Yiannis Xylouris (Psaroyiannis) has died

The acclaimed Cretan artist Yiannis Xylouris (Psaroyiannis) has died at the age of 83.

The musician and lute player left a distinct mark on younger generations, as he created new compositions within Cretan music. According to local outlet patris.gr, Yiannis Xylouris was born in 1943 in Anogeia, Mylopotamos, Rethymno. He was also a member of the great Xylouris family, which for four generations has enriched Cretan — and not only Cretan — music with sublime sounds. A grandson of Karamouzantoni, who made history with his lyra, and brother of Nikos Xylouris and Psarantonis, Yiannis Xylouris could only follow the same path as those outstanding lyra players and singers.

With a deep knowledge of the music of his homeland, he harnessed his musical and artistic instinct and unfolded his talent for composition with the same ease with which he sang mantinades or moved to the rhythm of a dance. Yiannis stood firmly on tradition, while also seeking to draw on the virtues of art music in order to shape and ground his artistic proposal on solid foundations. His artistic presence was intense, with numerous concerts and performances both in Greece and abroad.

Over the course of his long musical career, he collaborated — beyond his brothers Nikos and Antonis — with Kostas Moundakis, mainly during the 1960s, as well as with Vasilis Skoulas, launching a unique and extensive catalogue of recordings that established him as the most recorded lute player in Cretan music of that era.

His collaboration with various musical ensembles from Epirus, the Aegean islands and Asia Minor was also highly creative, as were his partnerships with renowned Greek composers who shaped contemporary Greek song. Yiannis Xylouris was the artist who dominated the lute, presenting a unique technique that resulted in a wealth of outstanding performances across dozens of albums, all bearing the hallmark of perfection.