|
Rebetika, rebetiko or rembetiko
If you enjoy what you read here, please consider showing us a small bit of your love and support with a subscription! Become a monthly supporter for the price of a cup o' joe or a nice dinner. |
|
Longing for the lost homeland, unaccepted by mainstream Greek culture and society (refugees numbered almost one fourth of the population of Greece then, and there was no way to provide shelter, jobs and food for all of them) Asia Minor musicians found themselves close to the underworld of the rebetes, a subculture based on a general rebellion against society, which adopted in language and music the convention of Muslim mystics, Sufis and dervishes. They also adopted the music and dance of the Zeybek, another group of rebels from the mountains of the Western Anatolia who challenged Ottoman society: multi-ethnic and multi-confessional, the Zeybek lived their own way, outside of society, respected and supported by the rural population. The zembekiko (9/8) rhythm forms the basis of the male solo dance of the rebetes, and originates in Anatolian folk music.
But the story of the rebetiko is mainly the stories of hundreds of colorful, charming, tragic figures, from the rebetissas like Sotiria Bellou or Marika Ninou to the virtuosos of bouzouki and baglama, the two instruments that symbolize the genre. The curious English reader now has two excellent introductions to rebetika: Elias Petropoulos' "Songs of the Greek Underworld" (www.saqibooks.com) translated by Ed Emery and the pioneering work of Gail Holst, "Road to Rembetika" (published by Denise Harvey, GR-340 05 Limni, Evia, Greece / [email protected]). Rounder and other labels, especially English Heritage, also publish a number of collections that will hook any listener.
Largely unknown outside of Greece, and largely misrepresented in its own country, rebetika music is receiving again international attention in a systematic way thanks to the efforts of Ed Emery and his Institute of Rebetology.
The main effort of this grass roots organization is an international Weekend Conference called "Researching Rebetika" held on the Island of Hydra in the Saronikos Gulf in mid-October for the past three years.
And it's true: you're welcomed with a donkey, used to carry your luggage up to the hotel, and the small village around the harbor looks positively heavenly. Some judicious searching will allow you to avoid the most blatant rip-offs for food and shelter; any shopping is discouraged, as the Athenian shops will offer the same stuff for half the price or even less. This includes the shops in the airport, where an indifferent cup of coffee cost three Euros.
The aim of the Conference is to combine academic research, performance and workshop sessions related to Greek music and Rebetiko in particular. Each year a sub-theme is chosen, this year it was "Women in Rembetiko."
The Saturday night bash was over-amplified, and the music progressively slipped downwards; for many of the events some technical support (slides projection, or even a blackboard) would have helped to overcome the linguistic difficulties.
Nadia Mintilogliti from London presented a well documented paper on rembetisses, maybe the most centered contribution to the meeting, and was equally at ease as a musician and singer in the improvised sessions. Jason Melissinos' Karaghiozis (shadow puppet show) was presented thoughout the meeting, with ad-hoc comments on the proceedings and a focus on the manges characters in the traditional show.
The famous Rebetiko Supper and concert at the Douskos Restaurant on Saturday night was overcrowded and again over-amplified, so the extraordinary musical personality of violinist Kyriakos Gouventas, demonstrated early in the afternoon with a personal introduction and an impromptu duet with Seattle fiddler Hank Bradley, was somewhat obscured. The musicians, especially Yiannis Alexandris and Antigone Bouna on ud, baglama and voice, were clearly excellent but the whole atmosphere of the evening was not conducive to the best musical experience.
The meeting closed, appropriately enough, on a minor key, with a Sunday dinner in Hydra. I'm told that the Monday session in an Athens club was a success, so this unofficial adjunct to the meeting is becoming a tradition in itself.
The friendly atmosphere among the participants, the quality of the musicians, and the beauty of the context are such that I can't but recommend the whole experience: and after-Olympics Athens, in October 2004, will be hopefully at its best. - Francesco Martinelli
More information about the Hydra Gathering, including future plans, is available on their web site
1. Easily available internationally
|
Comment on this music or the web site.
Write a Letter to the Editor
|
|
|
© 2003 RootsWorld. No reproduction of any part of this page or its associated files is permitted without express written permission.
and exemplified in the raw power of M�rkos Vamvak�ris' 
The organization is loose at best, but walking around the village you can't miss some of the fellow participants (who come from all over Europe and the USA), updating you on the next change of program. The non-amplified sound of the instruments was extremely pleasant in the meeting hall and in the informal restaurant sessions, so much so that it was well worth running to bed before the late session finished, just to fall asleep to the sound of acoustic instruments floating in through the window from the otherwise silent landscape.
Among the participants, the most impressive was the musicologist Markos Dragoumis, director of the Musical Folklore Archive of the Center of Asia Minor Studies, with his mini concert of piano arrangements of rebetiko song, each uniquely introduced with historical and musicological observation, but above all with human warmth and passion. Dragoumis also presented a study of the genesis of Vamvakaris's "Politissa," based on a folk song collected in the 1830s.
