Crete is an island that is a SMALL part of Greece. The traditional folk music of Crete is called κρητικά (kritika). The lýra is the dominant folk instrument on the island; it is a three-stringed fiddle similar to the Pontian kemenche. It is often accompanied by the Cretian lute (laoúto), which is similar to both an oud and a mandolin. Thanassis Skordalos and Kostas Moundakis are the most renowned player of the lýra. History (Timeline and Samples) Genres: Classical music -Folk - Hip hop - Jazz - Rock Regional styles Aegean Islands - Arcadia - Argos - Athens - Crete - Cyclades - Dodecanese Islands - Epirus - Ionian Islands - Lesbos - Macedonia - Peloponnesos - Thessaloniki - Thessaly - Thrace - Cyprus The musical legacy of Greece is as diverse as its history. ... From the 1500s, a detail from Piero di Cosimos version of Perseus rescuing Andromeda. ... Laïkó was the pop music of Greece the 50s and 60s. ... Neo Kyma (Greek Νέο Κύμα - New Wave) was a movement in Greek music that started in the mid-1960s and lasted about a decade. ... Rebetiko, plural rebetika, (Greek ρεμπέτικο and ρεμπέτικα respectively) is the name for a type of urban Greek music. ... The vast majority of the inhabitants of the United States are immigrants or descendents of immigrants. ... Greek folk music includes a variety of styles played by ethnic Greeks in Greece, Cyprus, the United States and elsewhere. ... Greek hip hop refers to hip hop music originating in Greece, either in Greek or English. ... Rock and roll is an African American genre of music that spread around the world in the 1950s and 60s, entering Greece in the middle of the latter decade. ... During the opening decades of the twentieth century, Mytilene (or Lesbos, as it is formally known) became an island. ... History (Timeline and Samples) Genres: Classical music -Folk - Hip hop - Jazz - Rock Regional styles Aegean Islands - Arcadia - Argos - Athens - Crete - Cyclades - Dodecanese Islands - Epirus - Ionian Islands - Lesbos - Macedonia - Peloponnesos - Thessaloniki - Thessaly - Thrace - Cyprus Thrace is a historical region of Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. ... For the famous World War II battle, see: Battle of Crete For other uses, see Crete (disambiguation). ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... The term fiddle refers to a violin when used in folk music. ... Traditional rural Pontic house A man in traditional clothes from Trabzon, illustration Pontus is the name which was applied, in ancient times, to extensive tracts of country in the northeast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey) bordering on the Euxine (Black Sea), which was often called simply Pontos (the main), by... 1 Tepe - Top : Same as the body To Kifal - Head : Same as the body 2 Otia - Pegs (Ears): Same as the body 3 Goula - Neck : Same as the body 4 Spaler - Fingerboard (Slabbering bib) : Same as the body 5 Kapak - Soundboard 6 Rothounia - Soundholes (Nostrals) 7 Gaidaron - Bridge (Rider): Made... The lute is a plucked string instrument with a fretted neck and a deep round back. ... Front and rear views of an oud. ... Carved (electric) and round backed mandolins (front) A mandolin is a small, stringed musical instrument which is plucked, strummed or a combination of both. ... Thanasis Skordalos was born in December 1920 at the village Spili in Rethimnon Crete. ... Kostas Mountakis was born in February 1926 at the village Alfa in Milopotamos, Rethimnon. ...

The earliest documented music on Crete comes from ancient Greece. For many centuries, Cretan music was primarily influenced by eastern techniques and styles. The Cretan lyre is almost the same as the lyre of Istanbul. Concerning their roots, we have to deal with two different possible versions: 1) The lyre was brought by the Arabs who where coming from Spain and stayed in Crete as conquerors from 823 A.D. to 961 A.D.. During these years the lyre stayed in Crete continuously; this means that the Arabic rebab of that period is morphologically the same as the lyre of Byzantium. 2)The lyre ‘arrived’ in Crete from Istanbul, probably through the Dodecanese, and "entered" the island through Sitia, which is the neighbour of Kasos and Karpathos. This must have finished by the 12th century (1101 – 1200 A.D.), since two centuries are more than enough for a musical ‘trip’ from Istanbul to Crete. Following the Crusades, however, the Franks, Venetians and Genoese dominated the island and introduced new instruments and genres. By the end of the 14th century, a poetic form called mantinada became popular; it was a rhyming couplet of fifteen syllables. The introduction of the violin by the end of 17th century was especially important. Ancient Greece is a period in Greek history that lasted for around one thousand years and was extinguished by the newly-powerful Christianity. ... This article is about the medieval crusades. ... Look up Frank, frank in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Venice, (Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venexia) is the capital of the region of Veneto and the province of the same name in Italy. ... Alternate uses, see Genoa (disambiguation). ... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ... A mantinada, (plural mantinades, Greek μαντινάδα, μαντινάδες) — a Cretan folk song. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ...

After the fall of Constantinople, many church musicians fled to Crete, as did numerous Venetians. A French physician in 1547 (Pierre Belon) reported warrior-like dances on Crete, and Sherley, an English traveller, reported in 1599 of wild dances performed late at night. Events January 16 - Grand Duke Ivan IV of Muscovy becomes the first Tsar of Russia. ... Pierre Belon (1517‑1564) was a French naturalist. ... 1599 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ...

The oldest surviving folk songs in all of Greece can be traced to the 17th century, when songs in the rizitika type were "recorded" by monks at Iviron and Xyropotamos at Mount Athos. Recording secular folk songs was almost certainly forbidden by the monk's code of conduct. However, the connection between music and religion continues in modern Crete; priests are said to be excellent folk singers, including the rizitiko singer Aggelos Psilakis. It was during this period, when modern Cretan folk music was formed, that Francisco Leontaritis was active. Leontaritis is said to be the father of modern Greek music. (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... A monk is a person who practices asceticism, the conditioning of mind and body in favor of the spirit. ... Capital Karyes Languages Koine Greek, Church Slavonic (both liturgical), as well as Modern Greek, Russian, Serbian, Georgian, Bulgarian, Romanian (civil) Head of State Greek Minister of For. ...

After the Turks conquered Crete in 1669, Crete went through a dark period of tyranny and poverty. In the 1810s, Georgios the Cretan helped to revive Byzantine music traditions. Today, most cretan songs & music have as their root, strong Turkish influences and modern cretan music is directly related to Turkey and eastern influences. // Events Samuel Pepys stopped writing his diary. ... Events and Trends End of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe (1803 - 1815). ...

By the early 20th century, the violin was playing a more prominent role in Cretan folk music. A combination of the violin and lyre, the viololyra, was created in 1920. Twenty years later, the modern form of the lyre appeared when a lyraki and violin were combined by Manolis Stagakis. Replacing the falcon bells which had traditionally been used to keep the rhythm was the boulgari, a smaller stringed instrument that arrived in Greece with refugees from Turkey in 18th century. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... Year 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... A bell is a simple sound-making device. ...

Modern music

Some of the earliest popular music stars from Crete were Andreas Rodinos, Yiannis Bernidakis (Baxevanis), Stelios Koutsourelis, Stelios Foustalieris, Efstratios Kalogeridis, K. Papadakis, Kostas Mountakis and Thanassis Skordalos. Later, in the 1960s, musicians like Nikos Xylouris and Yiannis Markopoulos combined Cretan folk music with classical techniques. For the above choices, Nikos Xylouris received the criticism of conservative fans of the Cretan music but he remained popular, as did similarly-styled performers like Charalambos Garganourakis and Vasilis Skoulas. Born on a Sunday evenfall at about three o’clock– as he liked to point out - June 19, 1911. ... Kostas Papadakis, also known as Naftis –literally means sailor – was born in 1920 at the village Kasteli Kissamos, Hania. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... Thanasis Skordalos was born in December 1920 at the village Spili in Rethimnon Crete. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... Nikos Xylouris (Greek Νίκος Ξυλούρης) was a Greek composer and singer from Crete. ...

After the 1980s, Cretan folk music steadily declined in mainstream popularity, eventually retreating almost entirely to the underground. Prominent performers include Antonis Xylouris or Psarantonis, Giorgis Xylouris, Ross Daly, Stelios Petrakis, Vasilis Stavrakakis, the group Chainides, Zacharias Spyridakis, Michalis Stavrakakis, Mitsos Stavrakakis, Dimitrios Vakakis, Georgios Tsantakis, Michalis Tzouganakis, Elias Horeftakis, e.t.c.

See also

• Music of Greece
• Music of Croatia
• Rebab - Most probably the ancestor, widely used in the arab world.
• Gadulka
• Gudok
• Kamancheh
• Kemenche
• Cretan Greek

History (Timeline and Samples) Genres: Classical music -Folk - Hip hop - Jazz - Rock Regional styles Aegean Islands - Arcadia - Argos - Athens - Crete - Cyclades - Dodecanese Islands - Epirus - Ionian Islands - Lesbos - Macedonia - Peloponnesos - Thessaloniki - Thessaly - Thrace - Cyprus The musical legacy of Greece is as diverse as its history. ... The music of Croatia, like the country itself, has three major influences: the influence of the Mediterranean especially present in the coastal areas, of the Balkans especially in the mountainous, continental parts, and of central Europe in the central and northern parts of the country. ... The rebab (also rebap, rabab, rababah, al-rababa) is a bowed string instrument which originated in Afghanistan, no later than the 8th century, and was spread via Islamic trading routes over much of North Africa, the Middle East, parts of Europe, and the Far East. ... Gadulka Tuning The Gadulka (Bulgarian: Гъдулка) is a folk Bulgarian string musical instrument played with a bow. ... Gudok is an ancient Russian string musical instrument, which was played with a bow. ... Woman playing the kamancheh in a painting from the Hasht-Behesht Palace in Isfahan Persia, 1669 The kamancheh or kamānche (Persian: کمانچه - violinette, Azeri: kamança) is a Persian, Azeri and Armenian instrument similar to a violin. ... 1 Tepe - Top : Same as the body To Kifal - Head : Same as the body 2 Otia - Pegs (Ears): Same as the body 3 Goula - Neck : Same as the body 4 Spaler - Fingerboard (Slabbering bib) : Same as the body 5 Kapak - Soundboard 6 Rothounia - Soundholes (Nostrals) 7 Gaidaron - Bridge (Rider): Made... Cretan Greek (Cretan dialect, Greek: Κρητική διάλεκτος or Kritika Κρητικά) is a dialect of the Greek language, spoken by more than half a million people in Crete and several thousands in the diaspora. ...

External links

• http://www.stigmes.gr/br/brpages/articles/cretan_music.htm - History of Cretan music
• http://www.cretan-music.gr
• http://www.cretanmusic.gr - The Music of Crete - Biographies of Cretan Music Artists

Streaming Audio

• http://www.grecian.net/radio/index1.htm - 128kbit/s Windows Media stream (Internet only station playing Cretan music)
• http://www.grecian.net/media-live/studioa.asx - 32kbit/s Windows Media stream (Studio Alpha - Chania, Crete)