November 4, 2012. Philadelphia. Last Tuesday evening at the “World Cafe” audiences were treated to the soulful sounds of Crete’s Giorgos Xylouris. Smiling Greek fans filled the room and tapped their feet as Giorgos Xylouris strummed out his unique sounds on the lute. Accompanied by Zaharias Spyridakis on Lyra and Nikos Xylouris on Laouto the trio took the listener on to a musical odyssey of traditional Cretan folk music.
Giorgos Xylouris is Crete’s leading performer of the island’s traditional music. He plays one of its favoured instruments, the lute, and sings its distinctive forms of lyric.
Giorgos grew up in the deep musical culture of Anogeia and is the child of a family of legendary musicians from that mountain village. His uncle Nikos was a major figure in the revival of Greek folk music and in the development of modern political song. His father, Psarandonis, continues to take traditional music in fresh directions. His uncle Psarogiannis is a distinguished lute player. Psaragiorgos, as Giorgos is
often known, has focused this inherited talent for innovative performance on the role of the lute.