Ilias Palioudakis was born and raised in Chania, Crete. With a father connoisseur of Byzantine music and influenced by the sounds of the Cretan lyre from the age of eight, at the urging of his mother, he studied at the Conservatory of Voice of Rethymno alongside the late Kostas Mountakis.

The help of violinist Manolis Tzinevrakis was also important for Ilias Palioudakis’ later career in the field of music.

With a special dexterity on the bow and fingers, Ilias Palioudakis is a role model for many artists who apply strange techniques in their playing.

He is deeply influenced by his teacher Kostas Mountakis, but we must note that he equally admires Leonidas Klados and Zacharias Melessanakis, two artists from whom he has several elements in his playing.

And while everyone saw in his face the next great traditional artist and lyre player, he turns his career to his other great love, folk singing.

He appears on the biggest stages of Crete and at the age of 24 he takes the next step by climbing to Athens, where he collaborates with many renowned artists such as Toli Voskopoulos, Stamatis Gonidis, Themi Adamantidis etc.

Today Ilias Palioudakis lives in Athens with his family and from what he has announced we will soon see him again holding the lyre in his hands telling us “All the songs I wrote for you they speak…” both live and recorded.