- Brief History of Rembetika – An article covering a music of nostalgia and regret – until the 1950’s, when it lost its immediacy in a world of freedom and prosperity.
- Brief Selective History of Greek Rebetika Music – Information on the music, its history, instruments, and modes/tuning/rhythm. Includes a discography and bibliography.
- Chicago Pete’s Rebetiko Row – Review of this music style, including biographies and a synoptic history of the genre.
- Doctor Dark’s Rebetiko Notes – An introduction to Rebetiko, with hints for learners, discography, description of the instruments, and links.
- Ed Emery’s Rebetika Website – Articles, resources and links for this music style. Includes details of an annual conference on the island of Hydra.
- Rebetika – A collection of resources on rebetika in the period before WWII; includes substantial sections on Markos Vamvakaris and Spyros Peristeris, with a biographical encyclopedia of other performers.
- The Rebetika – A history, illustrated with photos and audio samples.
- Rebetiko – A Wikipedia article traces the origins of the style, with a listing of key performers, typical instruments used, and external links.
- Rembetika and Greek Popular Music – An introduction to Rembetika music, illustrated with photos and sound samples.
- Rembetika, the Greek Urban Folk Music of the Early 20th Century. – A history, with CD reviews, bibliography, and a discussion of the music’s original roots.
- The Rembetiko Forum – Offers a history of the music, with a discussion forum (in Greek only), a timeline from 1890 to the present, a collection of articles, and details of an enthusiasts club.
Rebetiko, plural rebetika, (Greek ????????? and ????????? respectively) is the name for a type of urban Greek music.
Rebetika were the songs of the Greek underworld, sung by the so-called rebetes (Greek: ????????). Rebetes were unconventional people who lived outside the social order. They first appeared after the Greek War of Independence of 1821.
The songs, often compared to genres like American blues, are full of grief, passion, romance, and bitterness. They are generally melancholic songs telling of the misfortunes of simple ordinary men. A lot of the rebetika songs are for dancing. Almost half of them are zeibekiko and the others are hasapiko.
History
See also: Timeline of Rebetika
Elias Petropoulos, one of the principal historians of the rebetic style, divides the history of the syle into three periods:
1922–1932 — the era when rebetika emerged from its roots in the music of Smyrna
1932–1942 — the classical period
1942–1952 — the era of discovery, spread, and acceptance.
Prehistory
The roots of rebetic song may be found in the music of the coastal settlements of Asia Minor, that of Constantinople, and also in the prisons; the existence of which is attested from the middle of the nineteenth century.
At the end of the 19th century the Kafe Aman arrived in Greece and Asia Minor. These were coffeehouses in which the habitués amused themselves with lively music. These rooms constituted one of the cradles of rebetic song — along with the prison, the tavern, and the hashish den.
The mastery period & its Smyrnian roots
1922 was the year of the Asia Minor Disaster, which was followed by population exhanges in accordance with the Treaty of Lausanne. Many Asia Minor Greeks were settled in the larger cites of Greece, bringing with them their traditional music.
From the admixture of the music of Asia Minor with elements from Greece proper, the rebetic style came into being. In this period, the themes of the rebetika revolved mainly around love songs and songs with references to illicit activities (such as narcotics). The influences of the music of Smyrna were profound, given their unrivalled pathos, and at certain times it is difficult to distinguish the rebetic song from the Smyrnian.
The classical period
Gradually the rebetic variety acquired its own peculiar character. In 1932, the first recordings of rebetika arrived, made by Markos Vamvakaris. In 1936 began the dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas and with it, the onset of censorship.
Consequently the album was sanitized and the references to narcotics, opium, etc. vanished from the recordings. Yet the recording of illicit themes continued, for in that period a great number of Greeks emigrated to the United States, and with the emigrants went their rebetika. Many noteworthy songs were recorded, while a synthesis of Greek and foreign music produced many new musical varieties.
Instruments
BaglamasThe basic instruments for the performance of rebetic song are the bouzouki, baglamas and whatever similar instruments one might care to include (e.g. the tzouras). Additional instruments used include the tambourine, accordion, guitar, tonbak, finger-cymbals (comparable to castanets). In a few older recordings, something like clattering glass may be heard. It is a matter of some debate whether the sound is possibly produced by the striking of worry beads against a drinking glass. Some manges are in the habit of making the sound in their music with that method, a practice which was passed on and occurs in some modern recordings.
Famous performers
Some of the main rebetiko singers and creators include Panagiotis Tountas, Vaggelis Papazoglou, Giannis Eitziridis and Manolis Khrisafakis. The next generation included Markos Vamvakaris, Kostas Skarvelis, Giannis Papaioannou and Vassilis Tsitsanis.
Rita Abatzi
Yiorgos Batis
Soteria Belou
Loukas Daralas
Roza Eskenazi
Mikhalis Genitsaris
Babis Goles
Dimitris Gogos (Baianderas)
Agathonas Iakovides
Antonios Katinaris
Apostolos Khatzikhristos
Manolis Khiotis
Manolis Khrisafakis
Anna Khrisafi
Marika Ninou
Yiannis Papaioannou
Vangelis Papazoglou
Stratos Payoumbtzis
Stelios Peptiniadis
Kostas Roukounas
Kostas Skarvelis
Iovan Tsaous
Prodromos Tsaoutsakis
Vassilis Tsitsanis
Markos Vamvakaris
Haris Alexiou
