Prior to the arrival in Greece of the Asia Minor refugees, the instrumentation of the rembetika and cafe aman musics was distinct; a rembetic performer such as Markos Vamvakaris would sing a song accompanied only by one or two bouzoukia or baglamades, perhaps a guitar, whereas a Smyrneic singer such as Antonis Dalgas might sing with an orchestra of outi and lyra or violin. In the years that followed the population exchange, co-mingling of the two styles, musicians’ catering to popular taste, even government action (such as the banning of the bouzouki or the attempt to rid music in Greece of its “Turkish” element), led the rembetika and cafe aman musicians to embrace instruments from both schools. As musical lines became blurred, the cafe aman musicians adopted the bouzouki (when its popularity became apparent) and rembetika was recorded with instruments such as the accordion, violin, and guitar.
Rembetika
Early rembetika was an amateur music, which the performers played mainly for themselves and their friends in the tekedhes (hash dens), prisons or other gathering places. The primary instruments were the bouzouki and baglama; rhythm might be tapped out by foot, or with spoons, glasses, komboloi, or on the soundboard of another bouzouki.
Bouzouki
The bouzouki is a lute-like instrument, with a pear-shaped body (skafi) made of staves. It has a wooden soundboard or table, with one large soundhole; the neck is quite long. The bouzouki is considered by some to be a descendent of the tambouras, by others a cousin of the Turkish saz family; whatever its lineage, forms of the bouzouki have been in use in Greece for centuries: the ancient Greeks apparently had a tamboura-like instrument called the padhoura or trichordon. The modern bouzouki has four courses (sets) of strings generally tuned (low to high) C-F-A-D (Do-Fa-La-Re); the higher notes are doubled in unison, the lower two notes with octave doubling (though often a bouzouki player removes the octave strings). Today’s bouzouki player generally uses a plectrum (penna). The early bouzouki was a much more subtle and delicate instrument. It had three courses of strings, lightly strung, and was often played with the fingernails; therefore the sound differed from the bouzouki of today. Early bouzouki players used numerous tunings, or douzeni; Vamvakaris is said to have known ten. (A discussion of douzeni can be found on the Music page of this site.) In the 1950’s, Manolis Hiotis added a fourth course of strings to his bouzouki and altered the tuning to simplify fingerings and to make for more virtuostic playing. These changes also made for easier chordal accompaniment as Greek music moved away from its modal roots toward Western harmonization. An interesting note: it was not until the 1930’s that the bouzouki became an acceptable instrument in Greece. In America, the bouzouki was not frowned upon, and it was the recordings made there by Greek emigres that finally broke the taboo of the bouzouki in Greece. And witness its stellar rise: despite Metaxas’ attempt to rid Greek music of the bouzouki in the late 30’s, the bouzouki is THE instrument associated with Greece today.
Baglama
The baglama has been described as a baby bouzouki. Its shape is similar to the bouzouki, though its skafi is often hollowed out of a single material (e.g. wood, a gourd) rather than staved. The baglama has remained a three-course instrument like the bouzouki of old and often tuned D-A-D’ (Re-La-Re’) though, again, a number of tunings can be used. The baglama was the instrument of choice for rembetic musicians because of its small size: it was easy to conceal either under a coat on the street, or in a jail cell where many rembetes spent a great deal of time. The baglama could be used to play a melodic line, or used as a drone or rhythmic accompaniment.
Rhythm Instruments
Drums were not used in early rembetika. Rhythm was supplied by the tapping of a foot, or by glasses (such as the small, thick glasses used for ouzo) held two in a hand, clinked together by the movement of opening and closing the hand. Komboloi (worry beads) could also be used as a rhythm instrument: they could be attached to a button on a shirt, then “strummed” with the top of a glass (a unique sound, which can be heard in several songs recorded by Yiovan Tsaous), or the glass could simply be struck with the komboloi. Another option was to tap out the rhythm on the soundboard of another bouzouki or baglama.