Thanassis Skordalos
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thanasis Skordalos was born in December 1920 at the village Spili in Rethimnon Crete.
He finished grammar school in Spili when he was nine years old. It was about the same time that he first laid his eyes on the lyre. He gave his first performance in front of an audience when he was nineteen years old at the Halloween Dance of the Cretans in Athens - at the historical music hall “Vizantio” in Omonoia, Athens. His first recording was in 1946 with the famous “Spiliano Sirto” where Giannis Markogiannakis was playing the lute. In 1947 when he was 27 years old, he was positioned at the Security Services of the National Bank of Greece from where he later on retired.
During his long career, Skordalos performed in most of the countries that one can find Cretan immigrants like the USA, Australia, Canada and Africa. He got married to Hrisoula Papadaki from Rethimnon and together they had two sons and two daughters.
Thanasis Skordalos along with Kostas Moundakis are considered those lyra players who offered the most to cretan music, Thanasis served Cretan music for 60 whole years and died in April 23, 1998 at the age of 78. He was and will remain one of the best artists in the Cretan music history with numerous and unique recordings. He is an inspiration for those that shall follow and his legacy will continue to motivate the next generations of artists.
