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Rembétika
Rebétiko evolved from traditions
of the urban poor. Refugees and drug-users, criminals and the
itinerant, the earliest rembétika musicians were scorned by
mainstream society. They sang heartrending tales of drug abuse,
prison and violence, usually accompanied by the bouzouki, a sort
of lute derived from the Byzantine tambourás and related to the
Turkish saz.
In 1923, many ethnic Greeks from
Asia Minor fled to Greece as a result of the Greco-Turkish War
(1919-1922). They settled in poor neighborhoods in Pireás,
Thessaloniki and Athens. Many of these immigrants were highly
educated, and included songwriter Vangelis Papazoglou and
Panayiotis Toundas, composer and leader of Odeon Records' Greek
subsidiary.
However, one Turkish tradition
that came with the Greek migrants was the tekés, or hashish dens.
Groups of men would sit in a circle and smoke hashish from a
hookah, and improvised music of various kinds was common. With the
coming of the Metaxas dictatorship, rembétika was repressed due to
the uncompromising lyrics. Hashish dens and bouzoúkis were banned.
Many songs from this period were composed in prison, where
musicians made instruments out of scavenged equipment.
After World War 2, rembétika had
become a calmer form of music, Out of this music scene came two of
the earliest legends of Greek Oriental music, like the quartet of
Markos Vamvakaris, Artemis, Stratos Payioumtzis, and Batis.
Vamvakaris became perhaps the first star of rembétika after
beginning a solo career.
The scene was soon popularized
further by stars like Vassilis Tsitsanis. His "Synefiazmeni
Kyriaki" became an anthem for the oppressed Greeks after it was
composed in 1943, though it wasn't recorded until 1948. He was
followed by female singers like Marika Ninou, Ioanna
Yiorgakopoulou and Sotiria Bellou. In 1953, Manolis Khiotis added
a fourth pair of strings to the bouzoúki, which allowed it be
tuned tonally and set the stage for the electrification of
rembétika.
Rembétika was revived during the
1967-1974 coup, which banned the music. Ironically, the banning
meant that the dispossessed of Greece were attracted to the music
and its messages of subversion. Revival groups included
Opisthodhromiki Kompania, Rembetiki Kompania, Agathonas Iakovidhis
and Ta Pedhia apo tin Patra.
Éntekhno
Drawing on rembétika's
Westernization with Tsitsanis, éntekhno arose in the late 1950s.
Éntekhno is orchestral music with elements of Greek folk rhythm
and melody. Mikis Theodorakis and Manos Hadjidakis were the most
popular early performers; however there are also other significant
Greek composers like Stavros Koujioumtzis and Manos Loizos. By the
1960s, innovative albums made éntekhno mainstream, and also led to
its appropriation by the film industry for use in soundtracks,
often watering-down the music in the process. The music theme
which appears in the Hollywood 1964 movie Zorba the Greek remains
the most well-known Greek song abroad.
Laïkó
Laïkó was the pop music of the
50s and 60s. Laïkó is similar to Turkish fantasy music. It was
criticized from all quarters for its apoliticism and decadence,
and its unpure Turkish roots. The influence of oriental music on
laïkó can be most strongly seen in 1960s indoyíftika, Indian filmi
with Greek lyrics. Manolis Angelopoulos was the most popular
indoyíftika performer, while pure laïkó was dominated by superstar
Stelios Kazantzidis and Stratos Dionisiou. Among the most
significant composers of this category can be named the composers
Akis Panou, George Zambetas, Apostolos Kaldaras, Kostas
Papaioannou and many others.
Tsifteteli
Tsifteteli is a type of music
that was bought over by refugees from Asia Minor in the 1920s.
Basically, it is Greek belly dance music. The Arabic and Turkish
influence on this type of music is very clear, and adds to the
cultural similarities Greeks have with the Middle East. This is an
extremely popular form of Modern Greek music, and played almost
everywhere in Greece. Some popular modern popular artists who
include tsifteteli in their music are Despina Vandi, Eleni
Karousaki, Yiorgos Mazonakis, and many others.
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Greek Music
