Kostas Mountakis (10 February 1926, Alfa in Milopotamos, Rethymno Prefecture

Rethymno Prefecture

Rethymno is one of the four regional units of Crete, Greece. Its capital is the city of Rethymno. Today its main income is tourism. The countryside is also based economically on agriculture and herding.-Administration:...

 – 31 January 1991) was a Greek musician who popularized the traditional music of the island of Crete, primarily with the lyra

Lyra (Cretan)

The Cretan lyra is a Greek pear-shaped, three-stringed bowed musical instrument, central to the traditional music of Crete and other islands in the Dodecanese and the Aegean Archipelago, in Greece...

, the bowed string instrument of Crete and most popular surviving form of the medieval Byzantine lyra

Byzantine lyra

The Byzantine lyra or lira , was a medieval bowed string musical instrument in the Byzantine Empire and is an ancestor of most European bowed instruments, including the violin. In its popular form the lyra was a pear-shaped instrument with three to five strings, held upright and played by stopping...

. His parents came from the village Kallikratis

Kallikratis

Kallikratis is a small village in oo ku taalo luuq ganaane southwest Crete, Greece. According to tradition, it was named after the admiral Manoussos Kallikratis, who in March 1453 led a campaign to reinforce the defense of Constantinople with 5 ships and 1500 Cretan volunteers...

 in Sfakia

Sfakia

Sfakiá is a mountainous area in the southwestern part of the island of Crete, in the Chania peripheral unit. It is considered one of the few places in Greece to never have been fully occupied by foreign powers...

, Crete. His older brother Nikistratos was playing the lira and so did Mitsos Kaffatos - one of the best musicians in Rethymno at that time - who was to become Kostas’ tutor.

When the German military occupation of Crete

Battle of Crete

The Battle of Crete was a battle during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete under the code-name Unternehmen Merkur...

 started, Kostas Mountakis was 15 years old. In those days, he played his lira and sang at the village coffee shop, and later at wedding receptions.

In 1952, Kostas Mountakis participated for the first time in an album recording when he accompanied Stelios Koutsourelis at the song “Arpaxsa kai Baildisa”. In 1954, he recorded his first personal album accompanied by the Koutsourelis brothers with the all time classics “De thelo stin kardia”, “O pramateutis”, “O argaleios”, “Milonades kai mazoxtres”, “Sto stadio pou m’efere”, “Rethemniane mou kantife”, “Harami sou”, Erotokritos”, “Kritikos Gamos”, “H mahi tis Kritis”, “O thanatos tou lirari”. These songs are a small sample of his music.

Kostas Mountakis played an important and vital role to the popularization of the lira as well as to the formation of its teaching methods. His overall contribution to the musical tradition of Crete

Music of Crete

The music of Crete is a traditional form of Greek folk music called κρητικά . The lyra is the dominant folk instrument on the island; there are three-stringed and four-stringed versions of this bowed string instrument, closely related to the medieval Byzantine lyra. It is often accompanied by the...

 is very important.

See also

• Lyra (Byzantine)
• Lyra (Cretan)
  Lyra (Cretan)
  The Cretan lyra is a Greek pear-shaped, three-stringed bowed musical instrument, central to the traditional music of Crete and other islands in the Dodecanese and the Aegean Archipelago, in Greece...
  
  
• Music of Crete
  Music of Crete
  The music of Crete is a traditional form of Greek folk music called κρητικά . The lyra is the dominant folk instrument on the island; there are three-stringed and four-stringed versions of this bowed string instrument, closely related to the medieval Byzantine lyra. It is often accompanied by the...