With a discography of more than 50 albums, George Dalaras has shaped modern Greek music since the 1960s. Now, together with his ten-piece band, he pays tribute on stage to Rembetiko — the “blues” of Greece — where the melancholy and joy of the Greek soul are reflected like nowhere else.
Over a century ago, the port of Piraeus was simmering with change. The 1.5 million Greeks expelled from Asia Minor had brought with them their oriental-influenced songs. In taverns, hash dens, and prisons — among sailors, smugglers, and outlaws — these songs evolved into laments accompanied by the bouzouki. It was the birth of Rembetiko, a genre later banned under the dictatorship of 1936. Today, this former subculture has become an integral part of Greek music, modernized over the past decades by the country’s most renowned artists.
From the very beginning, Rembetiko has also shaped the artistic path of George Dalaras. Although he has explored every facet of Greek music — from world music to electronic sounds — and collaborated both domestically (from Mikis Theodorakis to Vicky Leandros) and internationally (from Paco de Lucía and Sting to Bruce Springsteen), his spiritual mentor has always been Rembetiko pioneer Markos Vamvakaris. It is to this genre that Dalaras returns time and again — this time in a richly orchestrated and sonically vibrant form.
