Xylouris Ensemble

Psarantonis, Bruder des legendären Nikos Xylouris, ist ebenso berühmt wie Kult. In Heraklion, Athen, New York oder Toronto füllt der exzentrische Musiker die Säle. Mit seiner tiefen Stimme singt er mal wild, dann wieder flüsternd-ruhig. In der Rhythmik ist er sehr variabel, höchst ungewöhnlich und selten bei kretischer Musik. Neben vielen Eigenkompositionen greift er auch traditionelle Stücke auf, interpretiert sie jedoch eigenwillig und situativ, wobei keine Interpretation der anderen gleicht. Für diese CD musizierte er erstmals im Studio mit seiner Tochter Niki, seinen Söhnen Georgios und Lampis sowie einigen Gastmusikern. Es entstand das Xylouris-Ensemble - kulturempfehlungen.de

In a priceless snippet of grainy black-and-white film from the '70s posted on YouTube, nine-year-old Giorgos Xylouris and his father, Psarantonis, are playing high on the mountains of Crete. Dwarfed by his lute, the boy keeps up with the crescendo of the elder's lyra, glancing occasionally at his father for cues while a group of men dance before them in the spirited tradition of the island.

Now in his 70s and considered a living legend of Greek music, the inimitable Psarantonis is touring Australia this month - once again accompanied by his son, now a master of the lute and a great of Cretan music in his own right.

...Psarantonis counts Cave and Ellis among his fans and friends. When the pair arrived late to one of his gigs in the northern city of Thessaloniki, they sat on the edge of the stage as Psarantonis treated the delighted audience to an extra hour's show before kicking on to a conventional late-night feast.

''They are good friends and have a mutual respect,'' Xylouris confirms. ''He [Cave] has said that when he is on the road during tours, he listens to Psarantonis.''
- theage.com

Yiorgos Xylouris' ARIA award-winning Ensemble plays one of Melbourne's most sophisticated Yarra-side venues in this special fundraising concert - a night of music, magic and dance celebrating the eternal connection forged in WWII between Australia and Greece.
An initiative of the PanCretan Association of Melbourne sponsored by HACCI and Fed Square. Further sponsorship opportunities available. All proceeds go to the creation of an Anzac memorial at '42nd Street', Crete, on the currently unmarked site of the last battle fought by the last ANZACS. - neoskosmos.com

Popular act, Xylouris Ensemble performing for Lucky Oceans' Planet program on the ABC. - ABC

Four years after his last Australian tour and an electrifying performance at All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in Mt Buller, the deep voiced, Zeus-like, larger than life patriarch of Cretan folk music returned to Melbourne for the Antipodes festival. The man that the World Music Institute dubbed the “Jimi Hendrix of the Cretan lyre” is no stranger to Australian audiences owing to his collaborations with Dirty Three members and his son’s and now grandkids’ musical presence in Australia.
....In the second set, they were joined by Yiorgos Xylouris’ three children and Psarantonis’ grandchildren in a rare display of cross-generational musical synergies on stage where the youngins glance every now and then to the oldest for cues and try to figure out riffs as they are playing. I was entranced by Apollonia’s voice, who for one song took over the mic from her grandfather, accompanied by the side-by-side rhythm lute playing of Yiorgos Xylouris and his son Adonis and the spectacular, torch-passing Cretan lyre performance of Nikos Xylouris right next to his grandfather. - beat.com.au