John Kukuzelis

John Koukouzelis
St. John Koukouzelis depicted on a 15th-century musical codex at the Great Lavra Monastery, Mount Athos, Greece.
Born	Durazzo, Eastern Roman Empire
Residence	Mount Athos
Other names	Jan Kukuzeli
Education	Constantinople
Occupation	singer, composer
Known for	Reformer of Orthodox Church music

John Koukouzelis or Jan Kukuzeli (Bulgarian: Йоан Кукузел; Greek: Ιωάννης Κουκουζέλης, Ioannis Koukouzelis; c. 1280 – c. 1360) was a Albanian-Bulgarian medieval Orthodox Christian composer, singer and reformer of Orthodox Church music.

Koukouzelis was born in Durazzo, at the time part of the Angevin Kingdom of Albania in the late 13th century to an Albanian father and a Bulgarian mother. He was orphaned in childhood.

According to some sources he was born in Džerminci, near Debar, which is presently uninhabited. Koukouzelis' last name is allegedly derived from the Greek word for broad beans (κουκιά, koukia) and a Slavic word for cabbage (зеле, zele).

Most scholars, including David Marshall Lang, state that his mother was simply of Bulgarian origin, while Robert Elsie generalizes her as being of Macedonian Slav descent. However, according to Raymond Detrez, despite that his mother may have been a Bulgarian, her Slavic origin is obscure.