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Mothers are common in Greek music \u2013\u00a0actually, music everywhere in the world, I think. Kostas Kanoulas’s song isn’t about the mother, though. It’s a song about the daughter born of the mother, and it’s a song with a sting in its tail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Kanoulas was born in Asia Minor and, after the fall of Smyrna and the expulsion of the Greeks, he first settled in Alexandria, Egypt, where he created an orchestra. A talented composer, he was also an accomplished musician on guitar, cimbalom, cello and the upright bass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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He arrived in Athens in the 1930s. Between 1938 and 1940, he recorded 20 songs with such mainstays of the rebetiko scene as Rita Abatzi, Antonis Dalgas and Stratos Pagioumtzis. He also introduced the upright bass into rebetiko bands. Before that, guitarists had played bass notes on the lower strings of the guitar; the upright bass, with its potential for deeper tones, was used simply and subtly and added some depth to the music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Kanoulas recorded only two songs after World War II and then faded from the rembetiko discography. He died in Athens in 1962, age 68.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Back to the song. It starts with praise for the mother who gave birth to “girls like you.” The final verse:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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May they have your charms Ouch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Have your beauty
Your cherry lips
and your hard heart.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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