Rebetico: The music of the Greek urban working class

Abstract

Since its inception in 1821, the Greek nation has looked askance at its own folk tradition because it has been one of material poverty and political subjugation. Greeks generally assumed such a tradition could not contribute to the creation of a robust modern nation, and that it could possibly be an impediment to it. European culture and traditions, on the other hand, represented political power and cultural growth. As a result, political and economic dependence upon the West has been characteristic of all Greek governments since 1832. The need to adjust to this dependence demanded the eclipse of the living traditions of Greek peasants. Toward the end of the 19th century Greeks looked to their European friends and allies for "progress," middle class ideology, technology, educational systems, and fashions. The emerging Greek middle-classes had concrete economic and other incentives to follow this European orientation. Technology, education and industry constituted the foundation of their class positions, economic opportunities, and middle class way of life. In contrast, the lower social classes, composed of refugees from Asia Minor and peasants who began drifting to the cities, had no direct motive or opportunity to embrace or use Western culture. Out of these social classes emerged a distinctive urban character type, "the rebetis," who has his own slang, living habits, music and dance. His self-image is that of a man who knows how to live. He enjoys "the beautiful" things?music, dance, good friends, "grass," women?and avoids the demanding constraints of a routine life and a middle class ethos. He bothers no one and he expects no one to interfere with his life (similar in a way to the Nigerian characters known as "guys" and to the "cool cat" of America's black urban ghettos in the late 1950s). Like the socialists, the rebetis condemns as inhuman the living conditions of the working class. But whereas the socialist struggles through union involvement and other activities to fight the capitalist class structure and create a more just social system, the rebetis stoically believes that he cannot effect social change and withdraws into