20/01/2019 Aman Yala: Rembetiko of the Month

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AMAN YALA
AWAKE, ÆOLIAN LYRE, AWAKE, AND GIVE TO RAPTURE ALL THY TREMBLING STRINGS. ‑THOMAS
GRAY

THURSDAY, MAY 18 ABOUT ME

Rembetiko of the Month SANDOURI DEAN BEY

BOSTON,
MASSACHUSETTS,
I figured I should write
UNITED STATES
something about the song
Reflections of a gay
to which I alluded in last
Greek‑American musician in search
month’s post, since it’s
of a hamam.
one of my personal
VIEW MY COMPLETE PROF ILE
favorites and, as I’ve said
previously, it was my first
real introduction to
PREVIOUS POSTS
Rembetika as an adult.
Aklını başından almak

The song is Ο Ψύλλος (O Georgia on My Mind

Psilos), or “The Flea.” It A New Third Party?
was written by Stavros Prepare the Sphinx
Pantelidis and recorded in A Tale of Three Deans
Athens in 1932 by Rita Abadzi and Kostas Masselos (aka Nouros) on From One Fanatic to Another
either bouzouki or guitar. Like Abadzi, not much is known about Αΐντε γαμήσου, ρε μαλάκες
Nouros other than that he was born in Smyrna around 1892. I asked
No Iraqi Left Behind
my cousin G, who is quite knowledgeable and has a sizeable
Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary
collection of Rembetika 78rpms. Here’s what he said:
Outiboy weighs in

Kostas Nouros was an early singer from

the 20s up to the mid 30s but primarily MY SERIES

early to late 20s—known for αμανέδες Rembetiko of the Month

(amanedes) but certainly not the best— January ● February ● March ● April ●
May ● June ● July ● September ●
he cut a ton of αμανέδες and a few
September ● October ● November ●
songs, one of them Ο Μυλωνάς (O February
Mylonas) with Roza Eskinazi and
Göz Lokumu
Στελλίτσα (Stellitsa), which is a take‑off
11.11.05 ● 1.2.06 ● 1.30.06 ●
on Τσακιτζής (Tsakitzis)—also with Roza. 2.13.06 ● 3.7.06 ● 4.5.06 ● 6.5.06 ●
I’ve never seen any pictures of him 7.23.06 ● 8.2.06 ● 8.8.06 ● 9.26.06 ●
10.27.06
playing an instument. He seems to have
been full of himself and had a penchant for young boys. On A Piano Should Fall on His/Her Head
one record I have you can hear Stellakis Perpiniadis saying “Νά March ● April ● May ● July ● August
● September ● December ● March ●
πεθάνεις, πούστη” (Drop dead, faggot) at the end of the
May
record.

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20/01/2019 Aman Yala: Rembetiko of the Month
GOOD READS

It might be more accurate to say that Nouros had a penchant for Salonica: City of Ghosts by Mark
young men, but who’s to know? Similarly, I don’t know for sure what Mazower
it is that Nouros is playing, but we know he’s playing something in Ο Bisexuality in the Ancient World by
Ψύλλος because at the end of the song, Abadzi says “Γειά σου, Νούρε Eva Cantarella
μου” (Yassou, my Nouros). She was nicer than Perpiniadis. Farewell Anatolia by Dido Sotiriou
The Intimate World of Abraham
~ Lincoln by C.A. Tripp
The Line of Beauty by Alan
When I was a kid, we listened to a lot of Greek music at home (in Hollinghurst
addition to Sinatra, whom my father loved). While there was some Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
traditional island music, mostly what I heard would be considered
Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography by
Laïka (λαϊκά), which is the term generally used to describe Greek John Dominic Crossan
urban folk or “pop(ular) music,” as opposed to Greek urban blues,
which is Rembetika. While there are clearly differences between
Rembetika and Laïka—namely, Laïka, to my knowledge, never bore FAVORITE BLOGS
the stigma of unsavory associations as did Rembetika—I often think of
Laïka as the child of Rembetika. The situation is similar to that of
immigrants and their children; the first‑generation parent
(Rembetika) bears the taint of being foreign and “other,” while the
second‑generation child (Laïka) is accepted and assimilated by the
dominant culture, while retaining something of its roots. That’s not a
perfect analogy, I know.

Laïka was heavily influenced by the Rembetika tradition (both the

Piraeus and the Smyrnaïc Schools). Moreover, Laïka retained much of
Rembetika’s style, rhythms, and instrumentation, like the bouzouki,
accordion, and violin. There’s even an occasional sandouri thrown in.
However, Laïka was embraced by the dominant culture in Greece in a
way that Rembetika never was. In some ways, Laïka could be SpectrumBloggers.com
considered “Rembetika‑Light.” Some might say that as soon as
Rembetika moved away from the margins, it became tamer and less
edgy, and Laïka was born.

Nonetheless, I myself have a difficult time distinguishing late  

Gay and
Rembetika from early Laïka. I consider artists from the post‑War era
Lesbian & fun
(late 1940s and early 1950s)—artists like Stelios Kazantzidis (1931 – cool stuff
2001), Marika Ninou (1918 – 1956), and Rena Dalia (1934 – 2000)—as
having a foot on either side of the line separating these two musical
traditions. These are artists about whom I plan to post at some future
point, because their music, residing in the transitional zone between
Rembetika and Laïka, is worth celebrating in its own right. BlogAdvance Top Blogs

What does all this have to do with Ο Ψύλλος? The point is that the
Laïka to which I was exposed as a child retained enough of its
Blogwise ‑ blog directory
Rembetika roots that when I first heard a genuine Rembetika song
like Ο Ψύλλος, I was immediately hooked. Although I had never
listened to real Rembetika as a kid, both the melody and overall style
Bloggapedia ‑ Find It!
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20/01/2019 Aman Yala: Rembetiko of the Month

of Ο Ψύλλος was similar enough to what I had grown up listening to

that the song—and the other Rembetika tunes that I began to
discover—seemed instantly familiar to me. Plus, I fell in love with
Abadzi’s voice. It wasn’t long before I came across her αμανέδες as
well as other songs by other artists from that era. It was around that
time that I started playing the sandouri and began exploring
Rembetika in earnest.
BlogMad!
In Ο Ψύλλος, Abadzi is accompanied by the bouzouki as opposed to
the kanonaki, outi, and violin that often characterized the music of
the Smyrnaïc School. Also, Ο Ψύλλος is an aptalikos dance, which is
in 9/8 time and sometimes referred to as a fast Zeïmbekiko. The
makam used here—Houzam—was
a common Rembetiko makam.
Another example is Eskenazi’s
Gazeli Houzam, recorded in
1933 with Dimitris Semsis on violin and Agapios Tomboulis on oud.

While it probably is a stretch to put this tune in the Piraeus School,

to my ear it has more in common with the less polished, more raw,
and edgier music of the τεκέδες (te‑KE‑dhes)—or hash dens—and
bordellos than it does with the Café Aman establishments of Smyrna,
Constantinople, and Athens in which the Smyrnaïc School flourished.

Finally, the song’s reference to a flea is itself a nod not only to the
gritty themes that characterized Rembetika, but also to the seedy
and squalid conditions of the shantytowns that sprang up around
Athens and Piraeus following the Asia Minor catastrophe of 1922.

One of the things that I like about Ο Ψύλλος is its playful and
provocative lyrics. In fact, they’re downright kinky.

Click here to listen.

Νά ήμουν ψύλλος, μάτια μου, αμάν αμάν,

θά’ρθώ γιά νά τρυπώνω τό τρυφερό σου τό κορμί
νά στό κεντώ με πόνο.

Ψύλλος θά γίνω, άσπλαχνη, αφού δεν με λυπάσαι,

καί θά’ρχομαι νά σ’ενοχλώ την ώρα πού κοιμάσαι.

Άχ, πές τό ναί, τσαχπίνα μου, αμάν αμάν,

γιατί θά μετανοιώσεις.
Ψύλλος θά γίνω, άπονη, καί δεν θά μου γλυτώσεις.

Ρέ, μήν μου κάνεις τσαλιμιές καί άσε τά γινάτια.

Γιά σε καί τίγρης θά γινώ γιά τά γλυκά σου μάτια.

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20/01/2019 Aman Yala: Rembetiko of the Month

I wish I were a flea, my darling, aman aman,

so that I could burrow into your tender body
and embroider it with pain.

I’ll become a flea, you heartless bitch,

because you don’t care for me,
and I’ll come to molest you while you sleep.

Oh, say yes to me, you little flirt, aman aman,

or else you’ll regret it.

I’ll become a flea, uncaring bitch,

and you won’t escape me.

Don’t try your tricks on me;

you’re only doing it to spite me, so stop it.
I’ll become a tiger for you; for your sweet eyes.

Abadzi was a favorite of my mother’s older siblings, who were born

during Rembetika’s heyday. As a result, their earliest musical
memories were of artists like Eskenazi, Abadzi, Semsis, and
Ogdontakis. She’s probably my favorite too. I am fortunate to own a
78rpm of Ο Ψύλλος from the 1930s. My cousin G—not the one whom I
quoted above—gave it to me. It had been lying around in his garage
ever since his father‑in‑law had given it to him. I find it interesting
that on my copy, the title is misspelled. It’s written as Ο Ψίλος.

Shown above is Rita Abadzi at the height of her popularity. Below her
is Kostas Nouros (seated on the right) with an unnamed friend in
1938.

Recommended Listening:
Rembetika: Historic Urban Folk Songs from Greece

POSTED BY SANDOURI DEAN B EY AT 12:55 AM

2 COMMENTS:

 guy among the trees said...

"I’ll become a flea, you heartless bitch, because you don’t care for
me,and I’ll come to molest you while you sleep."

Wow, those are lyrics one does not encounter every day!
9:34 AM

 Sandouri Dean Bey said...

yup, that's Rembetika...

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9:36 AM

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