[MGSA-L] MUSIC IN CRETE

[JUNESAM at aol.com]

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_ell_1131910_23/07/2005_58960

Irish musican Ross Daly pushes the positive side of globalized music 
 EU-funded academy on island of Crete draws students from around the world 

Ross Daly has been involved in the music of Crete for 20 years. His 
Labyrinthos Musical Academy on the island receives applications from many countries for 
its seminars on the world’s traditional instruments, of which he has a large 
collection. (Photos: Yiannis Genetzakis)
By Spyridoula Spanea - Kathimerini

Next to the main square in the village of Houdetsi, 20 kilometers from 
Iraklion in Crete, is a two-story stone manor house. Chairs scattered on the grass 
in front of a wooden stage in the courtyard, along with sound equipment and arc 
lights, announce the presence of the Labyrinthos Musical Academy.

Since ancient times, Crete has been a cultural crossroads, and Labyrinthos 
has carried on this tradition on the musical level. It was founded in 1982 by 
Ross Daly, an Irish musician who has lived and worked for over two decades in 
Crete and who moved to the house in Houdetsi in 2002.

We are welcomed by Daly’s student Kelly Thoma, a musician with the 
Labyrinthos music group. Cases of musical instruments line the walls.

“You should see our collection of instruments, which include rare items from 
around the world,” said Kelly. “Go upstairs. Pedram is up there studying.”

Up the winding wooden staircase, a man is playing percussion instruments, his 
eyes closed. Pedram, from Iran, is immersed in the magical sounds made by the 
palms of his hands. We leave him to it and move on to where the sounds of 
Giorgis Xylouris’s laouto can be heard. “Psarogiorgis,” as he is known on the 
island, is a teacher at Houdetsi.

Last year 80 people attended seminars at the workshop; this year Daly has 
received applications from 150 musicians from the US, Austria, Turkey, Britain, 
France, Spain and the Netherlands, of ages ranging from 15 to 65.

“Thirty years ago, when I wanted to learn about instruments such as the 
Cretan laouto, the tzouras, the bulgari, the tabouras and the Afghan rabab, it was 
quite difficult. Here we give people from all over the world the opportunity 
to learn to play these instruments,” explained Daly, a music devotee for 48 
years.

“Technology has brought about globalization. I think that this is an 
irreversible trend that has both positive and negative effects. We are trying to focus 
on the positive. Young people from around the world come here because of 
their interest in the creative dimension of music. We try to help these musical 
idioms survive and evolve,” he explained.

“Each six-day seminar costs 200 euros, including accommodation,” said Daly. 
“We know that a person who spends a lot of time studying music does not have 
much money. But the teachers are paid well thanks to subsidies from a European 
Union program. What we do here is very important because it is happening in a 
little village on Crete. It shows that the provinces are not always an outpost 
of civilization.”

This summer the courtyard will host performances by representatives of the 
world music tradition, including Derya Turkan and Socratis Sinopoulos (July 28), 
Necati Celik and Halil Karaduman (August 12), and a tribute to Costas 
Moudakis (August 31).

“Cretans have retained their own unique cultural character,” said Daly, 
whose future plans include an instrument workshop.

For more information, tel 2810.741.027/43.243, or log on to 
www.labyrinthmusic.gr.