The surrealistic decoration on Onnik Tsakirian's bouzouki

And the intense research finding the missing fine details !

The talented luthier Giannis Kadoglou has finalized the creation of the pick-guard decoration, by engraving the natural white Sea-shell, giving to the “ figoura “ the fine and beautiful details needed .

Replicating  the “figoura” from the original “ Onnik Tsakirian -Iordanis Tsomidis “ bouzouki , was by itself , a time consuming and intense task.

This particular pick-guard decoration, used by the master luthier Onnik only few times. The most famous bouzouki carrying this “ figoura” is the one owned by Iordanis Tsomidis 

It’s something very alluring and mysterious regarding this design , which for many years now, kept my interest and curiosity "hungry and alive" . But as much,  and as long as I researched, I never came across a clear photo of the design in its original format.

As mentioned on an earlier post , the master luthier Onnik Tsakirian, collaborated for some years with the great artist Akis Panou, who (from time to time) was cutting for Onnik , designs from Tsakirian's workshop. 

This design is executed with a unique artistry, and a surrealistic approach, which I haven’t seen before on any another bouzouki decoration.

The way that the sea waves, the two fishes (jumping out of the water), and the winged-siren have been illustrated , reveal a high level of artistic eye.

Some years later, an old unbranded bouzouki (most likely Onnik Tsakirian's ) came up for sale, and intrigued my attention once again .It was carrying the same siren design. Unfortunately the most vital details regarding the siren were missing, as the bouzouki was in a bad shape, with half of the  siren's "figoura" destroyed. 

A similar Onnik bouzouki carrying the same pick-guard design and owned by the famous musician Nikos Katsalas, showcased on the cover of the song "Mpira Alpha " (Beer Alpha). In vain though, contacting the musician's family, asking if there was a bouzouki photo in higher resolution, brought no results, as I never got an answer back.

A black and white photo of Iordanis Tsomidis holding his bouzouki  with Alex Panos (recently provided by my friend Aydin Chalupka,) verified my initial fears that the survived Tsomidis bouzouki had undergone a restoration process which had alternated the original "figoura" -by at the minimum -erasing many fine details .

Alex Panos / Aydin Chalupka property (C) 2020. All rights reserved 

In an attempt to find the origin of inspiration for Onnik’s pick-guard decoration, I started researching old historical books referring to winged sirens/mermaids  

Its somehow obvious that, the decoration design of the siren on Onnik's bouzouki has significant influences by the 19th century Irish flag, portraying a winged mermaid /harp (illustrated on the last two photos above). 

Finally, the luthier Giannis Kadoglou and I, after hours of brainstorming , designing and adding the missing fine details to the pick-guard decoration, we came up with the master design. It was our final decision to create an “inspired design” and not an “exact copy” of the original one. The flow of the siren's hairs, her front bangs, the scales on her tail and the fishes' fins, revealed elements and details, which were not identified or created previously.