Among the most illustrious musicians of the Palaiologos dynasty,[1] his music remains held in high esteem by Albanians, Bulgarians, Greeks,[2] Macedonians, Romanians and Serbs.

[4][5] Allegedly, the name appeared when Koukouzeles was asked in school about the food he was eating and he replied koukia kai zelie (Greek: κουκιά και ζελίε).

[4] According to the latter, the anonymous biography Life "of dubious authority",[4] Koukouzeles was born in Dyrrhachium (modern-day Durrës, Albania) in the late 13th century to a father of unknown origins,[4][6] (probably Greek)[5] and a Slavic/Bulgarian mother.

[5] According to a modern German historian, he was instead born in Anatolia under the Empire of Nicaea;[5][10] this opinion is based on the existence of chromatic intervals in Byzantine music.

[5] At a young age he was noted and accepted into the school at the imperial court at Constantinople,[11] where he received his education and established himself as one of the leading authorities in his field during the time.

A favourite of the Byzantine emperor and a principal choir chanter, he moved to Mount Athos and led a monastic way of life in the Great Lavra.

[13] Some years after the fall of Constantinople Manuel Chrysaphes characterised the sticheron kalophonikon and the anagrammatismos as new genres of psaltic art which were once created by Koukouzeles.

[5] Concerning stichera kalophonika, there are numerous compositions made up in his name, but his authorship must be regarded as a certain school which had a lot of followers and imitators.