The development of a native recording industry in Athens in the 1930s was key not just to the spread of rebetiko, but to Greek music of all kinds. While recording companies were busy getting Greek folk music, Smyrneika and bouzouki-driven rebetiko and other older forms down on vinyl, they were also pushing out hundreds of new recordings.
It’s not surprising, then, that there were overlaps in who was making the music, as composers and performers moved between genres to meet public (and recording company) demand.
Giorgos Kamvisis – singer, composer, lyricist, stage performer – was one of those whose extensive recorded output covered not only rebetiko, but other popular music of the day.
He was born in Corfu in 1884, 20 years after the British ceded the island to the new nation of Greece. By the 1930s, he was at work in Athens, working on the stage, and composing theatrical pieces and other pieces of music, often with Petros Kyriakou. He made more than 50 recordings as a singer and composer, easily moving back and forth between rebetiko and light popular music.
The mapmaker was written by Ieroueos Schizas and recorded in 1930.
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