MANOLIS PASPARAKIS (STRAVOS) - THE LYRA PLAYER

MANOLIS PASPARAKIS (STRAVOS) - THE LYRA PLAYER

Manolis Pasparakis or Stravos was born in 1911 in Anogia. A member of a large family, he was four years old, from scarlet fever. Difficult illness of that time. He was blinded and since then he lived in the darkness of life, but fortunately for him he did not put it down, with the stubbornness of life and action from the age of eight, having in him the merrakkel, who distinguished him and throughout his life, with the lyra. He persuaded his father and bought him a lyra. That's it. He bent with great appetite in this inanimate wood and filled our lives with melodies that were unforgettable. He started out with friends, and then he also entered the feasts from an early age. At the age of eighteen, he was a lyraris, won the appreciation and love of the world and began to entertain not only the society of Anogia but also the other villages of Crete. He married Helen Samolis, who has been a faithful husband, throughout her life. He has five children. Unfortunately for him and his fate he played a bad game. At the age of eighteen he lost his son Giorgos. He was a strong character, smart, with a lot of humor and especially very merry. His mantinades remained and will remain up-to-date at the feasts of merciless people. He remained faithful in the preservation of Cretan music. He did not like the foreigners who, as they say, altered the tradition. He loved and loved the society he lived and not only. And ultimately this is what counts more. He died in 1987 at the age of seventy-five.