Music of immigrants of the 20th century

The music of Greece is as diverse and celebrated as its history. Greek music separates into two parts: Greek traditional music and Byzantine music, with more eastern sounds. These compositions have existed for millennia: they originated in the Byzantine period and Greek antiquity; there is a continuous development which appears in the language, the rhythm, the structure and the melody. Music is a significant aspect of Hellenic culture, both within Greece and in the diaspora.

Thrace

Thracians immigrated from the lands after the West of Istanbul and before the river named Evros, due to population exchanges with the Ottoman Empire. They settled in today's northeast Greece, and brought with them their unique music and dancing tradition.

Their traditional music instruments were the gaida (Balkan bagpipes), the kaval (a type of flute), the Thracian lyre (a three-stringed, pear-shaped instrument) and the davul (large drum). 

A group of Thracian musicians. (Left to right) Thracian lyre, gaida, kaval and davul.

These instruments were escorted by thracian traditional dances. Playing music and dancing was the most common entertainment for the Thracian immigrants, and happened in every feast and celebration. The lyrics to every song were usually about everyday topics and chores, a great deed accomplished, love and death. It was common to draw lyrics from myths and legends as well. Even though the dances held the same name and steps, each village had a different variation of it. The most common of them were the Zonaradikos, Sirtos Sigathistos, Chasapia and Baiduska.

Women dancing 'Zonaradikos'. You can see the intricate way they intertwine their hands, which gives the name to the dance
(Zonaradikos: to hold someone from the belt)

A very famous Zonaradikos song is "Niko mou sevasmene". It talks about a sick man, who is lying in bed. Once they tell him it's time to celebrate and that a feast is being prepared, he immediately asks them to raise him from the bed, and give him his gaida to play.

Another dance known and danced all across Greece is the Syrtos. It was the first one danced in every feast, especially in weddings, where the bridesgroom led the circle of dancers.

Pontos

The cities in the coasts of northern Turkey (after Istanbul and until the mountain Caucasus) that faced the black sea is where the race of the Pontians come from. The Pontian Genocide from the Turks was the cause of their runaway in 1923. They became inhabitants if many and different regions, which is why their music is so wide-spread across Greece.


The main Pontian instruments were the Pontian Lyre (long-shaped, three-stringed instrument), also known as kemence (from the turkish word "keman" = violin) and the Τaul (large drum, the same as the Thracian Davul). However, there were other, less common instruments, such as the Zurna (wind instrument, larger than a flute that produces a peculiar sound), and the Tulum (bagpipes with less openings and tubes).

Famous Pontian Lyre player, Matthew Tsachouridis.

In the Pontian songs, we hear about love, the deeds of their race and the perish it went through. The Pontians also sing songs where they talk about the beauty of life, the pains one goes through and, of course, the persecution from their country.

One of these songs is 'Tin patrida m' echasa' (I lost my homeland). It is an exeptionally moving song, since it talks with pain about the destruction of Pontos.

Minor Asia

Along with the Pontians, the Christians living in the western coast of Minor Asia and Istanbul came to Greece, bringing along their unique musical traits. The Minor Asian music is deeply affected by Middle Eastern sound. Therefore, the instruements we come across in this type of music is the 'Lauto' (stringed, gutar-like instruement that is large and pear-shaped), the 'Outi' (not alike the Lauto in construction, it is often found in arabian music), the 'Bendir' (large and round percussion instruement, very popular across the middle east) and finally the Lyre of Constantinople (small pear-shaped instruement), that gives off sweet tones and colors the music beautifully.

Socrates Sinopoulos, well-known Minor Asian musician. He is an expert on the Lyre of Constantinople.

Minor Asian music is rich in hues: it changes from slow to fast, consisting of group dances which demant uniformity and synchronization. While dancing, people often use objects like handkerchiefs, or spoons and small glasses, which they strike rythmically against each other.

Woman carving the shape of a Lyre. It is a difficult process that requires experience and finesse.

Minor Asian family. On the left you can see the Outi and to the right, the instruement Lauto.

A very famous Minor Asian song is 'Konyali', and the lyrics are in Turkish.

Rebetiko

Rebetiko was initially associated with the lower and poor classes, but later reached greater general acceptance as the rough edges of its overt subcultural character were softened and polished. Rebetiko probably originated in the music of the larger Greek cities, most of them coastal, in today's Greece and Asia Minor. Emerged by the 1920s as the urban folk music of Greek society's outcasts. The earliest Greek rebetiko singers (refugees, drug-users, criminals and itinerants) were scorned by mainstream society. They sang heartrending tales of drug abuse, prison and violence, usually accompanied by the bouzouki.

In 1923, after the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, many ethnic Greeks from Asia Minor fled to Greece as a result of the Greco-Turkish War. They settled in poor neighborhoods in Piraeus, Thessaloniki, and Athens. Many of these immigrants were highly educated, such as songwriter Vangelis Papazoglou, and Panagiotis Toundas, composer and leader of Odeon Records' Greek subsidiary, who are traditionally considered as the founders of the Smyrna School of Rebetiko. Another tradition from Smyrna that came along with the Greek refugees was the tekés (τεκές) 'opium den', or hashish dens. Groups of men would sit in a circle, smoke hashish from a hookah, and improvise music of various kinds.

With the coming of the Metaxas dictatorship, rebetiko was suppressed due to the uncompromising lyrics. Hashish dens, baglamas and bouzouki were banned, or at least playing in the eastern-style manner and scales.

Some of the earliest legends of Greek music, such as the quartet of Anestis Delias, Markos Vamvakaris, Stratos Payioumtzis and Yiorgos Batis came out of this music scene. Vamvakaris became perhaps the first renowned rebetiko musician after the beginning of his solo career. Other popular rebetiko songwriters and singers of this period (1940s) include: Dimitris Gogos (better known as Bayandéras), Stelios Perpiniadis, Spyros Peristeris, Giannis Papaioannou, and Apostolos Hatzichristos.

The scene was soon popularized further by stars like Vassilis Tsitsanis. His song Συννεφιασμένη Κυριακή - Synnefiasméni Kyriakí became an anthem for the oppressed Greeks when it was composed in 1943 (during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II), despite the fact that it was not recorded until 1948. He was followed by female singers like Marika Ninou, Ioanna Yiorgakopoulou, and Sotiria Bellou. In 1953, Manolis Chiotis added a fourth pair of strings to the bouzouki, which allowed it to be played as a guitar and set the stage for the future 'electrification' of rebetiko. This final era of rebetiko (mid 1940s–1953) also featured the emergence of night clubs (κέντρα διασκεδάσεως) as a means of popularizing music.By the late 1950s, rebetiko had declined; it only survived in the form of archontorebetiko (αρχοντορεμπέτικο "posh rebetiko"), a refined style of rebetiko that was far more accepted by the upper class than the traditional form of the genre. The mainstream popularity of archontorebetiko paved the way for éntekhno and laïkó. In the 1960s Manolis Chiotis popularized the eight-string bouzouki and set the stage for the future 'electrification' of rebetiko.

Rebetiko in its original form was revived during the Junta of 1967–1974, when the Regime of the Colonels banned it. After the end of the Junta, many revival groups (and solo artists) appeared. The most notable of them include Opisthodhromiki Kompania, Rembetiki Kompania, Babis Tsertos, Agathonas Iakovidis and others.