Since the age of 10, Antonis discovered an interest in music. This was explored by Antonis through both the acoustic and electric guitar in genres of rock and blues.

 

Throughout his musical journey, Antonis had a love for returning to his hometown in Greece. Upon his frequent visits to his fatherland, he began to deeply appreciate and develop a strong passion for Greek music, in particular Greek Laika/folk songs.

 

It was that time, Antonis was being coached by Hadfield Guitarist Charlie Pennell. Charlie is a notable figure in Antoni’s musical journey, specifically for aiding Antonis in establishing the fundamentals of his musical knowledge and understanding.

 

Antoni’s passion for Greek music was then exposed through his guitar practice, as he began to learn melodies to classic songs such as Sto Keli 33 by Giorgos Margaritis and To Zeibekiko Tis Evdokias by Manos Loizos on the electric guitar.  It was here, Antonis realised and quickly decided that his shift in music taste was a sign for him to be playing these melodies he was learning on the guitar, on the Greek bouzouki.

 

Antonis acted swiftly and decided that it was time for him to move on from the guitar, and rather, time for him to pursue the Greek bouzouki. Antonis began undertaking bouzouki lessons at Volaris Music Centre in Brunswick in 2019. Peter Volaris was Antoni’s first bouzouki teacher. In the beginning for Antonis, it was difficult for him to adjust his picking technique going from a guitarist to a bouzouki player. The guitar has different tuning and single strings, where as the bouzouki has double strings. Despite these difficulties early on, Antonis was able to proceed to the next step in his journey as he began to take the bouzouki very seriously.

 

As Antonis progressed into a more intermediate bouzouki player, he was then encouraged by his Godfather/Nouno Christos Kavakos, a former singer and drummer of The Athenians Band and the Glendi Band, to consider Pantelis Krestas as a teacher, whom my Nouno highly recommended. Antonis then began lessons with Pantelis in 2020, who spent over two years throughout COVID lockdowns doing online lessons with Antonis. Pantelis provided Antonis with not only the majority of his knowledge of the bouzouki today, but also with his knowledge of musical performance and configuration of sound equipment. Pantelis then advised Antonis to branch out to another teacher, in order to broaden his knowledge of the bouzouki by gaining another perspective on the instrument.

 

In September 2022 Petros Dramalis from Athens, Greece began teaching Antonis. To this day they still undergo weekly lesson via Skype in order to ensure that Antonis performances at events are maintained to the highest possible quality. Antonis regularly visits his teacher Petros, and his father the great Giorgos Dramalis, in Athens and participates in physical lessons with them both when he visits. Additionally, Antonis has formed a strong bond with his bouzouki teacher, that is beyond an ordinary teacher student relationship.