Giorgos Xintaris from Skopelos

Giorgos Xintaris, a skilled musician and player, is one of the best representatives of rembetika, a genre of urban folk music which was created in the late 19th century and was further developed by the Greek refugees from Asia Minor after 1922.

Born in Skopelos in 1952, he moved to Athens in 1967. There, he took up a job as a construction worker and became a self-taught bouzouki player. Just a few years later, he began to perform in Athenian taverns, carrying on the legacy of the great Markos Vamvakaris and the so-called Piraeus school of rembetiko. In the following years, Xintaris began to record his first albums and founded his own music scene, which became a pole of attraction not only for the youth of Athens, but also for musicians and other artists. He has also lent his voice to the greatly popular TV series The Minore of Dawn, which presents the history of rembetiko music.

Throughout his career, Giorgios Xintaris has worked with some of the most famous singers and musicians of his time. In the summer, along with his sons, Antonis and Thodoris, he usually performs at the legendary Skopelitan Anatoli Restaurant, which he built with his own hands in 1982.