Xylouris Georgis

Das sagt der/die Künstler:in:

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.

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George Xylouris presents the solo performance "HOMA" with Markos Pinakoulakis handling sound and sound interventions.
With his lute and his voice, he seeks traces along the path where both folk Cretan music and the avant-garde influences of independent expression have settled in his very personal language.

"Homa" is a work born from an instinctive and mature desire to pay tribute and to inscribe in an authentic way in the tradition of Cretan music that was bequeathed to me. He seeks with deep admiration, respect and simplicity the sounds which constitute the root of Cretan traditional music and bridge the musical legacies of the Mediterranean.

“Homa”, translated as "Dirt" , is the ground, the earth. It unites us, allows us to walk, cultivate and dance on it. It is always below and available to us. It's a natural and raw amalgam, unadulterated, unadorned, unpretentious, it has no authorship, it belongs to everyone.
How to deliver a very personal music that belongs and vibrates to everyone becomes the heart of my quest for this album.