Thanassis Skordalos - Live recording at Aretousa 1977

Lutes: Manousos Papatsaras - Giorgos Tamiolakis

 Thanasis Skordalos was one of the most important figures in the development of Cretan music of the 20th century and a legend in his own lifetime.
Thanasis Skordalos was born in 1920 in the village Spili in the province of Rethymnon. Spili is the home of many of Crete’s great lyra-players of the past and the present, and Skordalos undoubtedly was the greatest representative of their tradition.
He began playing the lyra at the age of 9 years old and his career spanned over 65 years.
He was an exceptional lyra player as well as a prolific composer who managed to balance a stringently traditional approach with his own personal creativity in a very unique way.
The recordings in this collection are live recordings which were made in 1977 at “Aretousa”, a popular venue for Cretan music at the time, where lyra-players would accompany dancers until the small hours of the morning

Ross Daly