Various Artists
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Description
In the early part of the 20th Century the Greek underground had its own music. Here's the music of criminals, con men and casanovas, tales of seductions, drug deals and prison, played with scintillating skill. If all you know about Greek music can be filed under Z for Zorba, prepare to be blasted into a new dimension.
The origins of the music we now know as Rembetica lie in the obscurity of the mid-19th Century, or even earlier. It can be roughly divided into two schools:
The first was that created by the Greek population of Ottoman cities such as Constantinople (Istanbul) and Smyrna (Izmir). In the main, this was played in public places of entertainment by highly skilled professional musicians, using, chiefly, violin, lyra, sandouri, guitar and mandolin. However, the fact that there also existed a rougher, more underground, form is evidenced by the "brothel" recordings made by Yiangos Psamathianos in Constantinople in around 1912.
Meanwhile, chiefly in the underworld of homeland Greece, there developed another form of Rembetica, played in enclosed places such as "Tekedhes" (hash-dens) and prisons. This was more a music of non-professional musicians performing on guitar, baglamas and bouzouki.
This authoritative and revealing 89-track set covers all aspects of Rembetika on four themed discs:
Disc One: The Ottoman Legacy 1925-1937
Disc Two: Piraeus Heavy Hitters 1934-1946
Disc Three: Dope, Dice, Guitars, Knives 'n' Such 1928-1946
Disc Four: After Censorship 1937-1947
Tracklisting
Otis Grand
Various
Judy Garland
James Harman
The Butler Twins
Various Artists
Various
Louisiana Red & Carey Bell
Jim White
Skids
Somebody's Child
Death By Unga Bunga
Mark Farner
The Sheepdogs
Kevin Ayers
Reuben