Markos Vamvakarisis as close as rebetiko has to a fountainhead.
His bouzouki playing and singing pretty much define the classic Piraeus-style rebetiko, and he influenced almost everyone who has played rebetiko since. He wrote hundreds and hundreds of songs, with lyrics based largely on the life he lived.
Vamvakaris was born on the island of Syros and stowed away on a boat that took him to Piraeus when he was 15 (it’s also reported he was only 12). He worked a number of odd jobs until one day he heard a song on bouzouki and fell in love with the instrument. Six months later, self-taught, he was playing in clubs.
Later, with Giorgos Batis, Anestis Delias and Stratos Pagioumtzis, he formed The Fanous Quartet of Piraeus, an influential band that helped define classic era rebetiko and that took the music into more upscale club.
He made his first recording in 1932 and, until the 1950s, he was a mainstay of rebetiko. While his classic style fell out of favour in the 1950s, he made a comeback of sorts in the 1960s, making new records and working with the leading laiko stars of the time. He died in 1972.
I don’t have a favourite Vamvakaris song –they are almost all great — but here’s one I particularly like: Your Blue Windows.
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