Kalabortzis
My name is Michalis Zarmakoupis. I was born in Athens in 1988, and since 2019 I live and work in the Netherlands. I studied mechanical engineering and work as a software developer today, but the bouzouki was and always will be my great passion.
I grew up surrounded by music: my parents, and many of their friends, played the amateur way, at gatherings and celebrations. At six I started piano and music theory and kept at it until I was fourteen. Later came the guitar, and at eighteen I started bouzouki lessons. I never put it down again. Alongside the playing I continued with theory and music history, and sang in conservatory choirs.
From 2010 I began playing professionally in Greek tavernas and on live stages, and took part in music and theatre productions. In 2016 teaching came into my life; being able to pass on even a little of my love for this instrument through lessons is something that fills me like nothing else. When I moved to the Netherlands in 2019, the bouzouki naturally came with me. To this day I keep teaching, playing in Greek venues, and performing with choirs that sing the Greek repertoire.
Over the years, through lessons, my teachers, and countless hours of playing, a good amount of knowledge and experience piled up. I built this site to gather all of it in one place, and to share it as simply and clearly as I can, for anyone who wants to learn the bouzouki without getting lost in unnecessary theory and complicated explanations.
In Greek musicians' slang, a «καλαμπόρτζης» (kalabortzis) is the player who wings it: someone who plays a little roughly, or learns things only on the surface. I keep the word with a different meaning, and with a wink. Mistakes will happen; they are an inseparable part of learning, and they should never scare us. That is the idea at the heart of this site: a place where you can learn, share, try things, and get them wrong without any stress.