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Kostas Skarvelis’ impact on classic era rebetiko — as a musician, songwriter and recording executive — was huge.

He grew up in Istanbul where he developed his musical skills, and wound in Athens at the heart of rebetiko. He played guitar on many of the early recordings before starting to write songs — hundreds of them that were recorded by the major artists of the time.

He skillfully blended Smyrneika and Piraeus styles to create classics that were recorded by almost every well-known singer of the day.

Skarvelis died of starvation at the age of 62, during the Nazi occupation of Athens.

You can track down a video of the first recording of his song The American’s Game by Rita Abatzi: this one is a much more recent interpretation by the incomparable Ioulia (Julia) Karapataki: