The U.S. played a big role in the early years of rebetiko — many of the first rebetiko recordings were made in America. Then, in the years following WWII, a spate of recordings in New York provided a look back into what rebetiko had been.
The recordings — including those by Virginia Magidou — spoke of an earlier time, before the late-1930s Greek ban on “eastern music” that spelled the end of the Smyrneika style. Magidou, who lived in New York alongside musicians who hailed from Asia Minor, Armenia and Greece, had recorded a few then current bouzouki-and-guitar rebetiko songs.
But her Asia Minor songs, includes manes, were unlike what had been recorded as rebetiko in Greece for more than a decade. Working with musicians such as oud player Marko Melkon, she recorded roughly 30 Greek sides (and four Turkish tunes) many of which brought the Asia Minor influence on rebetiko firmly to the fore.
Why the Heart Withered is a 1950 recording of a traditional Asia Minor song that sounds like it could have been recorded in the 1920s.
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