Panagiotis Aslanidis was born in Kalamaria, Thessaloniki, Greece in 1947. His family's roots are from Kromni (Tr: Kurum) in Pontus. He began playing the Pontic lyra at the age of 13 in the company of two of Pontic music's greats; Gogos Petridis and Yiannis Vlastaridis (aka Tsanakalis).
Aslanidis is without doubt one of the finest exponents of the Pontic lyra. Being one of the last of the great first generation Pontic lyra players he is renowned for his rhythmic and traditional playing style. It's these qualities as well as his poise, confidence and mastery of the instrument that has set him apart and prolonged his music career. He is known by many simply as Aslan, the word being of Ottoman Turkish origin and meaning 'lion" or "brave man."
Aslanidis has recorded over 10 albums and 10 CD's. His first recording was in 1974 with Vasipap titled Pontian Echoes No:1 with Pavlakis Draminos, Giota Papadopoulou and Takis Papadopoulos. His 1999 recording titled 25 Years Aslanidis (25 Χρόνια Ασλανίδης) which is available as a 4-CD set or a digital download, is a collection of 64 songs he has performed over his long career and is a must in any music lover's collection.