the lyre as well as to the formation of its teaching methods. His overall contribution to the music tradition of the island is priceless.
Thanassis Skordalos
Thanasis Skordalos was born in December 1920 at the village Spili of ex-eparchy of Saint Basil, today municipality of Lampi, in Rethimnon Crete.
He finished grammar school in Spili. It was about the same time that he first laid his eyes on Lyra. He gave his first performance in front of the Cretans in Athens - at the historical music hall Vizantio in Omonoia, Athens. His first recording was in 1946 with the famous Spiliano Sirto where Giannis Markogiannakis was playing the lute. In 1947 when he was 27 years old, he was positioned at the Security Services of the National Bank of Greece from where he later on retired.
During his long career, Skordalos performed in most of the countries that one can find Cretan immigrants like the USA, Australia, Canada and Africa. He got married to Hrisoula Papadaki from Rethimnon and together they had two sons and two daughters.
Thanasis Skordalos along with Kostas Moundakis are considered those lyra players who offered the most to cretan music, Thanasis served Cretan music for 60 whole years and died in April 23, 1998 at the age of 78. He was and will remain one of the best artists in the Cretan music history with numerous and unique recordings. He is an inspiration for those that shall follow and his legacy will continue to motivate the next generations of artists.
List of Cretan music artists
- Androulakis Rodamanthos
- Antonogiannakis Ioannis (Mantzouranas)
- Dermitzakis Ioannis (Dermitzogiannis)
- Fantakis Manolis (Fantomanolis)
- Foustalierakis Stelios
- Harhalis Nikolaos
- Kaklis Manolis
- Kalogeridis Efstratios
- Kalogridis Giorgis
- Kalomiris Giorgis
- Kanteris Georgios
- Kantilierakis Sifis (Kantilieris)
- Karavitis Alekos
- Karefillakis Manolis
- Katsoulis Nikolaos (Koufianos)
- Kounelis Mihalis
- Koutsourelis Georgios
- Ksilouris Antonis
- Ksilouris Nikos
- Lagoudakis Manolis (Lagos)
- Lagoudakis Mihalis
- Lapokonstantakis Giorgis (Pedoulaftis)
- Manasakis Lefteris (Galianos)
- Manasakis Manolis
- Manias Nikos
- Marinakis Giorgis (Marianos)
- Markogiannakis Giannis
- Mountakis Kostas
- Mpernidakis Giannis (Mpaksevanis)
- Mpernidaki Laurentia
- Papadakis Antonis (Kareklas)
- Papadakis Mihalis (Plakianos)
- Papadogiannis Nikos
- Pasparakis Manolis (Stravos)
- Piperakis Harilaos
- Rodinos Andreas
- Saridakis Nikos (Mavros)
- Sfakianakis Giorgis (Avissinos)
- Sifogiorgakis Spiros
- Skordalos Athanasios
- Skoulas Vasilis
- Stamatogiannakis Gerasimos
- Tsegkas Nikolaos
- Tzimakis Giorgos
