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Vassilis Skoulas
is one of the most important contemporary representatives of typical Cretan music.
It's main instrument is the Lyra which is a kind of a violin with 3 strings. The artist sits while playing it as he does not hold it under his chin, but on his knees.
In a traditional Cretan "band" there are also some lutes (kind of a guitar with 4 strings) which serve as purely accompanying instruments, and sometimes concert guitars as well.
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In most bands, the Lyra player is also the singer, but not simultaneously. The soloist alternates with himself, changing from playing the Lyra to singing and back, while the lutes (and the guitars) carry on with the basic chords and rhythms.
So the soloist performs a permanent dialogue of thesis and antithesis between his voice and his Lyra.
Vassilis' brother Georgios shows this in the  museum of Anoghia even without any accompanying band.
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Most of the melodies and texts are as old as the hills. This music was and still is one of the instruments of passing on the traditional Cretan values even during the centuries of foreign rule.
The mountain village of Anoghia ranks as the most important center of traditional Cretan music.
Vassilis Skoulas travelled many countries as an ambassador of this music, before in 1995 he founded Taverna Delina, and in 2006 the Delina Hotel.
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Several golden CDs prove how important it is for the Greeks who live all over the world, to maintain this tradition up to the present day.
Vassilis' music is on sale in the Delina Hotel's souvenir shop.
One will however only understand the whole bandwidth of Cretan folklore music when listening one of Vassilis' live performances.
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Whenever someone prepares to celebrate a wedding, baptism or other family event at Taverna Delina, Vassilis calls his band together. And the music will for sure not end before midnight.
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