Thanasis Polykandriotis was born in 1948, in Athens, Greece.

Son of a folk music teacher, Theodoros Polykandriotis, it was not long before he started studying music and at the age of eight he took his first guitar lessons. In early 60s, he participated as a guitarist, in music bands of those days (JUNIORS, TRIO ESPERANTO) with other young musicians and three years later his professional career began unfolding.
Although a devoted classical guitarist, his talent as a musician was first discovered in the summer of 1964, through bouzouki. He came to be recognized as one of the best bouzouki players worldwide and in the years that followed he participated in the 95% of the Greek music recording industry.

In 1971 he appears with Nana Mouschouri and Marinella in a BBC show.
Right after, Manos Xatzidakis features him as a soloist in the "Hard April of 1945", a musical work which is currently re-released.
At the same time he worked together with all of Greece’s great singers, such as: Kazantzidis, Dionyssiou, Parios, Marinella, Voskopoulos, Poulopoulos and others.
In 1968 Thanasis Polykandriotis starts composing and until today he has recorded more than 1.000 songs. He has also written music for TV shows, series and radio.

He has performed in the greatest theatres and concert halls of Europe, the United States and Australia, such as the Albert Hall (London), the Opera House (Sydney), the Kennedy Center, the Carnegie Hall (United States).

The musical interests of the composer were not limited only to Greek folk music paths. Following the many years of co-operation with Hungarian musicians, in October of 1993 he appears in the MEGARON ATHENS CONCERT HALL with the HUNGARIAN GIPSY ORCHESTRA, thus marking a new beginning in his career.

In October of 1995 he recorded in Budapest, 11 out of the 21 dances of BRAHMS with the FAILONI ORCHESTRA of the HUNGARIAN STATE OPERA.

In 1996, his dream of composing a concert for bouzouki and symphonic orchestra became a reality. He presented his work in the ancient theatre ODEION of HERODES ATTICOS, with the STATE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA of the OPERA of BUDAPEST. The presentation of the concert no 1 for bouzouki, proved that these to two different types of music: classical and Greek folk music can co-exist in harmony.
In 1999 his first book is released - a contemporary method for learning the bouzouki with title "It is easy to learn bouzouki", which was published by the Music Publishing House Philippos Nakas.

The last few years, Thanasis Polykandriotis has been active in the field of music education, having established the School of Folk Music Tradition, where Greek folk musical instruments such as bouzouki, tzouras and baglamas, are being taught.

His aim is the preservation and the spread of the Greek folk music tradition, and that’s what he does by also teaching music in the Greek University of TEI(Arta)and University of Florina.

He is the founder of the group “EPOMENOI”, which consist of 40 young bouzouki players. This group was chosen to perform at the opening of the 2004 Olympic Games.
On the 21st of June 2005 Thanassis Polykandriotis obtained his Harmony diploma.
He was the resident bouzouki player for ERT's Musical Ensembles for the 2005-2006 season.
In 2006, he wrote his first television series score for ALPHA's “San Oniro”.
Starting from the 2005 academic year, he has been appointed as a  specialist scientist Lecturer in Florina's Pedagogical School of the University of West Macedonia.