Stelios Petrakis started studying the lyra at the age of eight in Sitia, his native town in Crete. He soon enriched his knowledge of the island?s musical repertoire by exploring other music forms, from Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria. This has led him to perform with some of the best representatives of the various Mediterranean musical traditions. Stelio Petrakis is not only a musician but also a luthier and he makes his own instrument in his workshop in Heraklion. With this quartet, Stelios aims to present a large panorama or Cretan music, which he talently perpetuates by integrating his own compositions. He presents an intense, personal view of this music, based upon the experience he has acquired performing at international festivals. Enhanced with Turkish influences ever since the conquest of the island by the Ottoman Empire in 1669, Cretan music has managed to retain its originality and there are many points that differentiate it from Greek music on the continent. It is characterised by the predominant use of the lyra ?here a three-string bowed instrument? accompanied by the laouto, the Cretan lute. Filled with knowledge that seems to go back to Minoan times, when this Cretan civilisation was flourishing, Stelios Petrakis? music contains the seeds of the various musical genres that have since developed along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. But here the introspection of Eastern or Ottoman modes has given way to music of great brightness, driven by the spirit of dancing and carried by intense vocals and strings subtly interlacing.
Tracks:
1. Astro
2. Mana polla malonis me
3. Sivrytos
4. Voreia Monopatia
5. Kavo Sideros
6. Pare me Nyhta-Syrta
7. Erotokritos
8. Kontylies-Pentozali
9. Lava
10. Syrta
11. Ezevgarosan ta poulia
12. Avgi ts Avgis tha sikhoto
13. Anogeianos-Maleviziotis
