Documentary traces the musical legacy of the great Nikos Xylouris

For three successive generations, the family of the legendary Cretan singer-songwriter Nikos Xylouris and his brother, the equally famous Antonis Xylouris, known as Psarantonis, have kept the Aegean island’s music tradition alive, adapting and spreading it to thousands of people around the world.

“A Family Affair,” a new documentary due to open at local theaters on January 8, tells the story of the multi-talented Xylouris family by zooming in on Psarantonis, his son Psarogiorgis (Giorgos Xylouris) and his children, who are at university in Melbourne, Australia.

Together, they make up the Xylouris Ensemble, performing in concerts around the world.

Filmmaker Angeliki Aristomenopoulou followed family members into the recording studio, at rehearsals and concerts, and recorded their thoughts about their music and their professional challenges. The documentary was shot over a period of two years, showing some major changes that occurred in the protagonists’ lives and how they responded to them.

“The film captures how music is passed on from father to son to grandchildren, in a contemporary Greek-Australian family, brought together by their love of music,” says Aristomenopoulou on the film’s website.

The filmmaker quotes something Giorgos Xylouris says on the film to explain what it’s all about: “We don’t carry this tradition as a family weight. It’s part of our lives, of who we are. We need this tradition to live like we need oxygen.”

Cretan roots

Nikos Xylouris (1936-80) was born in Anogeia, a rugged mountain region in the hinterland of Crete, and penned soulful songs seen as expressing the indomitable Cretan spirit. He was also linked to a generation of young music artists who emerged in the 1970s, during or in the aftermath...