Rebetiko (plural rebetika) is the urban popular music born in Greece between the late 19th century and the 1930s. It is often compared to American blues or Portuguese fado: the music of outsiders, poor harbour districts, refugees and prisons, long scorned by the educated classes before becoming a national symbol. In 2017 UNESCO inscribed it on the list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Origins
It has two roots. On one side, the songs of the manges, tough, proud young men of the Piraeus and Athens districts who met in tekedes, hashish dens. On the other, the refined music of the Greek communities of Smyrna and Constantinople, with violin, santouri and oud, and singers with richly ornamented voices. After the 1922 Asia Minor catastrophe over a million refugees came to Greece bringing this music, which blended with that of the ports.
The golden age
In the 1930s the Piraeus style based on the bouzouki and the small baglamas took hold. Its first great figure was Markos Vamvakaris, from Syros, writer of raw, honest songs. The dictator Metaxas (1936-1941) censored lyrics about drugs and the underworld, and rebetiko grew more sentimental. After the war Vassilis Tsitsanis brought it mass success with refined melodies and love lyrics; his Synnefiasmeni Kyriaki ("Cloudy Sunday") became an anthem of the suffering of the occupation.
| Musician | Dates | Why listen |
|---|---|---|
| Roza Eskenazi | c. 1895-1980 | Great voice of the Smyrna style |
| Rita Abatzi | 1914-1969 | Another queen of the early recordings |
| Markos Vamvakaris | 1905-1972 | The "patriarch" of Piraeus rebetiko |
| Giorgos Batis | 1885-1967 | One of the first recorded bouzouki players |
| Vassilis Tsitsanis | 1915-1984 | The best-loved composer, who brought rebetiko to a wide public |
| Sotiria Bellou | 1921-1997 | Deep, rough voice, interpreter of Tsitsanis |
| Ioannis Papaioannou | 1913-1972 | Author of classics such as Kapnos ton argile |
Themes
The songs speak of betrayed love, jealousy, poverty and hard work, prison, emigration, illness, mothers, death and, in the early days, smoking and hashish. The tone is often melancholy but proud: the mangas suffers in silence and does not bend.
The zeibekiko
Rebetiko's typical dance is the zeibekiko, in 9/8: a man dances alone, improvising, with slow, intense movements, turning, bending to touch the floor, while friends clap in a circle. It is an introspective dance, not performed for an audience. The other dance is the hasapiko, danced in a line with arms on shoulders, from which the sirtaki derives.
Where to hear it today
In the 1970s rebetiko enjoyed a great revival among the young. Today you can hear it live in rebetadika, tavernas with music, especially in Athens (Psyrri, Exarchia, Gazi), Piraeus and Thessaloniki, usually from ten in the evening until late. It is not tourist music: you listen while eating mezedes and drinking ouzo or tsipouro.
See also Greek music and Greek dances.