DIMITRIS MYSTAKIDIS

Folk guitar virtuoso Dimitris Mystakidis began playing professionally in 1986 at the age of 16. He worked extensively with the influential songwriter/producer Nikos Papazoglu and singer-songwriter Thanasis Papakonstantinou. He has also appeared on over 80 albums by an impressive panoply of leading Greek artists. During all this time he has pursued his personal quest investigating the roots and branches of rembetiko music. In 2006, he released his first solo album of rembetiko songs arranged for guitar and has since released a series of recordings focusing on different eras of rembetiko history. His latest release, 2017’s Amerika, collects songs written in the early 20th century by Greek emigrants to the United States, who developed a finger-picking style called tsibiti, influenced by African-American blues musicians. Dimitris also teaches in the Department of Traditional Music at Epirus School of Arts.