NIKIFOROS AERAKIS-ANOGEIANOS GAMOS (WEDDING AT ANOGEIA)

Anogeianos gamos (Anogeia wedding) - live recording
Nikiforos Aerakis: Lyra - singing
Myron Mavroudis: Lute
Vasilis Xylouris: Lute
Yannis Stavrakakis: Lute
Lyrics: Giannis Aerakis
Production Editor: Stelios Aerakis

Our intention to record one of the most vibrant and at the same time more representative moments of the social and musical events of our people led us to the decision to record the feast at a wedding in Anogia without any technical intervention and without any programming or direction .
Our belief in the authenticity of this choice reinforces two key elements. The first is the venue, Anogia's environment, the environment where the event takes place, and which continues to keep alive the traditional process, the atmosphere and the style of such events. The second element is the lyricist himself, Nikiforos Aerakis, who is one of the ideal exponents and is one of the last artists to resist stubbornly in every formal and conventional process, this combination, a common one that is flooded by an explosive sentimentalism, with a lyrer educated precisely within the expressive framework of this audience, brings out more genuine and true as a result of this effort. The marriage in Anogeia, from its musical-dancing side, has a certain dynamic and established rules that gradually lead from the initially low-phase phases to a frantic and absolutely natural expressive liberation. With spontaneity that often causes the feeling of unexpected, with an ingenuity that reaches levels of originality and with a diffuse sentiment that manifests strongly either in the personal or collective behavior of the moment. The mantinada, which is the liberating force of inner moods, is imposed and dominates with its exuberance presence and its purity, coloring the whole flow of the feast. Within the context of ever-increasing mental euphoria, however, the familiar shootings - a negative remnant of another era - interfere with innocent people, usually injure the feast and the mood of the public.
Finally, we hope that in this recording, as authenticly evolved, the listener will detect those pure moments and the corresponding climate that reflects and expresses some of the behaviors of the Cretan soul.

Cretan Musical Workshop October 1991