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The lyra: the heart of Cretan music - Creta Maris Blog

Par un écrivain mystérieux

Last updated 31 mai 2024

The lyra: the heart of Cretan music - Creta Maris Blog

Central to the traditional music of Crete is the pear-shaped, three stringed lyra, which is played on the knee with a violin-like bow. For centuries the lyra’s characteristic melodic tones have been the soundtrack to Cretan culture. A good way to spot a lyra player is to see if they have long fingernails on their left hand. That’s because the lyra’s notes are, unlike the violin, created not by pressing the strings down against the neck, but by the musician pushing the strings horizontally with their nails. With no frets or markers to guide the musician, it’s a fine art, needing enormous skill. Apart from the standard lyra, there are two other varieties: the smaller lyraki, with its higher pitch, and the larger, 4-stringed vrodolyra, with its deeper bass tones.The sound of the lyra, whether drifting out from a small kafenion, a village celebration, or at a large concert, is unmistakable – often joyous with fast-paced melodies that accompany traditional dancing, and sometimes a quite different and poignant haunting sound, played with slow drawn-out notes that touch the soul. According to Greek mythology, the lyra was first created by the god Hermes, the son of Zeus, who used the shell of […]