The Zaimakis (2010) paper argues that the Greek Left’s criticisms of rebetiko music about its fatalism and Eastern roots contributed to the development of the laiko and entexno music genres in the second half of the 20th century. However, in contemporary Greece rebetiko is popular within the Greek Left, which indicates a re-interpretation of the music.
Source: Picril
What is rebetiko?
Rebetiko is an urban music style developed in Greece during the late 1920s and it involves the merge of two music styles/genres:
The music of the maghes, who were a marginalised urban group scattered around brothels and hashish dens in Greece.
The music brought by Greek refugees from Asia Minor during the Greece-Turkey population exchange in 1923. During this time, approximately 1.5 million refugees arrived in Greece.
The maghes and the refugees had differences in both their musical style and instrument choices. However, their shared conditions of economic suffering and marginalisation brought the two groups closer, which resulted in musical innovation.
Rebetiko was distinct in its emphasis on the themes of drug use and societal marginalization. This, combined with its strong Eastern roots, led both Greek nationalists and leftists to condemn it as ‘immoral’ and ‘antisocial’, particularly during the 1930 to 1960 period. Today, however, it is regarded as mainstream music and a distinct Greek national symbol.
How was rebetiko perceived by the Greek Left during the interwar period?
During the mid-1930s the Soviet Union initiated the dogma of socialist realism, according to which the purpose of art was to cultivate class-consciousness among the working class. Consequently, this period saw the intensification of communist criticism of music, which was often classified as either socialist or hegemonic. Within this context, Greek communists heavily criticised rebetiko for being hegemonic, or in other words an obstacle to the mobilisation of the working class. There were mainly two reasons for this assessment:
Rebetiko was judged to be fatalistic in its attitude towards the working class’s misery. It described negative situations but never offered any solutions to them. An illustration of this can be seen in the song of Anestis Delias The Jacket (1936). In the song, the protagonist steals a jacket “because of fate” and tries to sell it to buy alcohol. On the way to the shop, he meets his boss who claims the jacket is his and reacts by hitting the protagonist and sending her/him to jail where the abuse continues. The song does not offer a strong reaction or solution to these conditions of misery, hence being fatalistic.
Its roots in the Ottoman Empire were argued to reflect past servitude, being opposed to working-class emancipation.
How did rebetiko develop to the laiko and entexno music genres?
In the late 1940s and 1950s, there was a strong leftist movement towards the cleansing of rebetiko and its replacement with a ‘higher' form of popular music. A key proponent of this was Mikis Theodorakis, who was educated in classical music and argued that music should promote national cohesion and cultural uprising. This conscious attempt to cleanse rebetiko from its harsh lyrics and Eastern roots contributed to the development of two music types:
Laiko music, which borrowed heavily from Western and Latin rhythms and put a stronger emphasis on ‘noble’ forms of love.
Entexno laiko music, which involved the widespread lyricisation of ‘high-culture’ Greek poetry.
Laiko and entexno subsequently dominated the Greek popular music scene, despite rebetiko retaining some popularity. In Figure 1 below, you can see some of the most influential musicians of each genre, with some associated song examples.
Figure 1: The historical development of Greek folk music over the 20th century
Links: Song example 1, Song example 2, Song example 3.
How is rebetiko today?
In contemporary Greece, rebetiko has become a mainstream popular music genre and it is particularly popular within the Greek Left. In my opinion, this relates to a de-emphasis of the importance of fatalism, with modern listeners being content with the simple description of societal suffering. Furthermore, rebetiko’s Eastern roots associate it with a Greek ‘otherness’ which rejects Westernisation and its associated individualism, a culture aligned with modern Greek Left narratives.
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