Short history of Greek folk music
“Rembetiko” is the name of the Greek urban folk music, that appeared in late 19th century and acquired its familiar form, roughly up to the third decade of 20th century. This music developed mainly in the harbors of Greek cities where the working class lived (Piraeus, Thessaloniki, Volos) and in other urban centers with intense Greek presence (Konstantinoupoli, Smyrni, Syros, Giannena) and afterwards passed in other urban centers too. This musical stream, that was born in the poorest districts and often even in prisons, due to its relation with the lower social classes, ...
Bouzouki
The bouzouki (plural: bouzoukia) is the mainstay of modern Greek music. It is a stringed instrument with a pear-shaped body and a very long neck. The bouzouki is a member of the 'long neck lute' family and is similar to a mandolin. The front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Initially, the bouzouki had three pairs of strings (tuning D-A-D), while later it acquired a 4th pair of strings and a new tuning (C-F-A-D)...
Baglamas
The baglamas or baglamadaki, a long necked bowl-lute, is a plucked string instrument used in Greek music; it is a version of the bouzouki, but about half long and pitched an octave higher (nominally D-A-D), with unison pairs on the four highest strings and an octave pair on the lower D. The body is often hollowed out from a piece of wood (skaftos construction) or else made from a gourd, but there are also baglamas with staved backs. Musically, the baglamas is most often found supporting the bouzouki in the Piraeus style of rembetika.
Its small size made it particularly popular with...