To minore tou teke (I’ve kept the Greek here rather than using the rather bland translation of The Minor (musical minor key) of the Teke) is credited as being one of the most influential pieces music in the rebetiko repertoire.
There’s a tale that Markos Vamvakaris heard the song playing on a record as he passed the open doors of a tavern and was captivated by it; he swore he’d cut his hands off if he didn’t learn to play the bouzouki within six months. Yiannis Papaioannou wrote that the recording made him crazy for the bouzouki.
To minore tou teke is a bouzouki instrumental, one of several recorded by Ioannis Chalkias (who also went by the name Jack Gregory) in the U.S. in the early 1930s. It wasn’t just the music that made it influential: this was claimed as the first successful bouzouki recording and it convinced Greek music labels to start recording bouzouki songs.
Chalkias, the son of a well-to-do Greek immigrant to America, is reported to have fallen under the sway of his uncle — a rebetiko-loving tough guy. Ioannis learned bouzouki over the objections of his father and adopted the lifestyle of the manges: He was briefly jailed for theft in 1927 and then, with a partner, became involved on the black market. He used the proceeds to open a teke in New York.
His musical output was limited but To Minore Tou Teke and Mysterious Zeibekiko remain classics. To Minore Tou Teke features an expressive and striking taxim (improvisation), which makes up more than the first half of the recording.
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