TABOURIS PETROS / TO LAIKO TRAGOUDI (BOOK+ 4 CD)

1945 - 1955=Songs are a means of expression, entertainment and creativity that are easily accessible to people in lower income brackets. Musicologists say that the first songs were created in the open air as a way of coordinating teamwork and then to accompany occasions such as weddings, festivals, praising local or national heroes and to express love. In times of great poverty, the themes of songs changed and incorporated new elements. For example, rhythm and blues and jazz in the poor districts of America, son in Cuba, fado in Portugal, the tango in Argentina and rebetiko in Piraeus. The development of all these types of music had much in common. At first they were rejected by the music establishment as being songs. of the underworld, unworthy of mention as artistic forms of expression. Their themes also had much in common. Love, death, poverty, anxiety and passions prevail in the lyrics, along with a distaste for anything to do with authority. Their heroes led bohemian lifestyles, rejected money and all material goods and usually had tragic fates on the fringes of society. This collection follows the history of rebetiko-popular songs in the period between the two World Wars, their particular characteristics, the singers that made them famous and recordings dating from 1945-1955.