Biography
Biography
Crete is his homeland. Sfakia, his roots.
Michalis Tzouganakis was born in Bergen, a city in Belgium, in an old immigrant district. His association via play and companionship with Turks, Greeks, Moroccans, Poles, Egyptians and Italians was determinative in the formation of his personality: the differentiation of each one of them, the particular colour and aroma of every country expressed through the every day habits, the rendering of speech, the musical background…indelible impressions on the soul and brain of little Michalis. But he wasn’t any less affected. He carried within himself a whole island, Crete, with his seven brothers and sisters and both his parents to remind him of it while raising him. He was two years of age when he got in his hands his brother’s lute and… hasn´t left it ever since! On his knees and resting the instrument on his chin, the lute became his favorite toy. He felt enchanted by the sound he managed to produce by strumming on its strings for interminable hours. Bright, insistent and patient, at four, he was in the position to play and sing, entertaining his amazed ’spectators ’!
Repatriation to Chania. Michalis is nine years old. School, music, traditional dances and songs! Michalis joins in the musical events of the city, performing on stage. He is so small and yet so mature and passionate when he plays. He attracts everyone’s attention. An outstanding boy, ’ a child-prodigy ’, his course is clear. At ten or eleven he meets important Cretan musicians such as Giannis Sergakis and Vangelis Zacharioudakis and works with them professionally. The latter invites him to record together and it’ s the first time Michalis sets foot in a recording studio.
Michalis Tzouganakis is thirteen when the great lyre-player, Leonidas Klados, comes across him. Klados composes, Michalis writes the lyrics and they record. He is very lucky to be for five years close to a top-notch lyre-player, giving concerts in Crete and in Athens, thus obtaining great experience.
Kostas Mountakis, another first-rate lyre-player, recognizes Michalis’ rare talent and wishes to work with him. They go on tour to Toronto and Montreal. At the same time with his own concerts, Michalis’ and Kostas Mountakis’ musical encounters are frequent. In 1990 they record together for the University of Crete. It’s Mountakis’ last recording.
Michalis’ musical evolution is enduring. After the age of fifteen, together with his concerts, he studies more musical instruments: outi, sazi, boulgari, mandolin, cumbus, lyre. At seventeen and for two years, he takes classic and traditional singing lessons, at the Conservatory of Athens.
Restless and inventive, at eighteen, he has his own band: lute, lyre, percussion instruments, guitar, contrabass and violin. He travels in Greece, in America, in Canada, in Germany, in Belgium giving concerts. When abroad, he works with foreign groups.
In 1993, MINOS-EMI releases Achtides (Beams), Michalis’ album, which includes the song entitled Pali-Pali (Again and Again). The famous singer, Manolis Lidakis, adds it in his album O Helios tou Genari (The sun of January), 1997, as well as in his live recordings.
In 1997, Michalis Tzouganakis meets Nikos Mamagkakis. A great turning point in Michalis’ musical education and not only. He stayed for six consecutive years next to a composer of such great work and such great experience. Inspired by the voice and interpretation of Michalis, Nikos Mamagkakis composes «Ta tragoudia tis palias polis» (Songs of the Old Town), based on the lyrics of late Rethymnian poet, Giorgos Kalomenopoulos. This album seals the two men’s friendship. Michalis has joined in the rearranged and re-edited work of the great composer, as vocalist and lute soloist. He has also participated with Mikis Theodorakis, Eugenios Spatharis, P. Lalezas in the work which Nikos Mamagkakis composed on Makrygiannis.
Michalis Tzouganakis has brought about important changes to the cretan traditional song, not only with his interpretation of songs but also with the contemporary sounds he added. Without distorting the traditional element, he enriches it and lends it a different musical dimension.
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