Melodies and their variations. Improvisation. Expression (melodic variations and unique playing techniques). Their rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment. Song (mantinades). The embellishments of the pidihtos dance. The relationship with the tunes of neighboring regions (within and outside of Crete). Participants should have a basic knowledge of instrument handling, while musical reading and theory are not necessary. The aim is to familiarize participants with the music of the Cretan folk tradition and analyze its unique style.
Manolis Moschakis _ Sitia's Kontylies and their particularities
Workshop Type: Open - Instrument-Focused
Participant Level: Open to all levels
Sheet Music Reading: Not required
Teaching Hours: 5-6 hours/day
BIOGRAPHY
Manolis Moschakis was born in 1972 and lived in Athens. At the age of 14, he took music theory and violin lessons with teachers of European music. His parents' origin from the province of Sitia led him to engage with the local music tradition, through gatherings and celebrations in the village of Myrsini, his mother's hometown.
Later, alongside his studies in agriculture, he studied folk tradition and folk music of the Greek region and beyond, playing various types of music with violin and other string instruments at events and recordings with various musical groups. He enriched his theoretical and practical knowledge by studying Byzantine church music and the modal music of the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Asia.
He was a founding member of the Music Workshop of the Agricultural University of Athens, consisting of an orchestra and a choir, of which he later took over the artistic direction, with numerous events of folk and popular music and the release of a record with folk songs from various regions of Greece. Since 2008, he has been living and working in Crete, always in love with music, fascinated by its power, and willing to discover and transmit as much as possible of its secrets.