What impressed me at first sight, when moving in Crete, was the ease to dive into their cretan roots within a few seconds, by listening cretan live music. When visiting Crete as a tourist, i already noticed that music is everywhere. Music is the heart beat of the island: the soul and histories of love, pride, struggle and fights against the oppressor.
And the legendary hospitality of Cretans can lead you very easily to sit on a mezze and raki-well-stocked table. Wish you this experience. I was lucky that i had. “come, take a seat and join us” then starting to sip raki and water with starters and starters, talking about everything and nothing , live, friendship, kiding, and listening to this music wich emerges from the heart and soul and grip us.
As Crete is getting more and more touristic, some may say that moments like this will tend to disappear to give us sirtaki and mass tourism distractions. That’s without knowing the cretan soul. You just have to search and find the right place. One of theses is located in Malia old town. In spite of appearance, Malia is not only busy touristic street bars anc night clubing. Go and wander in the old town, by a nice summer evening breeze. Then you will for sure pass by Zorba’s taverna. Your little stroll may so lead you for a unique experience of cretan live music. In Rome, act like a roman, so, don’t look at the menu. Ask Mattheos, the owner, for raki and rakomezze, this means raki cretan spirit with starters and starters, slowly eating and sipping, ordering more when finishing the first ones. Free your mind to a unique journey through cretan way of live, music and cretan mantinades (poems)
Here is one i like
To join Zorba’s taverna, here is the facebook link
There are cetan live music every friday during winter and every thursday during touristic season, from april till october