Rembetica

Rembetica: Historic Urban Folk Songs From Greece
Rounder Select
1992

Certain kinds of Greek folk music remind me very much of traditional Irish music, that driving, lilting, tilting, intoxicating thing, that groove, that brings out my deranged inner Celt.  And this is that kind of Greek music.  My friend Tom Mandel gave me this disc a few years ago. Thanks again, Tom. 

Here is travel writer Matt Barrett:

“Rembetika music is the music of the Greek Underground. It originated in the hashish dens of Pireaus and Thessaloniki around the turn of the 20th century and was influenced by oriental elements that came with the forced immigration of 2 million Greek refugees from Asia Minor. It gave way to Greek Popular Music (“Laika” in Greek) which used the same instruments in similar ways during the early 1950s.”

It’s clear that Greek folk music got its singy-singy bits from Europe (esp. harmony vocals), and its dancy-dancy bits from the East (not surprisingly, after 400 years of Turkish occupation).  Solo vocals do have that trance inducing eroticism found in Eastern music.

L. H. Kritikos has a good, informative site, here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~lkritikos/index1.html

The recordings on this disc were made between 1906 and 1946, although most of them were made in the 1930s.  They are unusually vivid for their vintage.  The opening track, “Sousta politiki” by Adonis Dalgas, just takes right off.  Rolling accordian, Eastern-bluesy vocal. It’s amazingly uplifting.  Rembetica, like jazz and blues, has that compelling blend of sorrow and joy.  Roza Eskenazy’s “Ime prezakias --  tsifte telli” starts with Dimitrios Semsis, the "best violin in the Balkans" and then in comes “the great lady of Smyrna,” and it’s all atmosphere, and very dancy-dancy, amazing vocal, all ecstatic gravita.

“Taxim – zeimbekiko” by Markos Vamvakaris has some fabulous guitar and baglamas play – a baglamas is a Turkish stringed instrument, not unlike the bouzouki.  There’s a good deal of magnificent playing on this disc, superb harmony and solo vocals.  I must mention Rita Abatzi, who was Roza Eskenazy’s big rival, it seems.  She, too, has a zeimbekiko (a typical Rembetika dance, Turkish influence).  Rita’s voice is limited, but her singing is not.  Her “O psilos” is another great track.

“Taxim – zeimbekiko” by Markos Vamvakaris has some fabulous guitar and baglamas play – a baglamas is a Turkish stringed instrument, not unlike the bouzouki.  There’s a good deal of magnificent playing on this disc, superb harmony and solo vocals.  I must mention Rita Abatzi, who was Roza Eskenazy’s big rival, it seems.  She, too, has a zeimbekiko (a typical Rembetika dance, Turkish influence).  Rita’s voice is limited, but her singing is not.  Her “O psilos” is another great track.

I lived on the island of Paros for three months in 1968, then most of 1969, and was back again for a couple of months in 1971.  Paros was very different then than it is now, based on what I’ve heard.  There were only two cars on the island (both taxicabs).  There was no paved road around the island. And the port, Parikia was the only one of its four towns with any life in it. It was a tourist spot, mostly for mainland Greeks, who came to visit the Church of a 100 doors (which had 99 doors).  Otherwise, there were some Americans, Brits and Germans, mostly. The Americans tried to speak the language, at least.  The Brits were appalling, speaking more loudly and slowly in English to waiters who understood only Greek, and did not understand, despite the growing emphasis and impatience.  There were a couple of modest high-rise hotels, nothing much really.  And the ferry boat, the Elle, came once a day.  Television appeared on the island during my second stint there. Now, there’s a heliport, a paved road, lots of cars, rows of high-rise hotels along the shore, and masses of international tourists. I was happy to learn that the Aegean School of Fine Arts, an American-based art college where I taught creative writing, still exists there. 

When I lived on Paros, there were feast days about two or three times a week, seemed like, and there was always music. One of my all-time records is a 45rpm disc by Irini Konitopoulou, “I’m Going Back to Paros.”  She came to Paros and performed while I was there. Awesome singer.  Very different than the popular Greek music of the day, which I liked well enough, but nowhere near as much – the Mikis Theodorakis / Zorba kind of thing.  I guess that was more “Laika.” The music on Rembetica reminds me of Irini, very much.  There is a Women of Rembetica disc, also.

Photographs, Paros, 1968: