Nikos Xilouris


Nikos Xylouris, also known as Psaronikos, was a Greek singer, Cretan lyra player, and songwriter who performed both Cretan rural traditional and urban orchestral music arrangements.

Early life and education

Nikos Xylouris was born in Anogeia, a village on the slopes of Mount Ida as the fourth child and first son of Giorgos Xylouris. He had three older sisters: Elli, Zoumboulia, and Euridice. His brothers, Antonis Xylouris, or Psarantonis, and Giannis Xylouris, or Psarogiannis, are also familiar figures in Cretan music.
Xylouris' nickname "Psaronikos" ⁠– derived from the Greek psaro meaning "fish-like", combined with his given name Nikos ⁠– was inherited from his grandfather Antonis. According to Xylouris family history, his grandfather participated during one of the many instances of the Greek Revolution of 1821 and was said to "consume the Turks as if they were fish". The nickname was then passed down along the male line of the family, with each generation's given name substituting that of Antonis, while the prefix psaro- remained.
At a young age, Xylouris became interested in music. Along with his brothers, he learned the basics of playing the mandolin and other folk musical instruments at village festivals.

World War II

During World War II, the Nazis razed Anogeia in reprisal for acts of Cretan Resistance against the Axis Occupation, and for the casualties the Germans had sustained during their initial assault on Crete some three years prior. The mayor and citizens of Anogeia supported and protected Special Operations Executive agents and Cretan Resistance fighters. Captain William Stanley Moss led a group of Cretan soldiers which ambushed a detachment of German soldiers who had orders to attack Anogeia. Captain Patrick Leigh Fermor, an SOE operative, had been in Anogeia during the kidnapping of Heinrich Kreipe in May 1944, but escaped with his band of Cretan partisans when the German forces approached. Similar instances of Nazis atrocities committed in Crete include the razing of Kandanos and the Viannos massacres.
In the aftermath of the razing of Anogeia, the Xylouris family, along with other residents of the area, fled to other villages in the Mylopotamos region. Nearly a year after the razing, the damage inflicted upon Anogeia was documented by a scientific committee officially appointed by the newly restored Greek government. The committee included writer Nikos Kazantzakis and Professor Ioannis Kakridis, remembered for their joint translation of the works of Homer.

Career

Xylouris convinced his father, Giorgis, to purchase him a Cretan lyra. He hoped instead that his son would seek higher education as a path to a better life and a means of escaping poverty. Over time, however, his stance gradually softened due to his son’s persistent appeals and the encouragement of local schoolteacher Menelaos Dramountanis, who nurtured Xylouris' musical interests. Eventually, Giorgis relented, and Xylouris obtained his first instrument at the age of twelve.
After an apprenticeship under lyra player Leonidas Klados, Xylouris started performing at social functions and local festivities, usually accompanied by his younger brother Giannis on the lute. Having earned a reputation as a musician and wanting financial independence, in 1953 Xylouris moved from Anogeia to Heraklion, the largest city in Crete. There, Xylouris performed nightly at the venue "Kastron". Initially, he struggled to make ends meet, as the urban audience had moved away from outdated Cretan traditional music and had become accustomed to popular modern European rhythms. In addition, city musicians distrusted newcomers and were unwilling to yield professional space.
In 1967, Xylouris helped establish the first exclusively Cretan folk music hall in Heraklion, named Erotokritos, catering to rural Cretans visiting the city, reviving Cretan folk music in the city. Over time, Xylouris gained renown as a musician in Heraklion. He later moved to Athens and largely extended his popularity by introducing Cretan traditional music to Greeks.
Xylouris' first studio recording in 1958 was a 7-inch 45rpm vinyl single featuring "Μια μαυροφόρα όταν περνά" and "Δεν κλαίνε οι δυνατές καρδιές". Although Odeon Records granted them an audition, executives were worried that Cretan music lacked commercial potential and initially rejected the release. Greek MP from Crete Pavlos Vardinogiannis, who provided Xylouris with lodging and was fond of Cretan musical tradition, intervened, vouching for Xylouris and promising to reimburse Odeon for every unsold unit. Following an initial reluctance from Odeon Records, the recording of a single featuring Nikos Xylouris with backing vocals from his wife, Ourania, was sanctioned. The recording is said to be of a significant success, vindicating Vardinogiannis' support for Xylouris. While additional singles were subsequently released through Odeon, the label's executives remained hesitant about Xylouris and the commercial viability of Cretan music.
The turning point in his career came in 1969, when Columbia Records released a 7-inch 45rpm single featuring “Anyfantou” and “Kavgades me to giasemi”. The single proved successful, dispelling earlier doubts about the appeal of Cretan folk music and drawing the attention of record company executives. Following its success, Xylouris began performing in Athens, which soon became his permanent base. Although musicologist Simon Karas initially criticized “Anyfantou” and questioned Xylouris’ interpretation of traditional songs, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation later featured the piece in a special broadcast, affirming its status within Greek folk music.

Later life

Two main accounts describe Xylouris’ introduction to the Athenian musical establishment. According to one version, his career advanced through early performances at the Konaki Cretan Folk Music Hall, where talented Cretan musicians were invited to entertain the city’s Cretan community. During one of these performances, Xylouris met film director Errikos Thalassinos, who introduced him to composer Yannis Markopoulos. The meeting led to a collaboration between Markopoulos and Xylouris that lasted nearly a decade.
An alternative account, supported by Xylouris’s wife Ourania, attributes his discovery to Takis Lambropoulos, head of Columbia Records Greece. Lambropoulos reportedly first heard Xylouris singing at a wedding in Crete, recorded him live, and sent the tape to composer Stavros Xarchakos in Paris. Xarchakos and Xylouris later developed both a close friendship and a fruitful artistic partnership that extended into the theater.
Xylouris collaborated with additional composers and conductors, such as Christodoulos Chalaris, Christos Leontis, and Linos Kokotos, performing poetry by Nikos Gatsos, Yannis Ritsos, Giorgos Seferis, Kostas Varnalis, Dionysios Solomos, Vitsentzos Kornaros, Kostas Karyotakis, Rigas Feraios, Kostas Kindynis, and Kostas Georgousopoulos.
Xylouris relocated to Athens during the Greek military junta of 1967–1974, which had come to power after the coup d'état of April 21, 1967. Cretan traditional songs, especially Rizitika, previously meant to foster revolution against the Ottomans and sustain hope for Cretan liberation, were repurposed to voice opposition against the Junta and express longing for its demise. Xylouris used these songs to attempt to empower students rebelling against the dictatorship and stood by their side during the Athens Polytechnic School Uprising of 1973, by singing songs banned by the Junta, alongside Stavros Xarchakos. Xylouris' songs were banned from radio and television, and he was summoned to the Greek Military Police Headquarters. The venues that he appeared in were monitored by operatives of the government.
The theater company of Tzeni Karezi and Kostas Kazakos commissioned playwright Iakovos Kambanellis, a survivor of the Mauthausen concentration camp and later member of the Academy of Athens, to write a retrospective of modern Greek history, scored by Xarchakos, who offered Xylouris the part of the main singer. The result was the play "To Megalo Mas Tsirko", staged at the Athinaion Theater, which enjoyed success. Slogans used in the play, such as Psomi – Paideia – Eleftheria and Foni Laou – Orgi Theou were adopted by protesting university students, consequently became linked with their uprising, and found their way into the Greek Nation's collective consciousness after the restoration of Democratic rule in 1974.
Following the restoration of democracy in Greece, Xylouris released additional albums with Markopoulos and Xarchakos and continued to make live appearances and concerts. In the days after the fall of the Junta, he participated in the liberation concert Tragoudia tis Fotias by director Nikos Koundouros, before an Athenian audience.

Public and critical acclaim

In 1966, Xylouris represented Greece at the San Remo Music Festival and won First Prize in its Folk Music Section. In 1971, he was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque by the Académie Charles-Cros in France for his performance of the Cretan Rizitika album with Yannis Markopoulos.

Personal life

Xylouris met his future wife Ourania Melampianakis while performing at a festival in her native village of Venerato. Their initial interaction was limited to exchanging glances, in accordance with local courtship customs. Ourania belonged to an affluent family, while Xylouris was regarded as an itinerant musician. Although Cretan society did not strictly enforce class divisions, relationships perceived as socially unequal were generally frowned upon. In the following months, Xylouris would regularly serenade Ourania, continuing a long-standing Cretan tradition rooted in medieval Italian-influence, where young men would sing to woo the women they admired.
Xylouris eventually proposed to Ourania. The couple eloped to Anogeia, where their wedding took place. Ourania was initially ostracised by her family for eloping, which left a lasting emotional impact on her. Reconciliation was later achieved after Xylouris’s musical career gained prominence. Her father ultimately consented to the marriage. The couple's love story echoes the Erotokritos by Vitsentzos Kornaros, select verses of which were sung by Xylouris in one of his albums.
The couple had two children, a son named Giorgis and a daughter named Rinio. They remained married until Xylouris' passing.

Death and legacy

Nikos Xylouris died of lung cancer which had metastasised to the brain on 8 February 1980, in Piraeus, Greece, and was interred at the First Cemetery of Athens.

Discography

  • Mia mavrofora otan perna — Μια μαυροφόρα όταν περνά
  • Anyfantou — Ανυφαντού
  • O Psaronikos — Ο Ψαρονίκος
  • Mantinades kai Chorοi — Μαντινάδες και χοροί
  • Chroniko — Χρονικό
  • Rizitika — Ριζίτικα
  • Dialeimma — Διάλειμμα
  • Ithageneia — Ιθαγένεια
  • Dionyse kalokairi mas — Διόνυσε καλοκαίρι μας
  • O Tropikos tis Parthenou — Ο Τροπικός της Παρθένου
  • O Xylouris tragouda yia tin Kriti — Ο Ξυλούρης τραγουδά για την Κρήτη
  • O Stratis Thalassinos anamesa stous Agapanthous — Ο Στρατής Θαλασσινός ανάμεσα στους Αγάπανθους
  • Perifani ratsa — Περήφανη ράτσα
  • Akolouthia — Ακολουθία
  • To megalo mas tsirko — Το μεγάλο μας τσίρκο
  • Parastaseis — Παραστάσεις
  • Anexartita — Ανεξάρτητα
  • Komentia, i pali chorikon kai vasiliadon — Κομέντια, η πάλη χωρικών και βασιλιάδων
  • Kapnismeno tsoukali — Καπνισμένο τσουκάλι
  • Ta pou thymoumai tragoudo — Τα που θυμούμαι τραγουδώ
  • Kyklos Seferi — Κύκλος Σεφέρη
  • Erotokritos — Ερωτόκριτος
  • I symfonia tis Gialtas kai tis pikris agapis — Η συμφωνία της Γιάλτας και της πικρής αγάπης
  • I eleftheri poliorkimeni — Οι ελεύθεροι πολιορκημένοι
  • Ta erotika — Τα ερωτικά
  • Ta Xyloureika — Τα Ξυλουρέικα
  • Ta antipolemika — Τα αντιπολεμικά
  • Salpisma — Σάλπισμα
  • 14 Chryses Epitichies – 14 Χρυσές Επιτυχίες

Posthumously released material

  • Teleftaia ora Kriti — Τελευταία ώρα Κρήτη
  • Nikos Xylouris — Νίκος Ξυλούρης
  • Pantermi Kriti — Πάντερμη Κρήτη
  • O Deipnos o Mystikos — Ο Δείπνος ο Μυστικός
  • Stavros Xarchakos: Theatrika — Σταύρος Ξαρχάκος: Θεατρικά
  • O Yiannis Markopoulos ston Elliniko Kinematografo — Ο Γιάννης Μαρκόπουλος στον Ελληνικό Κινηματογράφο
  • I synavlia sto Irodio 1976 — Η συναυλία στο Ηρώδειο 1976
  • To chroniko tou Nikou Xylouri — Το χρονικό του Νίκου Ξυλούρη
  • Nikos Xylouris — Νίκος Ξυλούρης
  • I psychi tis Kritis — Η ψυχή της Κρήτης
  • Itane mia fora... — Ήτανε μια φορά...
  • Tou Chronou Ta Girismata — Του Χρόνου Τα Γυρίσματα
  • Itane Mia Fora... Kai Emeine Gia Panta! — Ήτανε Μια Φορά... Και Έμεινε Για Πάντα!