{"id":10206,"date":"2020-09-21T12:32:35","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T10:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/the-rebetiko-as-an-unaffected-cultural-heritage\/"},"modified":"2023-06-05T19:18:22","modified_gmt":"2023-06-05T17:18:22","slug":"the-rebetiko-as-an-unaffected-cultural-heritage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/the-rebetiko-as-an-unaffected-cultural-heritage\/","title":{"rendered":"The rebetiko as an unaffected cultural heritage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Songs, dances, dances, puppets and penises! The Dudes! The rebetters who from the borders of illegality are nowadays on the UNESCO list as a cultural heritage of Greece. All the songs are taken from the life of the lower classes. A kind of music that has gone through forty waves, hunted, condemned, humiliated and since 2005 it has been established and has become part of history. In fact, it represents many pieces of history. Uprooting, wars, hatreds, passions, loves, the real life of people.<\/p>\n

“The… epic of rebetiko, as a musical genre and the period in which it evolved, is always an honour for the country and its people….
\nI am well aware of the alterations and damage that rebetiko has undergone over time and its multiple uses (from record reissues, from live performances, from the inevitable free use). Rebetiko continues, after a century of existence, to be persistently here. Undefatigable, special and brilliant! It retains its historical and traditional elements and continues to be a magnet for every new generation, regardless of the era, class differences and social changes. The butcher’s and the zebeke, the cheftelli and the karsalamas, the streets, the makamia, the amanedes and the taqasimia, will be the dominant elements that evolved into a firmament, a basis, a foundation for the building of the later Greek songwriting.”
\nJeju Island, Korea, 4- 9.12.2017<\/p>\n

Vamvakaris, Katsaros, Mitsakis, “Dudes” and “Tramps”, the rebetters of the dunia… walked with their jackets slung over their shoulders, playing their rosary, going from one box to another, the so-called “Aman brown”. The hat, the moustache and the bouzouki adorned the persona of the rebetis. Most of the rebetters there learned to play bouzouki in the “koutukia”, the Aman Cafes, that is, and in the prisons they were in and out of until 1940, as their songs and behaviour were considered provocative and censored. “These Cops Who Came Now”, “In Thomas’s Box” and “God drank hashish”, songs in which each verse signified a different era, a revolutionary character, a different society.<\/p>\n

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“The songs of the people express their struggle with an optimistic and brave common feeling… because these songs are the positive response to life, that is, to the ‘we’… The rebetiko song, however, expresses the problems of people who live on the margins of society… who do not believe in the ‘we’… the musical phrases of rebetiko end in a sigh full of frustration, collapsing into the depths”.
\nILL. Petropoulos<\/p>\n

If you want to learn about rebetiko music, a stop in Thessaloniki is inevitable. Genti Koule, Ano Poli, Tsitsanis Square, Evangelistria and Rotonda, a musical journey with the rebetiko melody flowing throughout. Rebetiko is not just a musical genre, lyrics, melody, music, but a whole attitude of life! Culture, tradition, civilization, a jumble of feelings and sounds in a few lyrics.<\/p>\n

Walking through the narrow streets of the city, one can hear the sounds of rebetiko melody, see the figure of a rebetis, the box he sat in, the identification of the city with music. The dervishes, the refugees, the bar, the mahalomages, the tequettes and the coffee shops were the identity of the city. An authentic tradition unfolding before your eyes.<\/p>\n

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“The area of Vardari, Aristotelous and Ioustinianos consisted of folk bands with sandhorns, violins, tambourines, oud instruments, and nowhere, until 1935, was there a professional bouzouki. There were many amateurs who played for their own amusement and the amusement of the company in tequettes and huts, in the refugee quarters and in Vardari.”
\n\u039d. Cottonwood<\/p>\n

The Genti Koule is one of the most important historical sites of rebetiko. Etchings engraved on walls, melodies that are whispered and unique songs that are born. Until 1980, rebetiko was between light and darkness, between legality and illegality. As Petropoulos says, “being a rebetis at that time was synonymous with being a tramp”. Most of the rebetters were in and out of political prisons as they considered at the time that rebetiko songs were against the national consciousness.<\/p>\n

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From 1924 onwards, the game turns in favour of rebetiko, the record companies enter the scene and great composers of Smyrna and Polis are put in charge, who decide and select the repertoire, singers, musicians and orchestras. The rebetiko comes to the surface and is humanized. According to many folklorists, the rebetiko culture is being transformed. The result is the recording and release of almost all the early rebetika of Constantinople and Smyrna, while the adverse situations created by the great catastrophe of 1922 enrich the rebetika with new themes that draw their material and inspiration from the problems of the Greek people and especially the refugees. Rebetiko was again outlawed by Metaxas’ decision in 1934, but very quickly the bouzouki became a national symbol and Zorbas a cultural product of the country.<\/p>\n

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And that’s how rebetiko changes, just like a big part of life changes. Most of the songs become more refined but using many elements of the past. From the margins and the underground boxes the rebels become the children of the people. Thessaloniki, Perama, Patras, everywhere they are asked to play. The acceptance of the people is great. The appearance of Tsitsanis, Bellou and Chiotis brings rebetiko to the surface. Gradually, folk singing is de-legitimized from the stigma of the underworld and drugs, characteristics that tarnished the reputation of the earlier rebetiko and is transferred to the “salons”. Thessaloniki is filled with cosmopolitan centres such as “Hortazides”, “Delis”, “Faliro”, “Stavrakis”, “Kalamaki” and “Kalamitsa”, “Tabakis”, “Flisvos”, “Kareklas”, and many others.<\/p>\n

Since 2003, when it was recognized by UNESCO, until today, rebetiko has been increasingly strengthened, as it has become part of the cultural heritage of the country. Ride-alongs, street musicians, squares, events, and booths are born from the beginning, trying to offer an authentic spectacle to those who want to experience the local culture. The young people’s involvement with rebetiko, their knowledge and passion, as well as the covers they perform, influenced by old rebetiko, suggest that he has made his mark on the entire music industry.<\/p>\n

Thomai Balji
\nPostgraduate of the MSc
\n“Tourism and Local Development”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Songs, dances, dances, puppets and penises! The Dudes! The rebetters who from the borders of illegality are nowadays on the UNESCO list as a cultural heritage of Greece. All the songs are taken from the life of the lower classes. A kind of music that has gone through forty waves, hunted, condemned, humiliated and since…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6467,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,126,122,145],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","category-technes-grammata-en","category-politismos-en","category-music"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10603,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10206\/revisions\/10603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}