Matthaios Tsahouridis
Matthaios Tsahouridis (Greek: Ματθαίος Τσαχουρίδης; born 18 September 1978) is a Pontic Greek musician and composer who plays a range of stringed musical instruments. He was born in Veria, Greece, and started performing music at age 9. In both Greece and Turkey he is currently considered to be the best Pontic lyra (or Kemençe) violinist; he is lauded for his wide range of styles, innovation and fusion with other ethnic performers from around the globe. Matthaios is sometimes also referred to as Makos or simply Makoulis. Tsahouridis plays string instruments such as the violin, laghouto (Greek lute), oud, the Greek bouzouki, guitar, the Persian kamancheh, the Afghan rubab, as well as the Afghan and the Uzbek ghichaks. Education Tsahouridis won the first prize in a Pan-Hellenic Music Competition organized by the Greek Ministry of Education at the Athens Concert Hall (Megaron Mousikis) in 1996. In 1997, he was awarded a scholarship by Panteleimon and Iera Mitropolis Verias, in order to continue his music studies in London. In 2001 Tsahouridis completed his bachelor's degree in Music Studies and his Masters in Ethnomusicology at Goldsmiths College, University of London. In 2003 he was awarded a scholarship by the 'Michael Marks Charitable Trust'