Xylouris Georgis

In the artist's words:

George Xylouris was born in Anogia, a village in Crete with a long tradition of
poetry, dance and music. He grew up there within the well-known musical family of Xylouris. In this environment, with music ever present, George naturally turned to it. He began to play the mandolin, lyre and lute, which would eventually become his main instrument of expression. Hanging out with friends, serenades, deeply human relationships and experiences stood as the basis of the sound that would later define his musical personality.

He was guided by his father, Psarantonis, a pioneer lyra player and composer of
Cretan music, whom he has been accompanying intensively since the age of 11
from celebrations, folk gatherings, nightclubs of Crete and Athens to festivals and concerts in Europe and further abroad, in America and Australia.

He was also influenced by his uncles; Psarogiannis, a leading lute player of his
time, and the legendary Nikos Xylouris. These familiar figures for George at that
time would determine the later course of Cretan music. He remembers as a child
the feasts they used to play in the village and Nikos' historical performances in the bouquets of Plaka during the years when the dictatorship in Greece was coming to an end.