Xanthoula Dakovanou has unveiled her third album called Rizituals.  From the village of Kerosovo,  she serves as an artistic director for a music and dance festival. The singer/composer’s works are inspired by musical traditions of Greece and the wider Mediterranean. She creates relevant music for modern societies, and we have seen her songs on The Roots Music Report’s World Music Charts. Back in February 2025, the album peaked at #5 on the chart.

Xanthoula Dakovanou provides the artistic direction, arrangements and vocals on Rizituals. She also has some very skilled, downright masterful, musicians also assisting with arrangements, vocals, Cretan lute, cello, flutes, Cretan bagpipes, percussion and santur. While the album is inspired by Cretan vocal traditions, particularly those songs of rizitika, it is very enjoyable to hear them so well arranged with instrumentation and additional vocals to create an ecstatic, female musical experience. An ancient vocal tradition of Western Crete, Rizitiko began in the Byzantine era (from 330 to 1453) and is traditionally sung by men, a cappella.

This album features rizitika songs about women in their different traditional roles of mother, daughter, sister, wife or mistress. Some songs also portray the modern woman seeking her own identity, combining elements of the tradition with urban modernity, creating new patterns into the globalized world surrounding her. It’s always a pleasure to hear a collaboration of the traditional with the contemporary for a juxtaposition of melodies with modern orchestrations, female polyphonies with Byzantine and medieval elements, traditional and western instruments presented with experimental and improvisational colorings. World music fans should find plenty to love about the flavors, textures and soundscapes developed on Rizituals. Standout tracks include several such as “Pervoli,” “Mana Lougie Me,” “Kori Lygeri” and “Rizituals Sousta” that also feature Athens-based vocalist Eugenia Toli Damavoliti who sings with Xanthoula Dakovanou. (Joe Ross, Roots Music Report)