In other words, Merry Christmas ( ka-la krees-tou-ye-na).
There are no traditional Christmas rebetiko that I could find. That’s for a number of reasons, including the reality that most singers and composers who were religious were most likely Greek Orthodox, which traditionally celebrates Epiphany on January 6 and not Christmas Day on December 25.
But there is a tradition of taking rebetiko tunes and setting Christmas-related lyrics to them. Markos Vamvakaris songs appear to be particularly popular: I’m aware of three of them, one based on Frangosyriani (probably Vamvakaris’s best-known work), a second on My Double-stringed Bouzouki, and this one, based on Those Who Have a lot of Money.
I can’t help you with the words. I don’t want to spend Christmas Day transcribing and translating – and it would take me at least all day – as valuable as that exercise would be for helping me learn Greek.
So, best wishes for the season and I’ll turn it over to the kids.
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