Labyrinth music workshop

The Labyrinth Music Workshop was founded in 1982 by Ross Daly. The main object is to introduce young people to a creative approach to musical traditions from all over the world. Since 2002, the Labyrinth Music Workshop in collaboration with the Municipality of “Nikos Kazantzakis”, houses its activities in an old building, tastefully designed, in the village of Houdetsi (20 km from Heraklion) under the artistic direction of Ross Daly.

The building houses a permanent exhibition of traditional musical instruments from around the world, which are evidence of the social, historical and cultural manifestations of the countries of origin. It is the only museum of its kind in Greece and includes rich collections that illuminate the most representative traditional music, from antiquity to the present day. Students of the workshop are also taught traditional musical instrument construction techniques as well as maintenance.

Also, the Labyrinth Music Workshop is a center for research and learning of Traditional Music instruments around the world and aims to preserve the world music tradition. It cultivates musical knowledge and contributes to the promotion of new music creators. As part of this effort, concerts are organized that promote its aims and objectives and extend throughout the country and abroad. The annual Festival of Houdetsi, organized by the Labyrinth Music Workshop, is one of the most popular musical events on the island and has been taking place since 2010. The 4-day event, initially attracted a modest amount of people but soon became a massive celebration with more than 50,000 people, forcing the organizers to postpone the event in 2017 until a more suitable venue could be organized. The Labyrinth workshop has also extended its activities in other areas of the world, with “branches” in Spain, Italy and even Canada.

The village of Choudesi is located 20 km south of Heraklion near the archaeological site of Vathypetro, where a Minoan Villa has been found. Other popular attractions in the area revolve around hiking and nature escapes, in nearby gorges. The E4 European long-distance path crosses this area of Crete as well with a trail that starts at the nearby historical village of Profitis Ilias and crosses through Vathypetro on the way to Ano Archanes.