Live rebetika music

Rebetika have been around in some form or the other since the turn of the 20th century. In 1923 Greece, was faced with the resettlement of over 1.5 million Greeks refugees from Asia Minor. As a result of this, shanty towns grew up around Athens, Pireas and other cities. These refugees brought their music with them and this had an effect on the urban music of Greece.

Since the emergence of the modern Greek state, the upper and middle classes leaned towards the classical style of European music while at the other end of the social spectrum Greek and Byzantine traditions prevailed. Rebetika have always been the music of the poor and the dispossessed, combined different styles of the region and with lyrics describing the joy, the sorrow, the difficulties of everyday life.