I’m going to climb up to the highest mountain and sing, So my pain can be heard for away until the desert.
I will become friends with the mountain, And I will keep company with the pine trees. When I’m going to be crying and in pain, the mountain will echo When I’m going to be crying and in pain, the mountain will echo
I’m going to stay on the mountain, And far away from the world. I’m going to be crying by my self, I will be in pain, And I’m going to be heard throughout the mountain.
_________________
"ἐδιζησάμην ἐμεωυτόν." [Heraclitus]
"All that exists is just and unjust and equally justified in both." [Aeschylus, Prometheus]
"The history of everyday is constituted by our habits. ... How have you lived today?" [N.]
*Become clean, my friends.*
Lyssa Har Har Harr
Gender : Posts : 8965 Join date : 2012-03-01 Location : The Cockpit
Seven nomads in a room, How can you lay down and sleep One goes to the cinema, The other goes to sleep. Taking shifts to sleeping. Doors lock with wires, Instead of keys.
Seven nomads miserable, In a room like prison. Justifiably angry, And disgusted with everything. Look at the cards life dealt us, Pseudo civilized crowd.
Two out of seven work, So much in debt, Like garbage. Seven nomads without hope,In a dingy, dirty room. Who will shout and what will he say.
_________________
"ἐδιζησάμην ἐμεωυτόν." [Heraclitus]
"All that exists is just and unjust and equally justified in both." [Aeschylus, Prometheus]
"The history of everyday is constituted by our habits. ... How have you lived today?" [N.]
*Become clean, my friends.*
Satyr Daemon
Gender : Posts : 37110 Join date : 2009-08-24 Age : 58 Location : Hyperborea
My girl got drunk tonight and her lip that burns cut words, like giasemakia, (flowers) with complaint she tells me My girl got drunk tonight And sweetly leans on my shoulder Her eyes little eyes setting like street lights My girl got drunk tonight like lamps in the streets... my girl got drunk tonight and its dark and she's shaknig But my heart is wide open to find shelter from the wind
_________________
"ἐδιζησάμην ἐμεωυτόν." [Heraclitus]
"All that exists is just and unjust and equally justified in both." [Aeschylus, Prometheus]
"The history of everyday is constituted by our habits. ... How have you lived today?" [N.]
*Become clean, my friends.*
Lyssa Har Har Harr
Gender : Posts : 8965 Join date : 2012-03-01 Location : The Cockpit
you've wearied my star, my moon, in my arms fall slumber you woke up sun, after the rain Take my laughter and wash All for you my eyes (my dear) and your pain mine My eyes have seen much in this world's neighbourhoods you thirsted my leyka (type of tree) you wearied Throw your roots to me The north wind came and tore at your hair Take my heart as a comb All for you my eyes (my dear) and your pain mine My eyes have seen much in this world's neighbourhoods
_________________
"ἐδιζησάμην ἐμεωυτόν." [Heraclitus]
"All that exists is just and unjust and equally justified in both." [Aeschylus, Prometheus]
"The history of everyday is constituted by our habits. ... How have you lived today?" [N.]
*Become clean, my friends.*
Lyssa Har Har Harr
Gender : Posts : 8965 Join date : 2012-03-01 Location : The Cockpit
Such Pearls - this kind of music strikes in my heart, Greek language has something where you truly can put emotions in your vocal vibrations; dramatic is the most beautiful of all. [I have around 700 Greek songs on my laptop, a kind person gave me her usb to transfer; once I figure out I will share them].
_________________ 1. "Youth, oh, youth! | of whom then, youth, art thou born? Say whose son thou art, Who in Fafnir's blood | thy bright blade reddened, And struck thy sword to my heart."
2. "The Noble Hart | my name, and I go A motherless man abroad; Father I had not, | as others have, And lonely ever I live."
Satyr Daemon
Gender : Posts : 37110 Join date : 2009-08-24 Age : 58 Location : Hyperborea
The lyrics lose their effect when translated. I can't help but tear up every time I listen to some Greeks songs. The pain of centuries leaving an imprint in the spirit of the people.
_________________ γνῶθι σεαυτόν μηδέν άγαν
OhFortunae
Gender : Posts : 2311 Join date : 2013-10-26 Age : 30 Location : Land of Dance and Song
The lyrics lose their effect when translated. I can't help but tear up every time I listen to some Greeks songs. The pain of centuries leaving an imprint in the spirit of the people.
That is universal; as Nietzsche loses some of his power in English but might get another taste not present in his native writing. Could you translate this song into English (if too much trouble, I will ask the singer).
_________________ 1. "Youth, oh, youth! | of whom then, youth, art thou born? Say whose son thou art, Who in Fafnir's blood | thy bright blade reddened, And struck thy sword to my heart."
2. "The Noble Hart | my name, and I go A motherless man abroad; Father I had not, | as others have, And lonely ever I live."
Satyr Daemon
Gender : Posts : 37110 Join date : 2009-08-24 Age : 58 Location : Hyperborea
She's not a native Greek. Hard to make out some of the words.
In that yonder road, that large road, in that endless, endless road There is no mercy, there is no mercy, in that yonder road there is no mercy
How much I love, the pain which is yours, That endless, endless pain There is no mercy, there is no mercy In that yonder road there is no mercy
Many thanks, I wondered for a time now but never bothered (or wanted to bother) to ask. She is Dutch.
_________________ 1. "Youth, oh, youth! | of whom then, youth, art thou born? Say whose son thou art, Who in Fafnir's blood | thy bright blade reddened, And struck thy sword to my heart."
2. "The Noble Hart | my name, and I go A motherless man abroad; Father I had not, | as others have, And lonely ever I live."
Satyr Daemon
Gender : Posts : 37110 Join date : 2009-08-24 Age : 58 Location : Hyperborea
You sit on the balcony like an immortal flower but I, like a songbird, play with death I don't care if I die I don't care if I'm lost Only one thing makes me wilt That you leave me on my own
I love you like sin I hate you like prison Cut me, if you will, in three No drop of blood will come out
Your velvet lips have never bled You are the flame in the lamp that burns my oil
On your hair hang me Heartbeat and curse So as to not see other lips drinking your dew
I love you like sin I hate you like prison Cut me, if you will, in three No drop of blood will come out
_________________ γνῶθι σεαυτόν μηδέν άγαν
Satyr Daemon
Gender : Posts : 37110 Join date : 2009-08-24 Age : 58 Location : Hyperborea
On the paths of misery on the bridge of sorrows my mother had me on an autumn night. Life, my eyes, did see
with bells beautiful and colourful they put me to sleep And small eyes saw the wonders of the world and agreed my milk was bitter, and my water was stale That raised me
And across from my crib my fate was admiring me My crying was muffled It was like I wanted to say something But they never felt me A sad breathe for the whore of a life they charged me with
That's how I began, They never asked me, like, but I got used to you Like an injured eagle in the dirt I search for strength to hold on
On mud and nails I first walked the world's unjust fire I first walked Steady balance to reach life But I failed Only the "A" and the "H" in my school years I first spelled For this "ah" and "why" is still following me though I'm in my forties That's how time past, and me, hunched over, on the road, I made dreams fortunately I was one of those who swam on foam and mud-waters Blood from the soul runs, like rain, but who cares And the invisible wound that inside me bleeds. who shares it?
That's how I began, They never asked me, like, but I got used to you Like an injured eagle in the dirt I search for strength to hold on god if only I knew what day I would die to give a birthday to my death
_________________ γνῶθι σεαυτόν μηδέν άγαν
Lyssa Har Har Harr
Gender : Posts : 8965 Join date : 2012-03-01 Location : The Cockpit
Mes underground tavern, amid smoke and insults (Bumped shrilled the lantern) none the less the drinker drank 'epses; epses as all evenings, go residents of drugs.
Clench one side to the other somewhere eftyouse underfoot. Oh! how much suffering suffering is life! As much as the mind tormented, asprin day not desire.
Blue sea and Sun! and a depth t 'prodigal' sky! Oh! the avgis krokati gauze Garoufalia the sunset, shine, stop away from us, without entering into our hearts!
(His menus father ten years paralyzed same item; t 'other kontoimer' wife home melted from tuberculosis; Palamidi his son Mazi Mr. 'daughter Jávea Gazi.)
- Blame the Zavos our root! - Blame God hates us! - Blame head our bad! - Blame first of all the wine! Who is to blame? who is to blame? NONE mouth not VRE and not WP yet.
So the dark tavern always drink our stoop. Like worms, each heel where our Evreux treads us. Cowards, fatal and spineless Adama, We look forward, perhaps, a miracle!
_________________
"ἐδιζησάμην ἐμεωυτόν." [Heraclitus]
"All that exists is just and unjust and equally justified in both." [Aeschylus, Prometheus]
"The history of everyday is constituted by our habits. ... How have you lived today?" [N.]
*Become clean, my friends.*
Lyssa Har Har Harr
Gender : Posts : 8965 Join date : 2012-03-01 Location : The Cockpit
"All that’s left of peace is an empty word, a shed garment. It’s scrawled everywhere, as if to mock its own countenance: the divine plenitude, the sap that flows from flower to flower, the poetry.
Yet still I wouldn’t want to find it among my own pages, like a white corpse in a casket."
_________________
"ἐδιζησάμην ἐμεωυτόν." [Heraclitus]
"All that exists is just and unjust and equally justified in both." [Aeschylus, Prometheus]
"The history of everyday is constituted by our habits. ... How have you lived today?" [N.]
*Become clean, my friends.*
Lyssa Har Har Harr
Gender : Posts : 8965 Join date : 2012-03-01 Location : The Cockpit
I do not know the name of the song, but its very touching...
"ocean to live i will not find in the soul of a fish every night i come out to drown sometimes stars, sometimes edge of abyss something i am hunting like the shipwreck years of cigarettes to burn out this night remains aeons frozen the two souls did not find shelters and stayed in world as strangers and condemned to live an earthly love
i was also lost one night the stars fell to mud black the age, black like a snake take a whiff of how the oil is burning this night remains frozen in the aeons where two souls did not find shelter and stayed in world as strangers and condemned to live an earthly love"
_________________
"ἐδιζησάμην ἐμεωυτόν." [Heraclitus]
"All that exists is just and unjust and equally justified in both." [Aeschylus, Prometheus]
"The history of everyday is constituted by our habits. ... How have you lived today?" [N.]
*Become clean, my friends.*
Satyr Daemon
Gender : Posts : 37110 Join date : 2009-08-24 Age : 58 Location : Hyperborea
"Greek and foreign scholars have traced numerous etymological origins of the term rebetika: the old Turkish word ―rebet‖ that means outlaw; the Turkish pronunciation of the word ―rou-beit that means four-verse (in Arabic, ―roubayiat means ―four-verse; a derivation of the Arabic ―boem that means bohemian; a derivation of the verb ―rebomai that means to rove futilely, to wander like a bum (Savvopoulos 2006, 13-14). Tasos Vournas suggests that rebetika comes from the word rebet, a term that originated among the Muslims of Kosovo in Serbia and that means ―rebel. Greek musicologists often trace the root of the word ρεμβ in the ancient Greek language, that resembles the verb ρέμβω / ρέμβομαι ( ̳turn‘, ̳roam‘, ̳rove‘, ̳roll about‘). In ancient Greek, the verb in its many forms maintains connotations of vagrancy and idleness: ρεμβεύω, ρέμπομαι, ρέμπς, ρεμβός, ρεμβάς, ρεμπιτός (Gauntlett 1984, 90). Today, the etymology of rebetika remains unknown. Perhaps, as Daphne Tragaki suggests, the attempt to determine its origins is indeed a ― "meaningless archeology" (Tragaki 2007, 24).
Vergopoulos emphasizes the Greekness of the genre, tracing its roots to ancient Greece and the Byzantine Empire. He states that rebetika ―
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"joins Dionysus from ancient Greece, mysticism from Byzantium, and dervisika in congruence with the dominant ideology in Greece, which came from Western Europe and North America" (Vergopoulos 1973, 1).
Rebetika songs were also scorned for their lyrical style—many songs were written in a manner of speaking that was popular amongst the urban poorest classes. This style of speaking was known as mangias, and was easily recognized by the use of slang and by a unique intonation. Savvopoulos cites three basic characteristic of the language of mangias: a. the melody, in other words, the prosody of the voice. b. the specific vocabulary, in other words the slang of mangias. c. unique constructions, and usages of ordinary words (Savvopoulos 2006, 100). Slang played a significant role in rebetika songs. The slang was specific to these classes and often was not understood by others.
―I Lahanades [The Wallet-Snatchers] (1934) of Vangelis Papazoglou is a well-known rebetika song that is filled with slang. The words in boldface type are examples of slang:
"Down in the le-, down in the le-, down in the lemonadika Down in the lemonadika there was a fuss They caught two pick-pockets who were robbing a lady
In handcuffs, in handcuffs, they put them in handcuffs They put them in handcuffs and took them to their cell And if they don‘t find the wallets, the beating that they will take
Sir police sir police, sir policeman don‘t Sir policeman don‘t insist This is our work, don‘t wait for a bribe
We steal wallets Hey we steal wallets and snatch purses So that the doors of jails catch us"
Literal Translation:
Quote :
"Down in the le-, down in the le-, down in the lemonadika Down in the lemonadika there was a fuss They caught two vegetables who did a lady
In steal, in steal, in steal they put them They put them in steal and took them to their cell And if they don‘t find the vegetables the wood that they will eat
Sir police, sir police, sir policeman don‘t Sir policeman don‘t insist This is our work and don‘t wait for a bribe
We eat, we eat vegetables Hey we eat vegetables and nibble at slippers So that the doors of jails catch us"
Georgiadis describes the people that rebetika songs express:
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"The rebetiko song is the vehicle for certain types of people to express themselves and have a good time: Daides [he who is ready to make trouble and who is ready to fight] koutsavakides, [a tough guy- a mangas with negative connotations] mourmourides [he who does not make trouble and who is low-key] θνπξκπέηεεο [people who gather together to hang out] manges [tough-guys with great self- respect and dignity and who abide strict social codes], mortes [the wise-guy mangas], rebetes, rembeli [wanderers], alanides, [bums with both an affectionate and derogatory connotation], all those people who liked to have a good time and express themselves through rebetika songs, which spoke of their loves, their bravery, their ethics, their thoughts, their troubles, their joys, their dreams, their hopes" (Georgiadis 1999, 64).
Georgiadis writes the following about the life of rebetiko musician Giannis Papaioannou: ―
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"Giannis Papaioannou also lived a rebetiko life, staying up all night and celebrating, which drove him to poverty, but he made a comeback again since people ran to hear him and of course, to pay" (Georgiadis 1999, 65).
And in his article ―"Orpheus in the Underworld, Myth in and About Rebetiko" Gauntlett describes the rebetis as a man who lives the aforementioned rebetiko life and has the rebetiko soul. As such, the characterization maintains spiritual undertones as well:
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"A rebetis is someone who to some degree is somewhat irregular who cannot be forced to conform. The term rebetis is the opposite of the at-home person, of the responsible and rule-abiding leader of a family. The exact place of the rebetis on the spectrum between complete irregularity on the one hand and conformism on the other can vary considerably, but it could surely be said that there is a connection of the marginalized or the dissolute in the small and large annoyances in life (especially of the involvement with the opposite sex and with the law) and in the joys of substances (especially hashish)." (Gauntlett 2001, 62)
The rebetis is often characterized as a wanderer, as someone is usually alone and who is troubled.
Vassiliou uses the term rebetis simply to describe the rebetiko musician. His use of the term lauds the rebetis character and he often belittles his own self with relation to the rebetis:
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"Look, there is much talk about the rebetis. Some say he was a wanderer, someone who lives outside of the rules of society. Someone who is not worried about societal norms about marriage, family and so on. In other words, he whom I would have liked to have been. Others define the rebetis incorrectly with a negative connotation of a bum. And still others say that the rebetis is the musician that plays rebetika. That plays and lives rebetika. It is not enough just to play...
How should I explain this to you. In rebetika, most songs that are dedicated to the troubles of simple people, to worries, to the joys of love, to the pains of being in a foreign land, of death, of jail, of sickness and so on. The rebetis experiences love with much passion. Since by nature he is sensitive and emotional. In all of his songs he is descriptive and most of all a poet. He uses lyrics that are rich in imagination. And his different imageries and metaphors are so successful that the best poets would envy him...
When, therefore these lyrics are set to music with specific instruments and specific rhythms with the bouzouki melodically bringing to life those lyrics, complaint becomes a cry of protest. Love becomes a hymn. Being in a foreign land becomes torture. Death becomes pain. Injustice becomes revenge. And so on. No one has managed to write with such vividness all that the greater part of our people has been through. It is the nature of the rebetis, in great disappointment to find himself and to pay attention to everything. Everything that for him is contemporary and alive." (Vassiliou 2008)
Scholars and musicians generally agree that the rebetis is a complex character: On the one hand, he is tough and even aggressive. He speaks slang and sometimes sports weapons. On the other hand, he is vulnerable to the basic trials of life such as deceit by women. The ever-popular song ―O Prezakias [―The Junkie] by Anestis Delias, illustrates the toughness and the vulnerability of the rebetis. Regardless of the accuracy of the story behind the song, it illustrates the complex understanding of the rebetis character. Delias was a member of the infamous Piraeus Quartet.
In this song, he describes the negative effects of drug use that lead him to a disastrous end. Many say the song was prophetic and reflected Delias‘s life. So the story goes: a woman with whom he had fallen in love gave him cocaine while he was asleep and thus he became an addict.
Quote :
"From the time that I started to smoke The world has turned its back on me, I don‘t know what to do. Wherever I stand and wherever I find myself people bother me And my soul does not hold coke to call me. From the moment I started smoking, I also went on the needle And my body started to slowly melt. Nothing has remained for me to do in this world For coke has led me to die in the streets."
As stated by Pavlos Vassiliou: ―
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"Rebetika is for a specific type of person. It is for the person who has gone through a lot in life, and who feels deeply. One cannot appreciate rebetika if one has not suffered" (Vassiliou 2007). And in his program notes for a 1967 rebetika concert organized by the Dimos Peiraios, Petropoulos wrote, ―"rebetika songs are songs of the heart. And only he who fills them with pure feeling feels them and enjoys them. Because the heart is measured by other hearts‖ (Petropoulos 1967, 1). He continued on to state that rebetika songs are songs of wounded souls, of the simple people, of the poor, of the sensitive, and those experiencing unrequited love" (Petropoulos 1967, 2).
In a 1947 article to the left-wing newspaper Rizospastis, musicologist Fivos Anoyianakis suggested that rebetika was a type of Greek popular song and that it should be characterized as such—For rebetika was the spontaneous expression of the urban masses. He compared it to demotic (folk) song that arose in a different environment and social milieu:
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"Battle, nature, mountain, the wild and the festival. Different [circumstances] altogether gave birth to contemporary popular, urban song. These were the circumstances of life in the urban centers. Song topics included love and passion, miseries of life, many times feelings of exile, a coquettish mood or humor. And tragedy masked in irony, lyricism combined with oral banality—these themes were realized in wonderful melodic shapes." (Anoyianakis 1947 as quoted by Holst 1977)
According to Anoyianakis, rebetika are a natural continuation of Greek folksong and of Byzantine chant as true expressions of the Greek people. Other scholars echoed his characterization of the genre as popular song, citing its ability to speak directly to the soul of the people, its associations with the urban folk and its connections to Byzantine music.
Journalist Pangalis stated that by definition, rebetika could not be characterized as popular song:
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"Laiko song is tied to the history of the place, the societal conditions of its time. With musical forms filled with health, longevity and beauty, it expresses the belief and the optimism in life... Contrary to our popular song, rebetiko is far from societal conflict, from the light of life, in the dark of the underworld, with tones that are full of pessimism and tiredness, with cheap music, vulgarity, it sings the morals, and the customs of a non-existent world that brings us back in time of the koutsavakidon [tough guys that make trouble] and of Bairaktaris." (Pangalis 1953 in Vlisidis 2006, 182)
In a recent article, Holst-Warhaft summarizes why so many Greeks took issue with the characterization of rebetika as popular song:
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"Despite the fact that it was, in many ways, a home-grown hybrid, rebetiko was not associated with the ideal topos of nationalism, i.e. with the Greek countryside (especially the mainland areas first liberated from the Turks).
The regional folk music of Greece, much of which was itself of hybrid origin, was generally defined by association with a particular landscape. The deracinated, urban rebetika, with their foreign derived slang, their shady milieu and anti-authoritarian lyrics were a thorn in the side of nationalists, but for the same reason they were attractive to modernist writers and intellectuals who opposed narrow nationalism, and to working class urban Greeks, many of whom were sympathetic to the Greek Communist Party‘s campaign for a more equal distribution of resources." (Holst- Warhaft 2001, 2)
A certain blurring of folk and popular song genres did exist as a fundamental characteristic of numerous rebetiko songs. This was partly due to the fact that rebetika composers used the music and lyrics from folk songs as a basis for many rebetiko songs. For example, the Smyrnian Panayiotis Tountas used the melody from the folksong ―H Amersouda [Amersouda] to make five songs in Smyrna style rebetika. Similar overlaps occur in rebetika songs lyrics. In his book O Akritas Pou Egine Rebetis (The Acritic Who Became a Rebetis), Georgiadis traces the development of a song that existed in Greece as an Acritic ballad and that changed form throughout the twentieth century until it was adapted as a rebetiko song. In addition, rebetika songs or pre-rebetika existed in Greece since the mid-19th century. As such, they were recorded in various native and foreign folk song anthologies including the well-known collection by Bourgault-Ducoudray (1876).
While Pavlos Vassiliou agrees that folk song and rebetika do share some musical characteristics including musical modes and roots in Byzantine ornamentation styles, he emphasizes the circumstantial and musical distinctions between them.
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"Firstly, folk instruments are very different from those that musicians used and still use when playing rebetika. Demotic songs feature basic instruments that produce a strong and harsh sound because they belong to and are played in open spaces and for a broad public. They are used mainly in social events such as festivals for saints, church festivals and so on. For example, the gaida, the lute, the pipiza [blown high-pitched flute], the klarino, the zournas [wind instrument similar to the bagpipe] and the daires [large defi] have a protagonistic role. In contrast, the bouzouki, the baglamas, the violin, the guitar, the kanun are the instruments that have primary role in rebetiko. These belong to small spaces and are for a limited number of listeners. Today and over the years, many novices have tried to compare the two or to discover shared characteristics between the two. But demotic song is based on different situations that the Greek people went through over time, from before their liberation until today. Rebetiko is a song of the cities. It is lonely and proud. At times it sings complaint and pain, and at other times bravery. It has absolutely no connection to mass entertainment, wild entertainment and dance." (Vassiliou 2007)
To Vassiliou, demotic song and rebetika are clearly differentiated by circumstance, instrumentation and performance/musical style. However, he does agree that one could classify rebetika as ―folk song of the cities (Vassiliou 2008) since it was a spontaneous expression of the Greek urban folk and thus a ―true expression(Vassiliou 2008) of the Greek people.
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"The German Occupation with two words is the heart of Popular Song." -Vassilis Tsitsanis
In his 1964 essay on the zeїbekiko dance, Tachtsis offers an explanation for the emerging interest in the changing rebetiko song. He proposes that the suffering of all social classes during the German Occupation leveled class differences to some extent and people from various economic sectors of society experienced similar difficulties:
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"There were no more hungry and satisfied, there were no masters and slaves, everyone was a slave, everyone was hungry, all felt the need to bewail their fate...All the houses suddenly became hashish dens, not literally of course, but in character. Everywhere the spirit of lawlessness prevailed, of constant fear, misery and death." (Tachtsis as quoted by Holst 1977, 202-211)
In the following passage, Nearchos Georgiadis describes the changes in the sound and function of rebetika. He writes that during the period of the German dictatorship, three main types of rebetiko song, what he simply calls popular song, took separate paths:
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"The Asia Minor style with central figure Panagiotis Tountas, was chased after by the dictatorship, and was lost in the darkness of the Occupation. The mangiko- rebetiko [tough-rebetiko] style, with leader Markos Vamvakaris, was pushed aside and lost its protagonistic role. In this gap that was created by the forced extinguishing of the two previous styles, there emerged a new style with European elements, such as harmonies, two voices and so on, with central figure Vassilis Tsitsanis from Trikala." (Georgiadis as quoted by Alexatos 2006, 46)
Alexatos states that at this point the elafro tragoudi [light song] truly became worthy of its name as ―
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"the poor popular masses had to listen to waltzes and tangos with which the middle classes entertained themselves." (Alexatos 2006, 52)
Tachtsis described the situation in similar terms:
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"It was not rare to see German cars with megaphones, that went around centers and popular neighborhoods, and they woke up the people with the inimitable ―In the Morning You Wake Me Up With Kisses… which in actuality was a wakeup from the kiss of death, a noise that aimed to cover the explosions of weapon-fire at the shooting gallery in Kaisariani and the cries of the Greek who was dying from hunger... For the first time therefore, those songs truly lived up to their reputation as light songs. They were no longer light only as compositions, but light to the point to which they no longer had even the minutest relationship with reality, if they ever had any to begin with, and to the extent that they snubbed reality and consciously wrote about it in a fake way. No dictatorship tango ever sang about the pain, the hunger, the dictatorship. They all continued to speak of love and flowers and moons." (Tachtsis as quoted by Alexatos 2006, 52)
With Epitaphios, Theodorakis worked to clear rebetika and the bouzouki of prejudice:
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"Because who can truly assert that the rebetiko song, born long ago in the tekedes brings in its blood the hashish in such a way that if one listens to it and sings it one will become an ―"opium addict"... If we believe in this unlikely chemical capacity of music, we are underestimating the ethical resistance of our people to a dangerous depth." (Theodorakis as quoted by Bithikotsis 2002, 54-55)
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"No longer Orientals, but not yet Europeans. Neither do we pursue the fulfillment of the imagined Great Idea nor do we follow the trend of contemporary progress." -Phillip Carabott, 1995
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"Greece freed itself from the Ottomans only to become slaves of Europe. We are no freer now than we were during the Ottoman Empire. It is no coincidence that the Greeks cried ̳Bring back the Turks!‘ during the fight for independence. But you won‘t find that in any school history textbook." -Pavlos Vassiliou, 2008
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"Four things will destroy the world—syphilis, alcohol, malarial fever and life in the big cities." -Nikos Kazantzakis
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"The past is Greece‘s frontier." -Patricia Storace, 1997
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"As pertains to my magazi, I do not give the music easily. Rebetika is not like that. It is not a song for entertainment. It is preeminently of people who are sad, of people for whom something is torturing them. Rebetiko is a song of comfort. It is not a song of crazy entertainment. It is not. Or it shouldn‘t be. No rebetika song is to have a crazy good time. It is for measured enjoyment, very measured- Low key. And what‘s more, it‘s a type of song that what it wants from people is to sit, to listen, to experience, to let loose their problem... to heal their worries. There is no connection between the customers of this magazi with those of other magazia. That is what I believe." (Vassiliou, 2007)
Playing in the correct musical style is crucial for another fundamental aspect of rebetika performance:
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"it is needed for the achievement of kefi, the good spirits and desire to play. Knowledgeable and respectful patrons help one achieve kefi as well. If a musician is not in the mood to play or is not playing well he might say, ―"I don‘t have kefi" or ―"They ruined my kefi". (Vassiliou)
Quote :
"The rebetika style is not something that can be obtained from one day to the next. It has to do with your life, your way of life, it has to do with what you believe, how you perceive this specific masterpiece that is called rebetiko, how much it speaks inside of you, and from there on, having that as a base, at some point your style becomes landed property. It becomes yours. This of course you cannot build in one day or in one week or in one month, neither in five months, neither in ten months. It is acquired. All those bouzouki players you hear who are really fantastic, let‘s say Nikos or Tapsakis, they have been playing bouzouki since they were little. They know the style so well because they have heard it and played it all their lives." (Vassiliou, 2007)
Quote :
"Someone came up to me one time and said ̳Where did you see a shore in Paraguay?‘ He was referring to some prewar song in which I refer to the fine shore in Paraguay. And they told me that in Paraguay there are no shores. And so what? When I traveled there in my imagination, I saw a beautiful shore. And immediately I made it into a song...If I don‘t have [the artist‘s right] to create a shore in Paraguay, then I should cease existing." (Tsitsanis 1982, 35)
Vassiliou characterizes Sotiria Bellou (1921- 1997) as the epitome of rebetika singing for her great vocal abilities but also for her personal connection to the songs:
Quote :
"Bellou couldn't sing without feeling what she was singing. Without crying what she was singing. She sang about certain topics that spoke to her. Poverty, society, mothers et cetera. Even though she didn't write a lot of the songs she sang, people knew what songs to write for her, they knew what topics would speak to her. She did not sing the songs, she ―"cried them". She felt what she was singing. She did not sing happy songs... She had a nice family, especially for the times, she had a proper family... Then later she left, and never went back... She lived a life that was harder than what a man could live. At age sixteen she threw vitriol in her husband‘s face and left." (Vassiliou)
Quote :
"The Greek Communist Party did not accept rebetika. The songs talk about death, drugs, tsamboukades [acts showing ones toughness], about the decadence of human nature. And the rebetes left their lives in the hands of fate. They did not have their rights as workers organized in their minds. They did not have the antagonism in them that a communist needs to have about how to get those rights that he deserves. And some rebetiko songs speak about a way of life that is foreign to Communism. Wine. Hashish. Drugs. Jails. Exiles. Illegal stuff. That is why the party did not accept it. They never accepted that part of people…
Look, art, according to Communism, must serve the needs of the people, or of politics, or of a specific class. For example, Beethoven did not serve the needs of the people. He wrote his music for a class of people that was very far from the working class. So: whatever art from poetry to anything, communism believes it has to be stratified. It has to be placed analogously. A poet like Kavvadias or Cavafy cannot write poems that are meant for a certain class and be considered the poet of the aristocracy. We can‘t say that the songs of Markos are fit for the Greek aristocracy. They are socially and politically totally foreign to them.
But at some point, the party got over this. Not that they accept rebetika songs that have as their main subject drugs. But they got over their prejudice against rebetika because this was the art that a portion of the poor people was producing. Whether they wanted it or not, they were proletariat workers. And KKE is believed to be the party that expresses the popular class, the proletariat, the poor, the workers. You can‘t decide to throw out a portion of the proletariat because it plays rebetika. Rebetika became an art form that one could not doubt whether one believed in capitalism, communism or socialism. And its rejection of rebetika was also due to the specific people who were leading the party. It may have been as much an ideological issue as merely a matter of personal taste." (Vassiliou)
