"Achilles Lyburidis"

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Achilles Lyburidis was a Cypriot musician.

He was born in Nicosia in 1917. After the Cyprus University of Cyprus, he studied music and violin at the Greek Conservatory of Cyprus. As a musical composer he focused mainly on the artful folk song and influenced several music events of his time. His songs "the Black Madkia", "the Aerode", "the Appropene", "the Drosoula", "the Yallurus", lasted in time showing remarkable timelessness.

In 1964 he collaborated with the Lyric Scene and the Athens Symphony Orchestra and gave concerts with his songs and dance dramas in Athens and Piraeus. In 1969, in the context of the Second Olympiad of International Songs, works concerning Cyprus were performed at the Panathinaic Stadium. There the song of "Black Madkia" was first heard, which was a national success.

Lymbourides loved the theatre a lot and he also dealt with it. In 1942 he founded, along with Phoivos Mousoulides, the first permanent professional theatre in Cyprus, the "Lyric Theatre". At the same time, he also wrote plays, moral comedies such as "Toulis the Xenohoritis", while translated foreign theatrical successes.

In 1952 he founded the monthly journal of research and art "The Lens", and also presented a writing work. His works the "History of Cyprus Journalism" (1878-1960), "Cypriot Theatre Pages" (1971), "The Themis in Anglo-Cypriotism in Cyprus" (1980), "The English rule in Cyprus" in two volumes (1985 and 1987), "The Technological Culture in the Life of Cypriots" (1988), and "The Outstanding Forms of Cyprus History" (1989).

For his multifaceted cultural contribution, Achilles Lymbourides received many honorary distinctions. It was awarded, among other things, by the Municipality of Nicosia, by the University of Cyprus and by many other organizations and bodies. In 1997 the Republic of Cyprus honored him with the Excellence of Letters and Arts, the highest distinction for his work and contribution to the culture of Cyprus. He served the "Cypriot locala", after "marriage" mainly lyrics of the Cypriot dialect with the appropriate musical composition. The traditional sound that Lymbourides gave to his compositions gave him the title of "protopor of Cypriot art music".

He died on August 20, 2008 at the age of 91.

Sources
Portrait Achilles Lyburidis
Announcement by the Ministry of Education on the death of Cypriot composer Achilles Lyburidis

External links
"The black maddes", song in music Achilles Lymbourides
"The mouthpiece", song in music Achilles Lyburidis
"The air", song in music Achilles Lyburidis

Cypriot composers
Cypriot songwriters
Cypriot playwrights
Cypriot historians