the mediterranean is literally and figuratively a sea of infinite possibility, a place in which Europe, North Africa and the gateway to the East meet and intermingle. Wave upon wave of cultures have encountered each other on its shores in long-forgotten wars, occupations and battles for freedom between conquerors and colonises people. Marvelous and unforgettable music has refuted from and seems to recount these centuries of contract and exchange, and conjures up the fragrances of pinesap and spices.
Admidst this ocean of culture, the music of Crete emerges as the veritable quintessence of the Mediterranean basin. It presents an extraordinarily rich example of musical express an extraordinarily rich exemple of musical expression that delicately harks back to the past while also standing out as a unique type of music and an affirmative emblem of Crete's cultural identity. The island, a crossroads for Romans, Arabians, Venetians, Minoans and the peoples of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, seems to have drawn together the most aesthetic characteristics and the most exquisite qualities of the many cultures that gathered on its coast.
The songs and dances of Crete serve as links among the many cultures of the island, and are also ans above all profoundly, definitely and irresistibly Cretan. The music is one of the most beautiful in the world, and is immediately recognizable.
The Lyra, the instrument responsible for the unmistakable sound palette of Cretan music, is a three-stringed fiddle held on the knee in the manner of certain oriental fiddles. Similar instruments are played in Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Thrace, Macedonia and Serbia. The lout, a slender yet rather thiskset lute, resembles the Arabian our more than it does the Turkish say or the Greek bouzouki. Although it has a short neck, it has much in common with the long-necked lutes that are played from Albania to the farthest reaches of the east. The history of the laouto both suns up and concentrates that of the entire family of plucked instruments, and a parallel can be drawn between its geographical place of origin, in the centre of the mediterranean, and the central yet unpretentious ans extraordinarily effective place it occupies in the lute family tree. Apprehending the lout's crucial role in Cretan music, to rich it lends structure, backbone and special potency, is an indispensable element in understanding the history of the lute.
The long-necked lute, with has been used in Greek music since at least the fourth century B.C blends beautifully with the laouto. this instrument's many local names - say, tamboura, bouzouki, baglama, yogari, Bulgaria, kilt, tzivouri, tzoura, and karaouzeni - bear witness to the numerous regions in which it is played. The long-necked lute serves as a proud musical link between the great cultures of the Mediterranean.
This album features three musicians: Stelios Petrkis play the lyra, Giorgis Xylouris the laouto and Periklis Papapetropoulos the lava and the Bulgaria. They are joined by percussionist Keyvan Chemirani. Hidden in the mountains of Crete is a tiny village whose music resounds to the four corners of the earth. Anogeia is not the village of zeus, although he said to have been born on the island, but it is the birthplace of a dynasty of musicians, poets and politicians