Rebetika, Markos Vamvakaris, Frangosyriani

 REBETIKO-

Rebetiko emerged in the 1920s as the urban folk music of Greek society’s outcasts. The earliest rebetiko musicians —refugees, criminals, and itinerants— were scorned by mainstream society. They sang heartrending tales. In 1923, many ethnic Greeks from Asia Minor fled to Greece as a result of the second Greco-Turkish War. They settled in poor neighborhoods in Piraeus, Thessaloniki, and Athens. A Turkish tradition that came along with the Greek migrants was the tekés (τεκές) "opium den". With the coming of the Metaxas dictatorship, rebetiko was repressed due to the uncompromising lyrics. Bouzoukia were banned. Many songs from this period were composed in prison. The first rebetiko songs to be recorded were mostly in Ottoman style, employing instruments of the Ottoman tradition. During the second half of the 1930s, as rebetiko music gradually acquired its own character, the bouzouki began to emerge as the emblematic instrument of this music. The bouzouki had been known by that name in Greece since at least 1835 but we still know nothing of the early history of instrument’s association with what came to be called rebetiko. Although known in the rebetiko context, and often referred to in song lyrics, well before it was allowed into the recording studio, the bouzouki was first commercially recorded not in Greece, but in America, in 1926. In Greece the bouzouki had been allowed into a studio for the very first time in October 1931. The hands of Giorgios Manetas, together with the tsimbalo player Yiannis Livadhitis, it can be heard accompanying the singers Konstantinos Masselos and Spahanis, on two discs, three songs in all. Musically, the baglama is most often found supporting the bouzouki in the Pireas style of Rebetika. During parts of the 20th Century, players of the bouzouki and baglama were persecuted by the government, and the instruments were smashed by the police. Markos Vamvakaris and “Frangosyriani”

Markos Vamvakaris, the Greek pioneer of the rebetika music, singing the most famous rebetiko song “Frangosyriani” in 1932.

The lyrics of the song “Frangosyriani”

There’s a flame in my heart as if you have bewitched me, sweet girl from Syros I’ll come to meet you down by the sea-side I’d like to cover you with kisses and caress you We’ll go to Finika, Parakopi Yalisa and Delagratsia, even if I’ll have a heart attack. At Pateli, at Nihori, great time at Alithini and at Piskopio it’s romantic my sweet Frangosyriani.(twice)

In GREEK

The word Fragosyriani comes from “Frango”=Catholic and “Syriani”=woman from the island of Syros. In Syros a great percentage of the population is Catholic. As he said: All the local people of Syros loved me, because I was from Syros and they took pride in me. Every single summer they expected me to go to the island, play the bouzouki and make them have a whale of a time! In 1937 I went to Syros with my little brother and the piano player Rovertaki! I hadn’t been there since I left the island in 1917, as I mention in the song:

“In a twenty-year time, I came 2 times to see you, play the bouzouki and sing”

I firstly played in a little Greek restaurant! All the people had gathered! In the evening, the restaurant was full of people … I stayed there for about two months… When I played the bouzouki and sang, I always looked at the floor… I couldn’t face the people… I couldn’t look at them, I got nervous… But, while I was playing, turned my head and I saw a beautiful girl! Her eyes were black… I didn’t turn my head again that night … I was lust thinking of her… Just thinking of her. So, I got my pencil and wrote.

“There’s a flame in my heart as if you have bewitched me, sweet girl from Syros”

I didn’t ever know her name and she didn’t ever know that the song is devoted to her and talks about her… When I got back to Piraeus, I wrote “Frangosyriani”.

Markos was born to a poor working family on the island of Syros in 1905. His father was also a musician. When Markos was eight years old he left school in order to work with his mother in a cotton thread factory and he eventually got mixed up with the underworld of the streets. When he was 15 years old he stowed away on a ship to Piraeus. In 1925, Markos heard Old Nick play bouzouki and was immediately hook. Six months later he was playing at a teke when Old Nikos stopped by, he couldn’t believe it was the same kid who’d never even played a few months earlier. Nikos said they’d show Markos something in the morning and he’d come back and play it better than them in the evening. Because the bouzouki was considered a low-class instrument, it had not been recorded until 1932 when Yiannis Halikias, a greek-american, recorded his "Minor Tou Deke". The record was very popular, so Spyros Peristeris, who was working as a record producer, composer and instrumentalist for Odeon records in Greece, convinced Odeon to record Vamvakaris. In 1933, Peristeris supervised, and played guitar on Markos’ first recording session. Markos recorded some great songs. Markos hadn’t considered himself a singer but ended up doing the vocals on these records. They were very successful and Markos’ rough and powerful singing became fashionable. Markos eventually teamed up with other singer to form his famous Piraeus Quartet. His popularity was sustained throughout the 1930’s, despite growing political turmoil. Eventually the style of rebetika that Markos had pioneered became more mainstream, and by the 1940’s Tsitsanis had started changing the subject matter to be about love and less about prison and other rebetika topics. Likewise, Hiotis started changing the sound of the music, adding strings to the bouzouki in 1956 and moving towards a more flashy, electric and westernized sound. Markos continued to record in his older style through this period. He passed away in 1972.

Afroditi and Zoi, B2 working on the article.