NAME: Nikolaos Vazaios of Mihael and Ekaterini – nephew of Antonios M. Vazaios (1930-1995), brother of Eleftherios M. Vazaios (1971), and father of Panagiotis N. Vazaios (1996)
PLACE OF BIRTH: Potamos, Amorgos
PLACE OF DEATH:
PLACE OF RESIDENCE: Amorgos
SPOUSE / MAIDEN NAME: Sophia of Nikolaos Mendrinos / Mendrinou
PROFESSION: Livestock farmer
INSTRUMENT: Lute
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Nikolas Vazaios is a singer and laouto player, with many years of professional experience and a strong commitment to the “Amorgian” traditional style. He grew up in Potamos, on Amorgos, in a family with a strong musical tradition, where singing and music were part of everyday life. He works in animal husbandry and is married to Sofia Mendrinou, with whom he has two children.
The musical tradition of the Vazaios family goes back to his great-grandfather, Michalis Vazaios, who was a singer, and to his grandfather, Markos Vazaios, who played the floyera (a shepherd’s flute), making it himself from reed, and who maintained a broad repertoire with an emphasis on Amorgian songs. His father is also Michalis Vazaios, who played both floyera and laouto. A pivotal figure in his apprenticeship was his uncle Antonis Vazaios, a professional violinist and lyricist of great renown, who took him under his wing from an early age and introduced him to the world of village festivals and celebrations. His brother is the well-known singer Lefteris Vazaios, who lives in Athens but maintains a constant bond with Amorgos. The family’s ancestral home is in Potamos.
Nikolas Vazaios began singing professionally at around the age of fifteen, having already absorbed the island’s traditional soundscape since childhood. In parallel, he took up the laouto as a self-taught musician, observing older players at festivals and “stealing” techniques and stylistic traits. He later worked professionally in music, traveling and performing in many parts of Greece, with an island and urban folk repertoire, while consistently highlighting the distinctive character of Amorgian song. Today he is active mainly as an amateur musician on Amorgos, taking part in festivals and social events (weddings, baptisms, etc.), with the aim of preserving the traditional style.
In his outlook and practice, he stresses that tradition must remain recognizable and unmediated by commercial distortions, and he underscores the importance of oral transmission of techniques in Amorgian laouto playing.
He maintains a living relationship with the island’s older musicians, whom he cites as carriers of the style (indicatively: “Taranaki,” “Stefanaki,” Nikitas Synodinos, “Avyssinos,” “Pataklis,” Giannis Smyrnis/“Galivardis,” among others), and he highlights the role of Amorgos festivals—as he experienced them from the early 1970s—as multi-day social and musical events with multiple ensembles, without sound systems, and with strong participation of families dancing “in turns.”
The family’s musical tradition is also continued by his children: his son Panagiotis plays violin, sings, and has been systematically taught the Amorgian repertoire, while his younger son Nikolaos plays laouto.
Nikolas Vazaios possesses a rich personal and family archive (recordings/cassettes, etc.) related to the traditional Amorgian style.