ABSTRACT
Musicians’ activities become embroiled in many different kinds of power relations that come into play between themselves and their patrons and audience. One might deduce from my introduction that musicians are becoming as good at promoting themselves in cyberspace as they are at playing live gigs, and that the musicians’ grapevine therein is yielding a bumper harvest. The Cretan music industry has sprung up within this changing scene but over the decades has grown and worked with new developments and the influence of outside forces coming in, establishing a context in which musicians consider making their living from music alone, even turning professional. Musical skills are pushed to the limits with increasing intensity as the speed and rhythms of the dances are alternated in rapid succession; the virtuoso improvisations of the lyra player feed off the acrobatics of the dancers and the verbal interjections of guests.
