Cretan Culture in America
The PAA Recognizes District 5 Cretan
Musicians and Dance Troupes
I
n this issue of KPHTH magazine we are highlighting the dance troupes of our PAA
Chapters in District 5. These include the Minotavros and KriKri dance troupes of Salt
Lake City, Utah, and the Idomeneas dance troupe of Denver, Colorado. We are also
highlighting Pavli Papadakis, a talented musician from Salt Lake City, who plays laouto. You will have the chance to meet them personally next summer at our PAA National
Convention in Salt Lake City.
— Bob Markakis,
PAA Culture and Education Chair
DISTRICT 5 MUSICIAN PAVLI PAPADAKIS
Pavli Papadakis was born
in Salt Lake City, Utah,
on November 12, 1994,
to Maria and Spiro Papadakis. His parents were
born in Mouriziana and
Voukolies, Kissamos,
Chania. Pavli currently
lives in Salt Lake City.
He picked up his first
instrument, the guitar, at the age of 12,
but he never really
Pavli Papadakis
played much. He then
picked up the bouzouki at the
age of 14. He liked the bouzouki, but he kept telling
his parents that he wanted a laouto. By the summer of
2009, he saved up enough money to
buy a 25-year-old Fragkiadaki laouto. His teacher, Xarilaos Vlastakis,
from Kastelli, Kissamos, taught
him the basics when Pavli was in
Crete. Back in the United States,
not a day went by that he did not
play. He would listen to songs
and watch Youtube videos and
pick up a song right away after only listening to it one or
two times. He soon was being invited to play at wed30
KPHTH | OCTOBER 2014
dings, baptisms and glendia in Salt Lake City, Denver,
Detroit and Montreal. He then ordered a professional
laouto made by Vlastaki in 2013.
His favorite time to play the laouto is “Anytime.” Pavli
truly has a passion for music, and was recently accepted
into Boston’s Berklee College of Music. During his audition, he stuck to his roots, playing and singing a Cretan
melody on the laouto.
Some of his favorite musicians are Thanassis
Skordalos, Kostas Papadakis (Naftis), Psarogiorgis, and
Nikos Manias. Learning Cretan music led him to discovering music in general and not limiting himself only to
the Creta genre.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH’S DANCE TROUPE
The Minotavros Youth Dance Group has certainly grown since the first group was organized in
1986. The first group was founded with the encouragement and support of then District 5 Governor Chris Tsoutsounis. There were 11 original