Today we dig deep into the history of rebetiko, back to 1929, before a recording industry was established in Greece and before the emergence of such stars as Markos Vamvakaris and Rita Abatzi grew rebetiko’s popularity.
The recording of a song – in Istanbul – about hashish smokers (hashish was legal at that time) in a style that presaged the later development of the Periotiko style, indicates the willingness of performers and record companies to accept the emerging musical form.
Leopold “Paul” Gad was born in Malta in 1899. He and his sister, Virginie (a soprano), both studied music. Gad wound up in Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1907 and performed in various musical halls, working with Greek musicians who lived in or visited the city. In 1928 and ’29 he recorded songs for several German and British companies operating in Istanbul and while most were light romantic popular pieces, there were as a few early rebetiko songs, including this one. (He was often credited as Pol on the record labels.)
The Hash Users featured guitar – played by the composer Spyros Peristeris, who wrote many rebetiko classics – and, because the bouzouki was not established as a leading rebetiko instrument yet, mandolin.
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