Markos Vamvakaris & His "Shipwrecks" (1936)

e continue the rembetiko journey back to 1936 with the song "Karavotsakismata" ("shipwrecks") by Markos Vamvakaris (standing on the left) and Stratos Pagioumtzis (sitting on the left). The song is attributed to Markos Vamvakaris. Markos and his famous Piraeus Quartet is probably the standard reference when it comes to classical rembetiko music. The following bio is from the Markos Vamvakaris Archive.

When Markos was fifteen years old he stowed away on a ship to Piraeus and got a job loading coals on the docks. This was tough, low-down work, but the nights were all about hashish and women. He was kept in fine clothes by an older whore and hung out at the tekes every night. In 1925, Markos heard Old Nikos play bouzouki and was immediately hooked. 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 (aka Jack Gregory), a greek-american, recorded his "Minore Tou Teke". 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 (although he had recorded two songs in 1932 for Columbia, they were not released until later). Markos recorded one zebekiko, O Dervises, and one Hassapiko, O Harmanes. 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 singer Stratos Pagioumitzis, baglamatzis Jiorgos Batis, and bouzouki player Anestis Delias 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 hashish, 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.

Shipwrecks [Τα καραβοτσακίσματα]

Markos Vamvakaris [Μάρκος Βαμβακάρης]

Torments, bitterness, poison, shipwrecks, oh

As the rock that gets beaten

by the sea waves

As the rock that gets beaten

by the sea waves, oh

Torments, bitterness, poison, shipwrecks

What have I done and you harass me

Oh, what do you think you're doing, adoring someone else

You don't love me, just say it

I am left alone and forsaken

I'll die, I won't live anymore

I stop loving, I'll forget

I'm a shipwreck, stop laughing at me

(Stratos: Long live Marko!)

At home everybody is coming down on me about you

Their harsh words poison me

Their harsh words poison me

At home everybody is coming down on me about you

What have I done and you harass me

Oh, what do you think you're doing, adoring someone else

You don't love me, just say it

I am left alone and forsaken

I'll die, I won't live anymore

I stop loving, I'll forget

I'm a shipwreck, stop laughing at me

(Markos: Long live to you too Strato!)

(home-grown translation)

A Subjected To Censorship (Vasilis Tsitsanis & Sotiria Mpellou,"Be A Little Bit Patient", 1948)

Vasilis Tsitsanis and Sotiria Mpellou

arming up with easy west-influenced listenings couldn't last long. So we go straight back to 1948, to listen to a recording of a love song that had been strictly censored because of it can also be read politicaly, "Be a little Patient". Times of civil war, since 1946. A war that was the first act of cold war in Greece which ended in October of 1949 leaving behind a totally demolished country, socially and politically. Vasilis Tsitsanis -the composer- sung this song with Sotiria Mpellou, an incredible and unique woman voice. A little bit of background about that man can be found on Rebetiko Row website link for him.

Rebetiko (which may also be found as rempetiko, rembetiko) is a music kind oriented from the East. As such, or more specifically as "of Turkish influence and origin" rebetiko is officially prohibited in 1936. Do not look for glory, decency or elegance on the lyrics or the music. It was played for many years by lower social classes, drop-outs, also by some considered "criminals" at their time. But still, look for emotions, for pain, for love, for humor, for a fight against the Establishment and the social injustice. Some sort of blues, you could say. The wiki article is surprisingly nice:

Rebetiko, plural rebetika, (Greek ρεμπέτικο and ρεμπέτικα respectively), occasionally transliterated as Rembetiko, is the name for a type of Greek urban folk music. A roots music form of sorts, the sound of the genre reflects the combined influences of European and Middle Eastern music. Rebetiko music has sometimes been called the Greek blues, since like the blues, it grew out of a specific urban subculture and reflected the harsh realities of an oppressed subculture's lifestyle: poverty, alienation, crime, drink, drugs prostitution, and violence. But rebetiko's subject matter also extends to other subjects: romance and passion, social matters, people such as the mother, death, the difficulties of living in a foreign country, army life, war, trivial matters of everyday life, exotic places, poverty, labor, illnesses, and the minor sorrows of people. A major theme of Rebetiko is the pleasure of using drugs, especially hashish. Rebetiko songs of this kind are called Χασικλίδικα (hasiklidika). Also like the blues, rebetiko progressed from being a music associated with the lower classes to becoming during the 1960s and later a revived musical form of wide popularity, especially among younger people. Rebetiko music was closely associated with the mangas Greek urban subculture. Finally, rebetiko songs usually display the same chord progressions found in songs from classic Mississippi delta bluesmen like Robert Johnson and others.

All the rebetiko songs are based on traditional Greek or Anatolian dance rhythms, zeibekikos, aptalikos, chasapikos and servikos being very common but they also include tsifteteli, karsilamas, syrtos and other dance styles.

[...]

Petropoulos divides the history of the style into three periods:

1922–1932 — the era when rebetiko emerged from its roots with the mixture of elements from the music of Asia Minor

1932–1942 — the classical period

1942–1952 — the era of discovery, spread, and acceptance.

So, there we are. Third period, lets say. However the song doesn't know about periods. It talks about things without age. It's one of those that you can dance. Zeibekikos is the rhythm called. A beautiful male dance that originates from the Zeybek warriors of Anatolia. Since we are definitely going to come back to that later (while this post is already getting to big), you can read the wiki article for some introductory information.

Sotiria Mpellou

This specific unique record is dated at the 11th of November of 1948. The key word for its censorship (that continued even after the civil war) was the word "dawn". Tsitsanis as well as many other composers wrote songs about love with undercover meanings of that form to cheat the censorship. In 1950 the song entered the Athens Police Department's list of "forbiddens" under the title "The Patient". At that time there were policemen destroying hundreds of gramophone records with that song... Tsitsanis himself at his autobiography is stating:

"It was very hard to write what you really wanted to. You wouldn't get the licence even to record it. [...] At that time, around 1948, I wrote one with symbolism in lyrics hoping that it would pass the censorship, while its meaning is clear.. "Don't fall in despair for he won'’t be late at the crack of dawn he'll come by you to beg from you a new love's beginning be just a bit patient..". The first part talks about the soldiers' needed patience since he might be on the mountains, in exile or in prison. The second "pushes the clouds away" from their hearts and the last part symbolises the hope for peace.."

The translation given below the song was dragged from www.stixoi.info and it is also available in Italian, German, Hebrew, Turkish and French. You can check there.

Be a Little Bit Patient

Vasilis Tsitsanis - Sotiria Mpellou

Don't fall in despair for he won'’t be late

at the crack of dawn he'll come by you

to beg from you a new love's beginning

be just a bit patient

Push the cloudy darkness away from your heart

and don’t lose your sleep sobbing all night

what if he is not in your cuddly arms as yet

he'’ll come one day, don'’t you forget that

Some sweet daybreak he'll awake you

and your love for each other will resurrect

a new love will bloom again

be just a bit patient...

The Greek Rock Band That Made People Jump (Trypes, 1993)

jump to the early nineties. Rock is alive and the band "Trypes" on its high up. In 1993, the album "9 Pliromena Tragoudia" (= 9 Paid Songs) is released. Nearly ten thousand people watched their live performance in Lykavittos theater in Athens -as stated below. Nearly a hundred thousand people today would kill to be on that concert. Trypes (= holes) is a legendary group. Considered to be the best rock band Greece ever had, or at least at the top 3. Bit of history again:

Trypes was created in Thessaloniki in 1983 when Giorgos Karras and Giannis Aggelakas wrote their first, post-punk influenced lyrics. Michalis Kanatidis (guitar) and Kostas Floroskoufis (drums) accompanied them at their first appearance. In 1984 Babis Papadopoulos replaces Michalis at the guitar and in 1985 they record their first record, "Τρύπες", which included their first hit song "Ταξιδιάρα Ψυχή" (Taksidiara Psichi - Travelling Soul) for Ano-Kato Records. The album was followed by live appearances at the "Selini" club, the university campus and the surrounding areas of Thessaloniki. Kostas Floroskoufis was soon replaced by Giorgos Tolios; concerts were held in Athens in the Rodeo Club and at the open air amphitheater of Lykavittos, where they played the opening act for Dimitris Poulikakos.

Meanwhile, the band's working relationship with Ano - Kato Records started to go sour. They decided to go independent and - on borrowed money - recorded their second disk "Πάρτυ στο 13ο όροφο" (Party sto dekato trito orofo - Party on the 13th Floor) which was eventually published with Virgin Records. The album was very successful; it figured in the top five list of best rock albums of all time in Greece in 2006.

In 1990 comes their third album, "Τρύπες στον Παράδεισο" (Trypes ston paradiso - Holes in Paradise), and their first concert outside Greece in Belfort, France. Guitarist Asklipios Zambetas joins the band as the fifth member.

The fourth album was recorded in 1993, titled "9 Πληρωμένα τραγούδια" (9 Pliromena tragoudia - 9 Paid Songs). A live performance at Lykavittos gathers a record-setting 10.000 people.

In 1994 a double live album was released, named "Κράτα το Σώου μαϊμού" (Krata to show maimou - Keep the Show Bogus) with recordings from 4 concerts at Rodon club and 5 unplugged performances. Both this album's and the film soundtrack (H epohi ton dolofonon) sales went through the roof. Concerts during 1995 were often sold out all over Greece, at the Mylos club (Thessaloniki), Rodon club (Athens), and England, at Manchester and the Marquee club in London.

The fifth studio album, "Κεφάλι γεμάτο χρυσάφι" (Kefali gemato chrisafi - Head Full of Gold) arrived in 1996. The sixth studio album was titled "Μέσα στη νύχτα των άλλων" (Mesa sti nichta ton allon - Into the Night of Others) and was released in 1999. The band announced their break-up in 2001.

Since that time, Giannis Aggelakas continues a solo career. This blog will deal with that very special man's achievements little later. For now, back to 1993 and the song "Den choras pouthena" meaning "There's nowhere you can fit in". Plenty of people had been jumping around with this one. Maybe these live performances were the only place they could fit in. Great song, pure rock spirit.

The following video is the official song's videoclip. An amateur translation of the lyrics is given below it.*

There's nowhere you can fit in [Δεν χωράς πουθενά]

Trypes [Τρύπες]

If you can’t fit in a messy homeland
If a blind hope is not enough for you
If you can’t fit in a dream-trap
If you can’t fold in arms that shut you in

R: Then what a shame, what a shame, what a shame
You are everywhere a left-over, you’re everywhere dying
Then what a shame, what a shame, what a shame
There’s nowhere you can fit, there’s nowhere you can fit in

If you can’t fit in a bad joke
If a tough prayer is not enough for you
If you can’t fit in a soul-brothel
If you can’t fit in a broken body

R: Then what a shame, what a shame, what a shame
You are everywhere a left-over, you’re everywhere dying
Then what a shame, what a shame, what a shame
There’s nowhere you can fit, there’s nowhere you can fit in

Babis The "Flou" (Pavlos Sidiropoulos, 1978)

he Prince. That's Pavlos' nickname. The Prince of Greek Rock. A musician-symbol of a whole generation. His life has been widely discussed. His addiction to drugs, his early death. Before introducing the song, a little bit of information dragged from wikipedia which briefly presents his music path (but not his life):

Pavlos Sidiropoulos (Greek: Παύλος Σιδηρόπουλος) (Athens, August 27, 1948 – Athens, 6 December 1990) was a Rock musician, noted for supporting the use of Greek lyrics in rock music, at a time when most Greek rock groups were using English lyrics. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was arguably the most popular Greek rock musician. Despite his early death, he remains one of the most popular rock musicians in Greece.

Sidiropoulos began his career in 1970 in Thessaloniki, where he was studying mathematics. Together with Pantelis Delleyannidis he founded the rock group “Damon and Phidias”. They soon met the influential Greek musician Dionysis Savvopoulos and his group “Bourboulia”. They joined that group and participated in the album “Damis the tough” (Greek: Ντάμης ο σκληρός). They stayed in this group for two years until 1974 when Bourboulia and Sidiropoulos's ways parted. It was through this group that Sidiropoulos first experimented with combining Greek and Rock music.

Afterwards, Sidiropoulos collaborated with the Greek composer Yannis Markopoulos: he sang in his compositions “Oropedio”, “Thessalikos Kiklos” and "Electric Theseus" on lyrics by the poet Dimitris Varos. In 1976, together with Spiropoulos brothers, he founded the music group “Spiridoula”. They created the album "Flou", considered by many the most important album in Greek rock music. A song of that era (“Clown”) later came out in the album “Zorba the Freak”. It was during this period that Sidiropoulos made his two film appearances. He had the leading role in the film “O Asymvivastos”, directed by Andreas Thomopoulos. He also sang all of the songs of the soundtrack, written mostly by Thomopoulos, from which the greatest rock hit of Greece, 'Na m' Agapas' was later sang by the forthcoming generations. At the same time, he starred (together with Dimitris Poulikakos) in another movie by Thomopoulos, “Aldevaran”. Sidiropoulos also made one appearance on TV in a series called “Oikogeneia Zarnti”, directed by Kostas Ferris.

In 1980, Sidiropoulos joined the band “Oi Aprosarmostoi”, where he remained until his death. This was arguably his most successful collaboration with a band. They released several albums and made numerous live performances. In 1982, the album “En Leyko” was published. Unfortunately, many of the songs were censored. In 1985, the notable LP “Zorba the Freak” was released, and in 1989 they released “Without Make-up” (in Greek), which was recorded live at Metro club in Athens.

In the summer of 1990, his right hand started getting paralyzed, as a result of his long term drug use that he was trying to overcome for many years. He continued his live performances but the deterioration of his health had serious psychological implications. On December 6, 1990 he died from heart attack, caused by heroin overdose.

In 1991, his band “Oi Aprosarmostoi” released the album “Ante... ke Kali Tichi Maghes”, named after one of his songs (realised in 1985), the title of which can be interpreted as “So long folks”. Some of the songs were sung by Sidiropoulos in earlier recordings; others by various artists. In 1992, the album “The Blues of the Prince” (in Greek) was released. It contained experimental recordings from 1979 to 1981. In this disc, Sidiropoulos combined the blues with what can be considered as its Greek equivalent, rebetiko. In 1994, the album “En Archi In o Logos” came out; it contained recordings from the years 1978-1989 and fragments of an interview of his on the Greek channel ET2. In 2001, the EP "Day after Day" came out; composed by the rocker's friend, Michael Karras, the songs were recorded in 1973 with Sidiropoulos, the band "Bourboulia" and bouzouki player Thanassis Polykandriotis. After Sidiropoulos's death, Karras discovered the lost recording and orchestrated the release of "Day after Day" through Minos-EMI in 2001.

So, there we are. In 1978. The band name is Spiridoula and the so called "most important" album is Flou. Flou (pronounced like the english "flu") is a slang adjective in Greek, possibly dragged from the English verb flow (well, that's how I get it). It means blurry/ uncertain/ not set/ unorganised/ liquid. Babis is such a guy. With some sort of freedom that we envy. The song portraits that man. Masterpiece.

Babis the Flou [Μπάμπης ο Φλου]

Pavlos Sidiropoulos [Παύλος Σιδηρόπουλος]

I am gonna tell you a story
For a guy named Babis, Babis the flou
When you were asking him “what’s going on?”
He would just say “flou my friend, everything is flou”

Always drunk and jobless
nice guy, Babis the flou
mumbling always alone
just saying “flou my friend, everything is flou”

Babis was teasing anyone
Without a second thought
And if he‘d feel a little bored
He would just find a sunny place to lay

Babis was teasing always brunnets
Nice guy, Babis the flou
Pecking also a bit of blondes
What a nice guy, Babis the flou

And when he was dragged to the police
He was playing dead, Babis the flou
And if they were asking too much
He was just saying “Flou my friends, everything is flou”

Babis was teasing anyone
Without a second thought
And if he‘d feel a little bored
He would just find a sunny place to lay.*

Dimosthenous Lexis (Dionysis Savvopoulos, 1970)

eventies. In Greece the political situation is unstable with a military junta already since 1967 in power. Strict sencorship and propaganda, powerful spying of any suspect of being against the junta. It lasted till 1973, 4 days after Turkey's invasion of Northern Cyprus. During these 7 years, music was a way to react and help the masses realize. Dionysis Savvopoulos, born in Thessaloniki in 1944, was imprisoned in 1967 by junta because of his political convictions. This song ("Δημοσθένους λέξις" = "Demosthenes' word") was recorded in 1970 for the album "Vromiko Psomi" (= Dirty Bread) and an amateur translation of the lyrics is given below the video. All video scenes are taken at the city center of Athens.

Dimosthenous Lexis [«Δημοσθένους Λέξις»]

Dionysis Savvopoulos [Διονύσης Σαββόπουλος]

What if I am free, out of this prison
Nobody will be waiting for me
Deserted all the streets will be
and my city a complete stranger

All the cafes will be closed
while all my friends will have fled
And I ‘ll just blow with the wind
The day I am free, out of this prison

And the sun will fall asleep
Behind the ruins of Olynthos
And they will be like in a myth
All friends and enemies

They will all stand still
Rhetors and conmen
Beggers, prostitutes and prophets
They will all stand still

I am gonna stand by the gate
Carrying the blankets under my arm
And with a slow move of the head
I am gonna greet the guard

Without will, without a god
Like a king in ancient drama
I am gonna say the word
When I stand by the gate.

What Is This Abouτ

This is about filling the gap between an English speaker and Greek music. The language and a bit of information.

So, every now and then, a song from Greece and its artist will be briefly presented, aiming to complete the puzzle - the way we percept it.

*We apologise in advance to any professional translator that might read this blog. We are just engineers.

Welcome.