Rembetiko - Music of the outsiders.

As a terrific fan of the rembetiko music of Greece and Asia Minor I have just found a superb documentary video called 'Rembetiko - Music of the outsiders' on YouTube.

It was made in around 1988 and gives the entire history along with film of many of the almost forgotten bands and singers.

It has English subtitles and even Giorgios Dalaras speaking in English. This is a terrific film and I recommend it to you all.

As I said it is on Youtube so I will give the links to the seperate sections.

Part 1
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=j_nOoZCGtd8

Part 2
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=pPUSMgY10ws&feature=user

Part 3
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=1QMFA7...eature=related

Part 4
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=aQdphJ...eature=related

Part 5
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=a6sFis...eature=related

Part 6
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=L489ER...eature=related

Part 7
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=UaR1vK...eature=related

Enjoy


Ray
http://crete.wordpress.com

Greatttttttttt!!!!!!!!

In case you're interested http://www.rempetika.com/ and you have to know a little bit of Greek (the links of the mp3s don't work, try the link on the side though the "i" thing) and also
http://www.rempetika.gr/

Thanks Gina,

Yes I know http://www.rempetika.com/ and it is interesting, to say the least. As for http://www.rempetika.gr/ I don't think that it is working yet.

But there you go.

Take care

Ray

not completely but some things (biografies/pictures) do work

OK, life goes on. But what a life it is . . .

It is hard to create a Rebetika site, there is so much involved, the music of course, but the history, the exchange of populations, the catastrophe and so much more. I wish them luck.

Ray

lol, ther are sooooo many different eras. It doesn't stop to the catastrophe, but goes also abroad to the US. It's the rebetika of America . But the best pieces are the censured ones (and those hard to find also)

And of course Australia, Sydney, they say, is Greece's third city.

But the censored songs, I have found some but no way all. But yes, I know what you mean. But in Pireus and some very pokey places in Hania, the song lives on . . .

Ray

Sydney maybe what you say(true maaaaaaaaaaany Greeks live there), rebetiko may be sang there too, but it was never a school of rebetiko (the one of the US, added something to the rebetiko known till that time, that's the difference)

Dear Gina,

Please explain the difference - between Sydney and the US. For me rebetika lives in Greece and in small places - Pireus, Athina, Salonika and in Crete. Only extensions of rebetika are found in Sydney, New York, Cleveland, Chicago etc,

There was a time around twenty years ago during an election in Greece, I was in Xania. I had read in the Xaniotika Nea newspaper that there was to be a curfew in Xania. So I went around taking pictures as I do, including one guy who had driven his pickup truck full of bananas all the way from Ierapetra to Xania and when I asked him why, he simply said I have sold nearly all my bananas - so it made sense. Later we went into a small bar I knew in Xania where they played live music. Mostly rebetika, and certainly that night there was rebetika. A load.

Here in this haven there was no election crises, no police, tipota astinomia, nothing. Next thing we knew was a police raid. Sure we all escaped out the back door but the question is, why raid this cafe? Was it because of the curfew or was it because of the music. Who knows, but historically it would be the music.

Ray

The one thing that I was mistaken is that it didn't changed anything they just recorded there (also new songs, not only the old ones). In 1896 was the first recording with Greek words (from what I understood it is mentioned particularly as a "school", 'cause till 1919 there existed no record company in Greece).

Were you also drinking in there (alchol)???If yes, there is a law in Greece that says that the day before an election no drinking is allowed (I think the same law says also something else is not allowed but I don't remember what). And they can arrest you anywhere (apart inside your house).
Do you know what a "sfirixti" is?Someone told to the police go there they give boose, most probably.

Originally Posted by tzina772000

(I think the same law says also something else is not allowed but I don't remember what).

Election campaigns and political propaganda.

Well until later than 1919 there was practically no rebetika in Greece. The spirit of rebetika came from Mikra Asia although there were fragments that preceded it.

I have some knowledge too of the Greek recording companies that became American very quickly - there was a Colombia Recording company in Athina in the 1930s.

Yeah well as always there is drink. A sfirixti - or a grass or informer may well be about but probably not in Xania - business, for what it is, seems to smile smoothly here. Why I have no idea, but we live with the flow . . .

Ray

I think you're right panselinos.
Try to find some recordings of Rita Ampatzi or Haskil (I'm sure you know Eskenazi), Ray.

Rosa Eskanazi, sure do. One of the greats. Shame about the drugs though, but they were difficult times, I guess.

Ray

That's why also the songs were apagorevmena. They were born in the tekedes of Smirna (Icmir) and Konstantinoupoli (Istanbul). You know what the tekedes are right?

Is this a test? The tekedes were the manges cafes, low life places where the manges would smoke the nargiles and whatever else, perhaps heroin. They recreated them in Athini and Pireaus etc as they were in Smyrna.

Love

Ray

nope, it's not a test. There is no way for my knowing which words you know and which you don't, that's why I ask.
With an american friend of mine who lives way off longer than you do here, it's impossible to communicate in Greek, that's why now I'm trying to ask every time if someone from abroad understands what I'm saying or not.
And you have done a lot of research on rebetika as I see

Hi Gina,

We can talk for hours. Gina is an unusual Greek name, but it does not mean that you are not Greek.

Like the island of Crete, that I study daily - did you know that Gortyn was the Roman capital of all Crete and most of north Africa? It has remains that have never been excavated, Roman columns in olive trees, pottery that the British would dream of . . . But no, all they care for is Minoan, for what that is worth.

I see here ancient Minoan tombs that even I can recognise as Mycenean, who knows or cares?

But rebetika matters. Why, well I can give a long list - back in the sixties, seventies or eighties, who cared? But today, though, it matters. The new generation of Greeks who are increasingly less enraptured by rap, tex-mex and even serious rock music are starting to create bands that echo rebetika. They may not be entirely rebetika bands but they are a part of the rebetika revival. And the revival is real, they are reaching into their roots and taking what they need to be in the 21st century. This is good, it makes us matter - not today maybe, but soon. Very soon.

Take care

Ray

I couldn't agree more. Listen to Imam Baildi or even Locomondo (I could never have dreamed of hearing rempetika with a reggae tune ).

I have just published a large article on my web page about the history, the politics and the trials of the music, rebetika.

I hope that you like it.

http://crete.wordpress.com

Ray