Giorgos Xylouris

Giorgos Xylouris is the son of Psarantonis, one of Crete's best known and most innovative musicians, as well as being the nephew of Nikos Xylouris, widely considered to be one of the greatest singers in the history of Cretan music. Nikos Xylouris was certainly a figure of enormous significance, and he was the one destined to introduce Cretan music to the rest of the world with his outstanding renditions of the highly demanding and uniquely beautiful rizitika songs which gained him international recognition. Giorgos Xylouris started studying the laouto as a very young child under the guidance of his uncle Psarogiannis, Crete's foremost laouto-player at the time. From the age of eleven he was already accompanying his father at village celebrations and weddings, as well as participating in recordings. Giorgos also spent 8 years in Australia during which time he broadened his horizons through contact with musicians of other cultures. He has frequently participated in the projects of Ross Daly which incorporate musicians from Tuva, India, Iran and Afghanistan and he is today considered to be one of Crete's foremost singers and instrumentalists.