The Music Of Greece: Songs Of The Near East

Rembétika

Rembétika began as the music of the Greek urban dispossessed. It has existed in some form since the beginning of the twentieth century, but it is difficult to define or get to the origins of as jazz or blues.

Rembétika songs tell of illicit or frustrated love, drug addiction, police oppression, death – and their delivery tends to be resignation to the singer’s lot, coupled with defiance of authority. Musicallyrembétika is bound in with the bouzouki – a long-necked, fretted lute.

See more at: The Music Of Greece: Songs Of The Near East