Christina Polycarpou

Cypriot musician Christina Polycarpou was born in Nicosia in 1986. From the age of 12 until 18 she studied the classical guitar as well as the double bass for two years (as a member of the Cyprus Youth Orchestra) and the cello for one year.
After moving to Thessaloniki to study at the Musicology Department of Aristotle University, from where she graduated in 2012, she started learning the kemençe, the lyra of Istanbul. Her musical path took her to Crete in 2013 where she lived for three years and devoted herself in learning the lyra, a type of lyra designed and first played and taught by Ross Daly.
In Crete she attended several music seminars on kemençe, lyra and other modal and traditional music, at the Labyrinth Musical Workshop, founded by Ross Daly in 1982. She has been a student of Kelly Thoma since 2014. Her musical interest and study is on musical traditions of the East Mediterranean and on contemporary modal music, which she finds more exciting and interesting.
She has been living in Nicosia since December 2015, and has been collaborating with local musicians and bands mostly in traditional, as well as other musical styles. At September 2017 she has been teaching Cretan lyra the public Music Schools of Cyprus.