{"id":611,"date":"2025-02-06T13:56:16","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T21:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tamark.ca\/wp\/?p=611"},"modified":"2025-02-06T13:56:16","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T21:56:16","slug":"argiris-vamvakaris-i-was-born-to-hurt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tamark.ca\/wp\/2025\/02\/06\/argiris-vamvakaris-i-was-born-to-hurt\/","title":{"rendered":"Argiris Vamvakaris, I was born to hurt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


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Musically, Argiris Vamvakaris can be a hard man to get hold of. When you put his name into the search bar at YouTube (either in English or Greece), what comes up are primarily videos by Markos, and a handful by his son, Stelios. You have to scroll through a lot of possibilities to hit a song or two from Argiris Vamvakaris, and most of those are bouzouki instrumentals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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That’s despite the fact that the entry on Argiris at the wonderful blog bouzouki and bouzouxis<\/a><\/em> contains a lengthy list of songs that he wrote and recordings that he participated in. (I’m hoping that the link will take you to an English translation of the post. If not, just throw it into Google translate.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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It’s understandable that Argiris is not as well known as his brother, Markos. Few rebetiko musicians are, regardless of what their last names are. And Argiris spent 20 years away from Greece, living, playing and recording in America. Reportedly, when he returned to Greece in the 1980s, he had been largely forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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Markos took his younger brother Argiris by 25 years, into his care when their father died, taught him bouzouki, sent him to music school, and welcomed him on to the stage where he played with his brother and other leading rebetiko performers. In 1950, age 20, he recorded the first of his own compositions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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In 1961, he moved his family to America, where he performed and recorded. He returned to Greece in 1981 and died a year later of a heart attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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I was born to hurt, which fully displays the virtuosity and soulfulness of Argiris’s playing, was recorded with Kaiti Petraki in 1961.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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