Cretan lyra

The Cretan lyra is a wooden bowed string instrument. It usually has three strings, tuned G–D–A (SOL–RE–LA), and is played with a bow. It holds a central place in the traditional music of Crete and of other Aegean islands and the Dodecanese. It was already known in Byzantine Crete, and was modified in the 20th century to give it a stronger, more projecting sound. It is considered the most popular form of the Byzantine lyra still in use today. Its parts are usually made of different woods, and its strings are of gut or metal.

The Cretan lyra closely resembles the Byzantine lyra, the ancestor of many European bowed instruments. Ibn Khordadbeh, a 9th-century Persian geographer, in his study of musical instruments, describes the lyra as "similar to the Arab rebab, with five strings, made of wood".

It is clear that when the Venetians arrived in Crete in 1211 they found the lyra already on the island. The small round bells on the bow seem to have appeared at that time. In the Cretan dialect they are called 'gerakokoudouna', hawk bells, a name that seems to come from the noble hunters who hunted with falcons wearing bells on their feet.

All the 'early' lyras (before 1930) were made by the players themselves. They resembled the lyras of Kasos, Karpathos and Constantinople. The neck continued straight from the body, with little angle. There was no fingerboard, so hollows formed where the nails touched the wood. The soundboard was shallow and in line with the neck. The pegs were wooden.

The strings, made of gut, did not rest on a tailpiece but passed through holes at the bottom of the body, or were tied with wire or strong cord. They were set very close together, so the players' fingers could not fit between them, and the melody was played mainly on the first string. Many makers also drilled a hole in the back of the body and some smaller ones in the soundboard, hoping the lyra would 'sing out' better. Today makers do not drill lyras, believing that this 'weakens the wood'.

There were many types of lyra, but there was a growing need for a lyra between the lyraki and the vrontolyra (the large, deep-sounding lyra). Between 1940 and 1945, as social and political conditions changed, interest in the sound of the lyra and technical improvements in playing took shape. At that time the first instrument makers appeared in the towns of Crete, and the lyra evolved until it reached its final form. The first professional maker to build lyras was Manolis Stagakis, who opened his first workshop on Dimakopoulou Street in Rethymno.

Stagakis designed the modern lyra, halfway between the lyraki and the vrontolyra, with the help of his customers on the size of the neck, the sound, the appearance and durability. His lyra was seen from the start as by far the most successful design. He worked with Thanasis Skordalos, Kostas Mountakis, Spyros Sifogiorgakis, Leonidas Klados, Nikos Xylouris and many others, and was imitated by many other makers. The Stagakis lyra was louder than both the vrontolyra and the lyraki, which made life easier for players at feasts: with the weak sound of the old lyras and no microphones, it was very hard to be heard. The old lyras were also tuned higher, sometimes by up to two tones, so the singer always had to shout above the noise of the crowd. The new lyra has a larger body and sounds louder without needing to be tuned higher; its sound is deeper, though not sweeter. It also sits more comfortably on the body: the 'foot' at the end rests on the player's leg, and the angle of the head makes long performances easier without resting the lyra on the wrist. It also made it possible to play standing up, with the 'caraulo' under the chin and the lyra supported by the thumb. Metal tuning pegs, like those of the bouzouki and mandolin, are easier to use. The fingerboard makes playing less painful, and because it is covered in plastic the instrument does not wear; the range also grew to two and a half octaves, which encouraged new compositions.