Markos Vamvakaris

Originating from Syros, the self-taught bouzouki musician Markos Vamvakaris laid down tracks in a rounder-inflected Rembetica idiom for major imprints including Columbia, Parlophon, and Odeon throughout the 1930s and the first part of the 1940s. Vocals formed a regular part of his output, supported by additional players on guitar, the toumbeleki hand drum, and the baglamas, a stringed instrument counted among the bouzouki family. His words frequently took a direct stance, naming hashish smoking and streetwalkers without hesitation, though he ventured outside those themes to issue a patriotic piece as Greece neared occupation by Italian forces. While fluent in the melodic, sorrowful strains of the Greek tradition, he could shift without warning into a more raucous mode.