Rodamanthos Androulakis

I used snail shells to construct mouth-lyres

I touched the lyre very young, but even younger I was constructing “mouth-lyras” out of snail shells, and played all the known songs of the period, in parties we had with other guys and girls of the village. Once, at a “panigiri” some fellow villager proposed: "give the lyre to this “kopelli” (young guy) to play a “kontilia”! I did so and when the “meraklides” heard me they liked my playing so much that they lifted me up, on my chair, and started processing me around the village streets...

Full text (in Greek) of the authentic narrations of the Great Masters of Cretan music in STIGMES magazine no 68

Images and text on this page can be reproduced with written authorization of the publisher and as long as the source is referred to as "(published in STIGMES, the magazine of Crete)" and linked to http://www.stigmes.gr with credits to the writer and/or photographer