The family, the entire body of Greek traditional expression, comes as a continuation of the history, to prove that tradition is experiential and music is a living cell that is reborn through listening and rhythm. Families of traditional musicians, musical families. Fortunately, there are still several! We enter the small, enclosed universe of a musical family, in its natural space, the neighborhood, at the café, and other haunts where its music and dancing activities take place. The family, the music, the contacts, the influences, the transactions, the confessions, and the narratives about the family’s life and action, not only by family members but also by third parties. And finally a small tribute to the beneficial effect on cohesion and psychology, through the ritual of musical get-togethers.

By the term musical families, we do not mean only musicians by blood and the people who carry on a tradition but also the large musical ensembles that bring together families of instruments and natural persons. Corfu is such a large musical family where the musicians of the island form 18 philharmonic bands. The top, historical, and oldest philharmonic band is the Philharmonic Society of Corfu (Old Philharmonic) which was founded in 1840. Here we record its long course, both for the Philharmonic band, as well as of the symphony orchestra. Important musical families, with first and foremost the one of Dimitris Mandylas, talk about their personal/family relationship with music and their relationship within the great musical ensemble of the Philharmonic of Corfu.