Mid-War Athens (Sofia Vembo & Imam Baildi, 1939 & 2007)

imam baildi

thens has not always been a stressful ugly capital of 5 million scarily stolid people. There were nice times that the city had been a truly beautiful and peaceful city. Seriously. It's hard for me to believe too, but it's true. Just take a look to some before-after pictures (everybody likes before-after pictures..):

Omonoia Sqr.(1920s?)

Omonoia Sqr. (2007)

Lycabettus picture from Acropolis, then

Lycabettus picture from Acropolis, now

Ok, back to the dark reality. All these nice buildings were torn down, all tram-lines were removed in order to sell our allies cars to buy their protection and there we are stuck in the traffic in an ugly city. Take it or leave it, you might say.

Only thing's left from that period is music. A romantic urban music strangely influenced from our European friends, since Greece never experienced a serious urbanization or industrialization since that time. Anyway, the combination was nice, it worked, people liked it, musicians too (not the rembetiko ones of course - but we are anyway talking about a totally different class) and beautiful songs were written for love, wine, and having fun.

The song

Today, two versions of the same song are presented: 1. The original one written by Giannides, Spyropoulos & Papadoukas in 1939 and performed by the great Sofia Vembo. 2. A remake of the modern Greek band Imam Baildi.

I am sure the pics and the songs will give you a really good example of how the city has changed. Still lyrical, but mostly in a nostalgic tone and the decades added a rhythm too. You can dance with it's sterilized beat, or dream with its melody parts. It's your call.

How Sorry I am (Original Version)

music: K. Giannakides

lyrics: Vasilis Spyropoulos

Remake: Imam Baildi

I have met so many loves, and I loved and I broke up

but wherever I was, It was you I was looking for

In all my thousands of dreams, my lips were looking for yours

and my soul as well as my secret passions

How sorry I am, for all there years that we lost

before I meet you, the one I have waited so long.

and how afraid I am that one day I might lose you

because I would never forget you...

Stand by me, my sweetest love

I still want to tell you...

How sorry I am, for all there years that we lost

before I meet you, the one I have waited so long.

and how afraid I am that one day I might lose you

because I would never forget you...

- Remember the other music genre that was very vibrant between the World Wars, Rembetiko.

One 1936 Afternoon (Anestis Delias, "The Poser")

Anestis Delias (the light jacket man sitting on the left) and a bunch of musicians

"

ne afternoon, I was with Anestis Delias and Mpatis, here - around Keratsini - up to the hill. Anestis and Batis had their instruments with them, as well as something to get ourselves high on later. On the way, we found Karydakias that was playing bouzouki. Nice guy, he was killed later on -during the war. Anestis had written the music, but he had no lyrics. It was... a zeibekiko. We stood there, on the hill, Anestis were teaching the others the music and all three of them started playing. I was listening. Batis said: [Hey magka, your knife, to handle it right...] and there he stopped. We all got what the song was about, so we started helping out with the lyrics.[...] Karydakias continues: [...You need to have the guts, you poser, (you need to have) the heart to pull it out...]. The first part was ready. The second and the third was Batis’ and the last one is Karydakias’ and mine. That’s how we wrote that one.”, Nikos Mathesis (nicknamed : Nikos the nuts) remembers.

Anestis Delias

It is not only the evolution of music forms and trends. It is a whole mindset mirrored in these songs. A deeply familiar way of life, no matter how many years have passed.

The song is titled Poser and it is attributed to the Smyrne -born (Izmir) Anestis Delias. The picture given above is a croped part of the one given in previous post (the man standing on the right). He died 31 years old because of heroine. A woman destroyed him, trying to possess and control him, they say. An amateur home grown translation is given below.

The Poser [Το κουτσαβάκι / Ο Φιγουρατζής]

Anestis Delias [Ανέστης Δελιάς]

1936

Hey magka*, your knife
to handle it right
You need to have the guts you poser,
a heart (you need to have), to pull it out
You need to have the guts you poser,
a heart, to pull it out

Don’t you try these on me
You‘d better hide your “sword”
Cause I’ll get high one day, you poser
and I‘ll come along your crib

Cause I’ll get high one day, you poser
and I‘ll come along your crib

(Long live Artemi with your nice plectrumings**!)

You‘d better go to someone else, you poser
To show off that way
Cause I have smoked as well, you poser
And I got dangerously high

Cause I have smoked as well, you poser
And I got dangerously high

I told you once, behave wisely
Or else I’ll bash you straight away
I’ll bring my “gat”, you poser
And there I’ll humble you
I’ll bring my “gat”, you poser
And there I’ll humble you

(Long live Babi with your Baglama.... bravooo!)

*magkas {μάγκας} = tough guy / buster / hep.

**plectrumings = the ups and downs of the bouzouki plectrum

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)