Stylianos Skenteridis mid to late 1950s bouzouki

A forgotten legend! 

Many, if not most of the times,  the long research for the discovery of an old Greek bouzouki, brings no valuable results at all.

There is nothing glamorous, uplifting, or motivating when weeks, months,  or even years can pass by without any traces of a musical instrument from a specific luthier you are looking for.

But at the end, it is the persistence, and the love for the old Greek traditional lutherie,  which sooner or later will pay off all of the time and effort, lost in the past.

Few times though, the change of the ordinary route, unexpectedly will knock your door with a new finding!

 

And as most of us, we are always looking to find an old Greek musical instrument from the 1920s era (made by the famous Greek luthiers of America) ,  or during the 1950s  Golden era (made by the famous Greek-Armenian  luthiers), we often forget the important contribution to the traditional Greek lutherie and discography , by the first Greek luthiers established in the narrow streets of Piraeus during the 1920s-1930s-1940s!

From Kyriakos Lazaridis-Pesmatzoglou, to Stylianos (Stelios) Skenteridis, to Mouratidis, Typasidis, Aggelidis etc. , these luthiers formed and shaped the early foundations of what we will call later, the Peiraiotiko School of Greek traditional lutherie.  

And unfortunately, as the time is passing, these luthier names, their contribution and importance to the history of the Greek traditional lutherie, starts to fade little by little away, as the new generation of musicians barely has heard them, or played with their musical instruments .

So, in contradiction to the trend of our times, I present you a beautiful three course bouzouki made by no other than the luthier S. Skenteridis 

Stelio's father, Michael Skenteridis, from Kayseri, Cappadocia, left Asia Minor during the 1922 Asia Minor catastrophe,  to settle in Piraeus. He opened the first musical instrument workshop in town. “He was one of the first five bouzouki-makers in Greece. In fact one of the instruments that he made in 1900s is part of the collection of the Archaeological Museum of Athens.  In’ 1949 Stelios took over the workshop. He was 15 years old at the time,  and like his father, and under his father's  supervision,  he made every musical instrument from scratch.

His musical instrument workshop and business, continues nowadays by his son (and grandson of Michael), Michalis S. Skenteridis, at Alipedou 12 Piraeus 210-4177556  

Estimating the approximate year of this bouzouki's construction became trivial, as my initial guess was after the 1960s

Contacting, through a friend,  Michalis S. Skenteridis, (the most valuable and accurate resource)  regarding his father bouzouki,  the construction year moved backwards to the decade of 1950s. 

The new information was really important as accordingly to Michalis , only few rescued bouzouki from that era still exist. One of them  is in the possession of Michalis . It is a special bouzouki, and very close to his heart, constructed  by his father, with decorative elements designed by the great Akis Panou. 

Accordingly to Michalis S. Skenteridis, the workshop moved from the Alepidou 22 address few blocks further during the 1962

The only final question which was still remaining was , if the Skenteridis' bouzouki, apart from its history and attractive appearance, had also a good quality of sound. 

After a superb restoration by the talented luthier and friend Chris Pantazelos ( https://www.spartaninstruments.com/) it was finally time for the most important test. The test of sound. The professional player and musician Bill  Nikolopoulos offered to do the test. 

The sound quality of this bouzouki rewards to the maximum the history, talent, and importance of the luthier Stylianos Skenteridis , classifying him at the top, and reminding to all of us, his substantial contribution into the history of Greek traditional lutherie   

Enjoy!