Georgios Marinakis was born in Kalamata, Greece in 1981. In 1999 he graduated from the Maria Kalas music school. It was in 2003, in the event of a concert, when he first came to Istanbul, where he fell in love with the traditional Turkish music and the oud. In 2005 he entered the Yildiz Technical University and specialized in the Theory of Turkish Music and Music Writing Techniques in Istanbul. During his Bachelor years he had the honor to play with udi masters such as Ruhi Ayangil, Ozer Ozel , Goskel Baktagir , Yurdal Tokcan and Nedin Nalbantoglu and take part in recordings and music performances in Turkey, Greece and abroad as well as in world famous festivals like the first Yorgo bacano udi festival.

He is the founder of the Galata Spirit, a group of both Greek and Turkish musicians, with the aim of composing and presenting new material influenced by the multicultural experience of living in Istanbul. Their first project is called “Music from the past and present Istanbul “and is included in the book, “Calendar 2014” from the Istos publishing. He has also founded the Galata Fasil Project in an effort to contribute to the revival of The Pera music idiom. He is the artistic director of the music ensemble of the Pera music club and for the last 15 years an intoner in the Ecumenical Patriarchate. He has also appeared in many TV and radio shows both in Turkey and Greece as well as the BBC.