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  • We met Mr Siganos at his taverna in Lassithi PlateauWe met Mr Siganos at his taverna in Lassithi Plateau© Cretazine
Crete as we Live it

Haridimos Siganos (Lassithi Plateau)

I’ve been singing and writing mantinadas (tradional cretan short poems) since I was a kid. I write them the traditional way, using “old cretan words”. I get inspired while I’m in the nature, I spend many hours on the mountain collecting herbs. When writing “mantinadas” you should not be verbalistic, you should keep it simple. The new mantinada-writers do not know how to love, but we, the veterans, we really felt love.

If you do not love, you cannot write a good mantinada. If you want a girl just to pass your time, you write awful couplets, because where there is desire there is no love. Me, I like the heart-aching mantinadas!

Photo / story: Cretazine