Andreas Papadamou workshop profile

Andreas Papadamou was born in 1981 in Thessaloniki.

From the age of 10 he started experimenting with the 3 course bouzouki as a self-taught musician guided by the aesthetics and technique of his father Isidoros . During the past years he studied some other instruments of the greek bouzouki’s family like the mainland lute, tzoura, baglama, bouzoukomana. From his childhood he watched his father build musical instruments in his first workshop and after a few years (about 13 years old) he participated in the design of speaker molds using digital design 3dimensional software.

He participated in the musical production of Isidoros Papadamou "Molis vradiasi " as a musician. In subsequent independent productions (" Tou diavolou ta lihnaria ", " Ena ginomeno ", " Sentoukiasmeni flori ") he participated as a musician and sound engineer while in the most recent album he took a part of singing and orchestration .

He graduated from the Department of Electronics of Technilogical istitution Sindou (in Thessaloniki) in 2003 where he specialized his knowledge in digital electronics, microprocessors and computer networks. From 2004 to 2010 he owned a private personal company and engaged the maintenance and construction of personal computers and similars as he provided services to the wider field of information technology and the Internet .

From 2010 until today he works professionally on the design and the manufacture of musical instruments. He is introducing new methods and patents all the time during his musical instruments making journey.

Isidoros Papadamou was born in Thessaloniki in 1950. He has been making stringed instruments used in Greek music since 1983.

He graduated from the Department of Archaeology, School of Philosophy, of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1973, and worked as a Greek teacher in secondary education for twelve years.

From a young age he dedicated himself to music, and more precisely to the study of the Greek “sound”.

In 1967 he and Argyris Bakirtzis created the main core of the band Chimerinoi Kolymvites (Winter Swimmers). Isidoros participated in the group's five first albums, as well as in the live performances of the group in Greece, France (Lyon, Marseille), and Australia. In 1997 he left the group in order to focus on his personal work as a composer. He has been writing music and lyrics since 1973, and from 1994 and until now has released five personal albums.

Since 1983 he has been involved in the art of instrument-making, as an extension of his musical interests. After 15 years of experimental/research work, he was able to apply his accumulated experience as a performer to the creation of instruments of very high standards. He currently makes all kinds of stringed musical instruments used in Greek music, most notably the three-stringed classical Greek bouzouki of which he is an exceptional performer. He also makes several other instruments of the lute family, such as lute, taboura, tzoura, baglama, mother of bouzouki, and folk guitars.

He is in retirement since early 2015 but he will always be working on musical instruments and the study of sound behaviour into different species of wood.

A few words about the makers