Vougioukas Giannis

Giannis Vougioukas was born in 1923 in Skoutaros, Lesbos. He was a self-taught musician and singer. He played the daouli and the bouzouki. He started playing the drum and daouli at a young age. His uncles, who played the bagpipes, taught him how to play the daouli. He first played the bouzouki using a borrowed instrument at the Larisa military prison and a cousin’s bouzouki in Skoutaros in 1950. In the mid-1950s, he began playing his own bouzouki and gradually became self-taught. When he was discharged from the army and returned to Skoutaros, he went into business with two of his uncles and opened a café – barber shop. In July 1960 he emigrated to Canada, where he opened a barber shop. On weekends he played music at various clubs and events. He improved his bouzouki playing by practising and joining professional bands in certain clubs and events of the Greek Community in Montreal, Canada in the 1960s.