Rembetika - A Night of Greek Blues
The Greek Blues (a.k.a. Rembetika) is a music form which can essentially be understood by being a part of it, through the music, lyrics and culture associated with it; by being there. In an effort to shed some light onto the infamous Greek music style, we sourced some of the best Greek musicians in Sydney and they will present their version of the Rembetika ‘Story’.
This concert brings to life a 1920’s Rembetika hangout based on information from books, old photographs and records from mid last century as well as our own romantic imagination. The representation is complete with musicians, singers, dancers and a storyline tying the songs together into a narrative.
We wish to give the audience a feel for the era through sound and visual representation. The focus is to entertain and educate the audience.
While music is universal, language is not. To make up for that, we have made sure to include theatrical subtitles to paint a picture and explain about the themes and the lyrics.
A snippet about the history
Rembetika music is the music of the Greek Underground. It originated in the hashish dens of Pireaus and Thessaloniki around the turn of the 20th century and was influenced by oriental elements that came with the forced immigration of 2 million Greek refugees from Asia Minor. It gave way to Greek Popular Music (Laika) which used the same instruments in similar ways during the early 1950s.
Rembetika were urban blues of a quasi-criminal subculture, despised by the middle classes and suppressed by the authorities.
Special thanks to Anastasia Kerros for her graphic design, Fotis Karipidis for building the stage from scratch.
Music arrangement and direction
Peter Kalandranis
| Musicians Andonis Kekatos - Bouzouki Petros Apostolidis - Bouzouki Steven Linardos - Accordion Andonis Petrandonakis – Guitar Christos Kollias - Percussion Jim Yianisis - Violin Yiannis Anastasiadis - Voice Michael Chilas - Voice Georgette Giatis - Voice |
Actors
Georgios Samartzis - ‘Thanasis’
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