{"id":24396,"date":"2022-07-25T16:16:40","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T14:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.auxsons.com\/?post_type=breves&p=24396"},"modified":"2022-07-26T10:09:31","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T08:09:31","slug":"sounds-of-the-world-proletarian-folk-greek-rebetiko-as-working-class-resistance-and-cultural-mixing","status":"publish","type":"breves","link":"https:\/\/www.auxsons.com\/en\/breves\/sounds-of-the-world-proletarian-folk-greek-rebetiko-as-working-class-resistance-and-cultural-mixing\/","title":{"rendered":"Sounds of the world : Proletarian folk, greek rebetiko as working-class resistance and cultural mixing"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Greece, working-class subculture has engendered the development of rebetika <\/em>: a particular style of folk music, born out of the struggle and strife of the nation\u2019s less-fortunate, who find their solace in songs. Described as a type of \u201curban\u201d music, it is characterized by the use of Ottoman-era instruments (such as the bouzouki<\/em>), the use of a wide variety of Western and non-Western melodic and rhythmic bases, and a lyrical subject-matter of the poor\u2019s harsh daily life, as well as a typically-Hellenic interest in intense emotion (brought up from love, death, drugs, or war). Incorporating both Western and Turkic influences, rebetiko <\/em>music is a singular by-product of the complex series of socio-political, cultural, linguistic, and artistic interactions accessed by working-class peoples.<\/p>\n

Rebetika <\/em>is the unique form of expression for the Greek archetypal character of the mangas <\/em>: a daytime-laborer and nighttime-artist. He sings in a harsh smoker\u2019s voice, after a long day\u2019s work, about his problems: the alienation, the women he loves, the difficulties of factory life. Yet, to the dismay of many conservative traditionalists, his \u201csolutions\u201d are not productive ; in response to lost love, he chooses prostitution ; in response to depravity, he chooses substance use ; in response to poverty, he chooses crime.<\/p>\n

Thus, the mangas<\/em> is not an inspiring hero in rebetika<\/em>, but a tragic and deeply-feeling human, in search of a way out of harsh conditions. Given his working-class identity and pessimism about life, the rebetiko <\/em>music of the mangas <\/em>is associated with left-wing politics and grimy nightlife. As such, the political power of rebetika <\/em>is made evident through its historic repression during key political moments in Greek history, such as the far-right Regime of the Colonels in the 1970\u2019s. For example, Army Decree No. 13 banned the playing of and listening to the music of Mikis Theodorakis, a rebetiko <\/em>composer and leftist political figure, when they took power in 1967. Later, Theodorakis would be imprisoned, deported, interned at a concentration camp before he was allowed to go into exile in France.<\/p>\n

Mikis Theodorakis - La Danse de Zorba le Grec<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n