Though he grew up in Athens, Andreas Georgas didn’t hear about rembetika, the music commonly known as the “Greek blues,” until 1994, when he was 18. He was studying piano at Roosevelt University when some American friends put on a rembetika concert. He liked it so much he joined the group for its next show, and started reading up on the form. “The classical music I was studying seemed cold to me,” says Georgas. “It was intended for an aristocracy. Rembetika is personal; it comes from the heart and it’s open–unfiltered. Anyone can relate to this music.”
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Nowadays Georgas repairs pianos for a living, but spends much of his time singing and playing bouzouki in his own rembetika band, which he started three years ago with his friend Nikos Panomitros. They mostly play private parties, but perform at Katerina’s cafe the first Saturday of every month.
But it has more in common with American blues than just its subject matter. Musically, both are characterized by minor chords. Rembetika’s heyday was during the first third of the 20th century, and just as the blues has rubbed off on generations of rock, soul, and R & B artists, rembetika’s influence can be heard in the Greek popular music–known as laiko–that has come after it.
