According to some people, blues and rebetiko are the same kind of music. To some, blues comes from Piraeus and rebetiko from Mississippi. Some people claim that the bouzouki is the main instrument of blues, and bet that I literally can’t find even ONE difference between rebetiko and blues. Anyone who makes bets like that will lose their money gambling. And they’ll end up homeless in Omonia, with drugs not being the reason. Gambling will be. The bets—and where did the belief that rebetiko and blues are the same thing come from? It’s like me telling you that it’s raining, and you telling me that it’s the first rain of the season, when it’s August! The difference between literalness and irony? Here, if it’s humour, it isn’t funny, so we stick with the literal meaning—which is either surreal or on the level of the gambler who was making the bets…
Come on, let’s not get carried away. They’re seeing similarities, not complete identity.
Of course, in my opinion, the real similarities are far fewer than many people make them out to be. It’s been discussed many times on the forum, and if I remember correctly, the conclusion reached by our local “collective wisdom” was that the parallels lie mainly in the conditions in which these genres emerged — and even those aren’t identical (an internal migrant or refugee is one thing, a freed slave quite another). As for the music itself, the only similarity is that both genres rely on established formulas and templates, which give all rebetiko or all blues certain basic characteristics in common. Just as is the case with all the world’s folk music.
In general, the cliché that rebetiko is “the Greek Blues” is an extreme stretching of certain observations that would stand on their own, provided one viewed them within the proper context.
Dear Orfrebetis, the subject you’re (re-)opening has been discussed at great length and exhaustedly on this forum; all you have to do is type “μπλουζ ρεμπέτικο” into the search box and you’ll find enough material to keep you reading for months. Let’s not start all over again, for goodness’ sake — the same things! Anyone who’s relatively new and interested in the details need only read the wealth of material that has already been discussed here. And if, despite that, they still have some questions, they can continue the discussion in an existing thread.
(Ah, Pericles, I didn’t get to you in time!)
To be fair, this “it’s been discussed before” applies to a great many topics on the forum. Naturally, a topic may be new to someone even though it’s old news to others, since we weren’t all here when it “had been discussed before” (*), new people are constantly joining, and some topics remain interesting over time.
But as a general rule, it’s a good idea for us all to remember to search first before starting a new discussion.
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(*) Or perhaps we were, but simply don’t remember, for goodness’ sake! What can you possibly remember? I’ve often fallen into that trap myself…
This was brought up again very recently: American Blues Meets Greek Rebetiko: Νέα σειρά μαθημάτων από το New York University, but there are others on the same subject. Broadly speaking, yes, we agreed that the similarities are more sociological than musical. I particularly remember the relevant references in this thread: Συμπεθεριό με το στανιό
Personally, there is no way I agreed with that particular wording: my position is that the (whatever…) similarities between the musical genres blues and rebetiko are e x c l u s i v e l y sociological; at the musicological level there is absolutely, but absolutely, no similarity whatsoever, apart of course from the fact that both genres use the same seven notes.
As those who spoke before have said, it’s a subject that has been discussed to death, and the similarities are sociological rather than musicological.
Unfortunately, that’s how it is. And this happens because very few people read what came before.
They make do with what has already been said…
(to paraphrase the well-known advert).
As for equating blues and rebetiko, it proves that those who claim this know neither blues nor rebetiko very well.
Never mind. Let them talk…
Whether we like it or not, we’re talking about this again…
Okay, it’s hardly a serious mistake not to think of looking it up.
Just a reminder. (To myself as well.)
The fact that a topic has been discussed before doesn’t necessarily mean it’s been exhausted. Those who took part said and heard all they had to say and hear, but some time later, others who weren’t there can perfectly well bring it up again.
The slogan comparing blues and rebetiko has persisted. Although I largely disagree, since one is urban music and the other rural music born of slavery—something that greatly changes the context of the lyrics and any ideologies involved—I am examining where they resemble each other. Naturally, the string-instrument-playing singer, accompanying himself with a barely perceptible folk and distinctive technique, singing mainly about pain and the concerns of the lower classes, is the main similarity. Let us not forget that the early bouzouki players were musicians who used various tunings and played traditional verses as well as their own. Some old mourmourika songs also feature similar themes: “Two black-headed snakes cooked for me and I ate them, you devil’s daughter,” and so on. The wandering folk hero-musician. Naturally, if we examine things more specifically, the differences are also considerable. But the picture that emerges in the 1920s and 1930s from blues and early rebetiko, I think, makes them fairly comparable genres. Musically, I have heard some rather bold equivalences from certain people that simply do not work for me. Sonically, though, we are talking about folk instruments with wire strings and so on, which obviously come close in certain respects. Just as when you hear a tenor banjo in traditional Irish music, it could be Tsitsanis.