Born in a musical family in the island of Cyprus, I developed a strong musical conception and sensitivity from my early years. The sounds and melodies of traditional songs from Cyprus and Aegean Sea islands, which I learned from my father, a self-taught traditional music singer, set the foundations of my musical career. Being a person with a plethora of interests and love for science besides music, I studied at the Department of Physics, University of Athens - Greece. However, personal pursuits led me to the musical traditions of the Middle East and especially those of Greece and Turkey. I graduated with distinction from the department of Greek Traditional Music of the Philippos Nakas Conservatory in Athens, where I was taught by the violinist Yiorgos Marinakis. My personal exploration in Greek Traditional, Smyrneika and Ottoman Art music as well as Modal Improvisation, led me to the violinists Haydar Tatliyay and Nubar Tekyay. I chose to focus on them, because although they’ve lived during the same era (the so-called Contemporary post-Republic Turkish music period), each one of them had a distinctive, individual playing style. Haydar Tatliyay, who lived in Istanbul, was of Greek gypsy origin. He is considered as one of the most important and influential violinists of the last century in Turkey. His instrumental works and improvisations were revolutionary for the Ottoman Art music. He used virtuoso bow techniques and he created long phrases in his improvisations. Unusual fast phrases were elements observed in his playing as well. Moreover, he was a well-known composer, with influences from the Arab Art and Traditional music. Nubar Tekyay, who also lived in Istanbul, was of Armenian origin. His real name was Nobar Çomlekçiyan. Çomlekçiyan started a “new era” on violin playing in Turkish music by combining techniques of Western and Ottoman Art music. Unlike Tatliyay, he produced a smooth and subtle sound on the violin. From the analysis of their way of performing the specific pieces, I had the opportunity to look deeper in that music as an artist; to study in depth the theoretical background of the specific makams, to adopt different techniques for my taksims and to enhance my phrasing development. What is important to refer to, is the selection of the specific compositions and taksims. First, I studied Ussak oyun havası of Tatliyay because of the plethora of ornaments and of its phrasing development. Çiftetelli oyun havası is another composition of Tatliyay which I found very interesting to play. In Çiftetelli oyun havası, phrases from a metrical and a non-metrical taksim take place in the middle of the piece. This was a starting point for my research because it combined a metrical taksim with which I was more familiar, with a non-metrical taksim with which I wasn’t as such. What is of greater importance though, is the makam – Hicaz - which it’s based on. This can be observed from the fact that in the early vinyl recordings (1905 - 1935), a significant number of compositions and taksims were performed in that specific makam. Therefore, over time, musicians reached a high artistic level of a taksim presentation in Hicaz (special techniques, phrasing development and formal structure). The other pieces I studied are: Hicaz taksim, performed by Haydar Tatliyay and Hicaz Uzzal taksim, performed by Nubar Tekyay. Tatliyay and Tekyay showed finely the progression of the makam along with their artistic virtuosity. I chose the same makam for both Tekyay and Tatliyay to analyze how each one of them interprets the progression of the makam. Sultan-i Yegah peşrev and Sultan-i Yegah saz semaisi are two pieces composed by the kanun player Haci Arif Bey (1862-1911). The pieces are performed by Nubar Tekyay (violin), Yorgos Bacanos (oud) and another musician playing the kanun. Yorgos Bacanos, maybe the most extraordinary oud player of the 20th century in the Eastern Mediterranean, plays in such a flowing way that it seems to be more like an improvisation rather than a composed piece. Nubar Tekyay on violin, plays in a different way than that of Bacanos but his interpretation matches perfectly with Bacanos’. Apart from that, these recordings are unique because the flavor of the makam is ideally presented by them. My intention is to focus on the playing style of the performers, rather presenting a plethora of makams. Finally, very important to me is the fact that there’s no extensive reference to these artists and their playing. It is therefore an opportunity for me to create a basis that would be useful for other researchers to use it as a reference.