Acht Brücken: Stelios Petrakis Quartet

Neue kretische Kompositionen und Traditionals

The Cretan music scene is considered to be the liveliest in Greece - not least because it is open to contemporary influences and seeks contact with other art genres and musical traditions.

Stelios Petrakis, for example, has already worked with colleagues from Spain, Iran and India during his career, but is returning to his roots with his own quartet. Typical of traditional Cretan music is the dominant role of the lyra, a pear-shaped, bowed-necked lute, which Petrakis himself masters with virtuosity. She is accompanied by the laouto, a plucked long-necked lute, and the mandolin. Improvisation plays a major role, not only in the imaginative ornamentation of the basic melodies, but also in the dance that the instrumentalists accompany. With its latest album Spondi, the Stelios Petrakis Quartet has conquered the top of the world music charts.