Contact with Rembetiko in Stuttgart since 1978 until today

Many thanks for sharing Simon.

I think it is a great initiative and we all have things to learn from it. Best of luck and if we can help somehow feel free to reach us.

Trying to define rebetiko is a “quest for a holy grail” and even amongst native Greeks it is causing much debate. We all seem to agree that we love this music. But when it comes to defining it on technical terms it becomes blurry :slight_smile:

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Thank you Costas!

Now i remember, that we had in Stuttgart Killesberg Park a Varieté/Cabaret in the 80/90th, with a lot of pictures (copies) of Zeybekes and Rebetes and also with concerts and parties.

And now i remember a taxi driver and Bouzouki player from Stuttgart Leinfelden Echterdingen, he laughed about me, because i, as a german, was interested by Rembetiko, he said to his friends: “Look, this man knows a lot about culture, wow, a german, interested by Rembetiko, a intellectual man, wow: culture!” and he laughed!
:slight_smile:

and now i remember that we listened shortwave radio - we reached two greek radio stations in Stuttgart, sometimes they played Rembetiko …

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In the 60s, we Greeks of Karlsruhe used to listen to “Ράδιο Αμαλιάδα”, a private (illegal) station in MF.

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Another statement, how many Greeks there were and are in Stuttgart - after all, there were once a maximum of 35,000 people from Greece, most of them came from northern Greece - regardless of whether they heard rebetiko or not or had anything to do with rebetiko at all listeners, musicians, trendy people, …:

The wholesale market with all the Greek truck drivers (a very special clientele, I also know it from the ferryboats, when they sing, celebrate and dance, hello !!!)) and the market hall and the many mini markets must not be forgotten, many are still there. Many from back then still have a market stall or a small magazine, but many have also been replaced or taken over by Italians and especially by Turks.

These were now only ideas about all the greek people in Stuttgart, some of them were “Rebetes”, musicians, listener, fans … .

Panos Yeramanis was on shortwave radio 15-20 years ago, not sure if it was Radiofonikos Stathmos Makedonias or ERA 5. I occasionally heard his show on a little travel radio in my student room in the UK :slight_smile: . From what I remember of listeners phoning in to some shows, truck drivers crossing Europe were definitely part of the audience.

In UK and particularly London the established community is predominantly Greek Cypriots for historical reasons, a substantial number of people from Greece only came with the euro crisis in the last decade. The bouzouki music you’ll find from the older immigrants and 2nd-3rd generation will be more in the 70s elafrolaiko style.

But years ago I heard a great traditional violin player busking in Oxford street, Mr Nikos from Akapnou (R.I.P)

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i love this melody: Σῆμα ΕΡΤ
Σόλο φλογέρα «ὁ τσοπανάκος».
Παίζει ὁ Ἀριστείδης Βασιλάρης

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9 posts were split to a new topic: Τσοπανάκος ήμουνα - Σήμα της ΕΡΤ

Hello dear community

I have developed a questionnaire, but I do not work empirically.
I asked Greeks when they first came into contact with Rembetiko - in Stuttgart, in the 1980th.

Here is a short feedback without further details - just an overview.

Angelos:
My mother had an old tape machine with Rembetika. My music teacher played Rembetika at school. Two cousins ​​played bouzouki and baglamas.

Katerina:
I came to Rembetiko in the Lyceum by Christos, he always played, later also live in pubs.

Vasili:
My brother collected Rembetiko records, he was an expert and fan and also made mix tapes.

Penelope:
We secretly watched the Rembetiko film on video, my parents also had records and I went to Greek dance events, and Rembetiko was also shown. In addition, at the weekend in radio Rembetiko came via short wave.

Jannis:
The film Rembetiko in a Greek cinema in Stuttgart Bad Cannstatt fascinated me and we bought new records and cassettes every time we went to Greece in holidays.
Later there were “Rembetikes Vradies” in Stuttgart such as the Inside Club in Stuttgart Feuerbach every Thursday, after which other pubs were added. Rembetiko was played in the Cabaret at Killesberg Park and then of course the big concerts in the Liederhalle with Dalaras and also the great concert with Arvanitaki. I had a greek girlfriend who didn’t like the concert and I broke up with her straight away.

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Newspaper Stuttgarter Zeitung 2015:

At the end of the previous year, 77,150 citizens with a Greek passport lived in Baden-Württemberg, almost 44,900 of them in the local region, i.e. almost 60 percent. Their number has increased significantly in recent years. This is shown by the example of Stuttgart. In 2011, around 15,600 people with Greek roots lived in the state capital (including naturalized people); at the end of 2014 it was almost 17,350, an increase of almost eleven percent. Since 2011, the number of immigrants from Greece - in 2014 it was 1365 - has greatly exceeded the number of immigrants that had been much higher for years. For Stuttgart it can even be said that the number of citizens with Greek roots is almost as high as in 1974, when more people of Greek origin lived and worked in the state capital with around 17,500 people than ever before. This development also applies to the entire region.

https://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/inhalt.griechen-in-stuttgart-einmal-griechenland-und-zurueck.6ff572fb-c600-4f5c-969c-d33e819abcdf.html

greek migrants to germany

https://www.bpb.de/geschichte/zeitgeschichte/griechenland/177897/griechische-arbeitsmigration-nach-deutschland

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Christoph Wagner, 2/2005 Kommune - Forum für Politik, Ökonomie und Kultur

Έχω αντιγράψει μερικά παραδείγματα από δημοσιεύσεις στη Στουτγκάρδη με θέμα το Ρεμπέτικο.
LP, CD, κασέτες … τι μπορέσαμε να πάρουμε από το Rembetiko στη Στουτγκάρδη και επίσης φωτοτυπίες και σύντομες συνεντεύξεις ή από το ραδιόφωνο.

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η πρώτη μου κασέτα Ρεμπέτικο, αγόρασα μπροστά από το πανεπιστήμιο της Θεσσαλονίκης το 1988. Ήμουν / είμαι πολύ περήφανος
gr. rembetiko kassette simon

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we have an exhibition near Stuttgart and i made some fotos and interviews

Για αυτό το ποιητικό άλμπουμ, η Άννα (από την Ελλάδα) έλαβε φωτογραφίες και λόγια από τις φίλες της και η Άννα έγραψε στα ελληνικά όταν ζούσε ήδη στη Στουτγκάρδη. Νομίζω ότι είναι πολύ γλυκό και όμορφο και μια καλή εικόνα για τη συνύπαρξη Ελλήνων και Γερμανών.

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Ο πατέρας μου έφερε τον Δημήτρη Νικήτο (λαούτο και κιθάρα) στη σχολή μουσικής της Στουτγάρδης. Όλοι μας γοητεύτηκαν από αυτόν. 1977

20210329_155125

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Eine sehr gute Doktorarbeit, die ich in der Landesbibliothek in Stuttgart ausgeliehen hatte.

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There are tens of thousands o Greek soundtracks. In this forum we listen to and speak of rebetiko and related genres.

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Hi Simon, could you post a clearer picture of the set list, the program of the pieces played on guitar and laouto? I can make some of the titles but only just. I’m interested as I also have a foot in both camps :wink: .

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Ευχαριστώ Simon. Ωραίος ο παίχτης, κλασική, λαούτο και Baden Powell!

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