ARIS HAIRETIS, A POET

The mantinada is a rhyming couplet or a poem made up of two lines, each containing fifteen syllables, which is popular and widely heard in Crete. Aristidis Hairetis was born in Anogia and he is one of the most prominent mantinada lyricists. Love, time, and loss are his beloved themes. Armed with imagination and a sharp wit, he observes everything around him, people and nature, shaping his verse and condensing it into two short lines.