Post by fange on Sept 21, 2021 12:05:47 GMT
I don't expect this will be a very popular thread, but what the hell; in case there are a couple here who may be interested in my occasional Greek music listening moments and thoughts. I'm not an expert by any means, but i do get drawn to it sometimes because it was there in my background growing up, so it's kinda hardwired into my psyche.
Μάρκος Βαμβακάρης - 'Μαύρα Mάτια, Mαύρα Φρύδια' ('Black Eyes, Black Eyebrows')
Dark eyes dark eyebrows curly dark hair
White face like a lily and a beauty spot on the cheek
Dark eyes dark eyebrows curly dark hair
A beauty like this I have never, oh my sweet little spark
I have not met in this world
I have not met a beauty like this in this world
A beauty like this never have I, oh my sweet little spark
My dark-eyed girl for you I have become insane
I will die I can not take it I have become unthinking
I will die I can not take it I have become unthinking
My dark-eyed girl for you I became insane
Pains I have hidden inside the leaves of the heart
With your magical eyes when you look at me, my light
With your magical eyes when you look at me, my light
Pains I have hidden inside the leaves of the heart
Markos Vamvakaris was one of the most famous exponents of the Rembetiko style of music. Here's what wiki says about it -
"The word rebetiko (plural rebetika) is an adjectival form derived from the Greek word rebetis (Greek: ρεμπέτης, pronounced [re(m)ˈbetis]). The word rebetis is today construed to mean a person who embodies aspects of character, dress, behavior, morals and ethics associated with a particular subculture. The etymology of the word rebetis remains the subject of dispute and uncertainty; an early scholar of rebetiko, Elias Petropoulos, and the modern Greek lexicographer Giorgos Babiniotis, both offer various suggested derivations, but leave the question open. The earliest source of the word to date is to be found in a Greek-Latin dictionary published in Leiden, Holland in 1614[5] where the word ῥεμπιτός is defined as a 'wanderer', 'blind', 'misguided', etc.
Although nowadays treated as a single genre, rebetiko is, musically speaking, a synthesis of elements of European music, the music of the various areas of the Greek mainland and the Greek islands, Greek Orthodox ecclesiastical chant, often referred to as Byzantine music, and the modal traditions of Ottoman art music and café music.
The melodies of most rebetiko songs are thus often considered to follow one or more dromoi (δρόμοι, Greek for 'roads' or 'routes'; singular is dromos (δρόμος). The names of the dromoi are derived in all but a few cases from the names of various Turkish modes, also known as makam.
However, the majority of rebetiko songs have been accompanied by instruments capable of playing chords according to the Western harmonic system, and have thereby been harmonized in a manner which corresponds neither with conventional European harmony, nor with Ottoman art music, which is a monophonic form normally not harmonized. Furthermore, rebetika has come to be played on instruments tuned in equal temperament, in direct conflict with the more complex pitch divisions of the makam system."
Anyway, for all intents and purposes, what you really need to know about Rembetiko is that it's the Greek version of "low down" music; music for getting drunk to in dirty bars, listening to while smoking h@sh and looking to get laid. It was NOT nice polite music for polite society. As well as being a seminal bouzouki player, Vamvakaris had the perfect deep guttural growl to go with the music; it was music to get lost in, to forget this mortal coil and its pains.
Μάρκος Βαμβακάρης - 'Μαύρα Mάτια, Mαύρα Φρύδια' ('Black Eyes, Black Eyebrows')
Dark eyes dark eyebrows curly dark hair
White face like a lily and a beauty spot on the cheek
Dark eyes dark eyebrows curly dark hair
A beauty like this I have never, oh my sweet little spark
I have not met in this world
I have not met a beauty like this in this world
A beauty like this never have I, oh my sweet little spark
My dark-eyed girl for you I have become insane
I will die I can not take it I have become unthinking
I will die I can not take it I have become unthinking
My dark-eyed girl for you I became insane
Pains I have hidden inside the leaves of the heart
With your magical eyes when you look at me, my light
With your magical eyes when you look at me, my light
Pains I have hidden inside the leaves of the heart
Markos Vamvakaris was one of the most famous exponents of the Rembetiko style of music. Here's what wiki says about it -
"The word rebetiko (plural rebetika) is an adjectival form derived from the Greek word rebetis (Greek: ρεμπέτης, pronounced [re(m)ˈbetis]). The word rebetis is today construed to mean a person who embodies aspects of character, dress, behavior, morals and ethics associated with a particular subculture. The etymology of the word rebetis remains the subject of dispute and uncertainty; an early scholar of rebetiko, Elias Petropoulos, and the modern Greek lexicographer Giorgos Babiniotis, both offer various suggested derivations, but leave the question open. The earliest source of the word to date is to be found in a Greek-Latin dictionary published in Leiden, Holland in 1614[5] where the word ῥεμπιτός is defined as a 'wanderer', 'blind', 'misguided', etc.
Although nowadays treated as a single genre, rebetiko is, musically speaking, a synthesis of elements of European music, the music of the various areas of the Greek mainland and the Greek islands, Greek Orthodox ecclesiastical chant, often referred to as Byzantine music, and the modal traditions of Ottoman art music and café music.
The melodies of most rebetiko songs are thus often considered to follow one or more dromoi (δρόμοι, Greek for 'roads' or 'routes'; singular is dromos (δρόμος). The names of the dromoi are derived in all but a few cases from the names of various Turkish modes, also known as makam.
However, the majority of rebetiko songs have been accompanied by instruments capable of playing chords according to the Western harmonic system, and have thereby been harmonized in a manner which corresponds neither with conventional European harmony, nor with Ottoman art music, which is a monophonic form normally not harmonized. Furthermore, rebetika has come to be played on instruments tuned in equal temperament, in direct conflict with the more complex pitch divisions of the makam system."
Anyway, for all intents and purposes, what you really need to know about Rembetiko is that it's the Greek version of "low down" music; music for getting drunk to in dirty bars, listening to while smoking h@sh and looking to get laid. It was NOT nice polite music for polite society. As well as being a seminal bouzouki player, Vamvakaris had the perfect deep guttural growl to go with the music; it was music to get lost in, to forget this mortal coil and its pains.
