The “Mousa” Music Troupe Costas Karpasitis Panayiotis Nikolaides Nikos Souroullas Guest artists Michalakis Ilia Dimitris Katsaris Eleni Mapoura Christos Constantinou Charlampos Demosthenous Eleni Constantinou Yiannis Souroullas Nicoletta Demetriou

The “Mousa” Music Troupe

The music troupe began taking shape following the initiative of Michalis Tterlikkas in 1987. In the beginning, its members were not fixed, but were determined by the needs of each show and according to which musicians were available.

So, taking part in the group at various times were: Yeorgios Averof, Koullis Phylaktou, Demetris Katsaris (Pitrakkis), Stelios Papadopoulos, Michalakis Elia, Savvas Stephanou and Costas Karpasitis on the violin, and Michalis Poullos, Neophytos Roussos, Christodoulos Pipis, Xenis Liontaris, Costas Mikhail, Michalis Socratous and Yiannis Melas on the lute.

Following that period, and since conditions had matured enough so that there was, by then, a satisfactory number of engagements in order to put together a fixed-member group, the troupe took on a more stable form with Savvas Stephanou or Costas Karpasitis on the violin, and Yiannis Souroullas* on the lute, in 1992.

In 1994, the music troupe took on the form it has today, adding the “tamboutcha”, since this was considered a necessity as the most authentic percussion instrument of Cyprus. The troupe comprises:

”Mousa” uses only local traditional instruments and enjoys particular distinction for its stalwart dedication to the ethos and expression of Cyprus’ traditional music. It features quite a rich repertoire, constantly enhanced through the research and listening experiences of Michalis Tterlikkas. Despite the fact that not all members have been the recipients of formal music education, they implement the truly traditional method for learning new songs: the auditory method..

“Mousa”, wishing to pass on the message that our traditional music is not a musical genre which has died but rather a living music which can function in today’s society as well, has not adopted uniform costumes dating back to a specific age, but appears in simple attire of today’s day and age.

In its course so far, “Mousa” has made its presence felt in the milieu of our demotic music, appearing throughout the free areas of Cyprus as well as at highly-demanding events abroad (World Music Institute – USA and others). Furthermore, it has, under its belt, a number of radio and television programmes, as well as two album recordings:

The troupe’s aim and concern is the preservation and dissemination of our traditional music, as well as its re-incorporation into the entertainment of the Cypriots of today.

* Yiannis Souroullas was a regular member of the troupe until 2001, and continues to collaborate with it on an extraordinary basis.