Ma che vita e questa? - 85 canzoni rebetike

At the beginning of the twentieth century, during a period of intense economic crisis, and subsequent to the huge wave of refugees following the 1922 Asia Minor Catastrophe, the Greek capital and the main port of the country become the focal point, where various layers of the population arrived in search of better living conditions. A varied “human material” that sought to define its personal and social space, giving voice and body to the sense of the ephemeral in all its areas of action. The 85 songs in this anthology represent “snapshots” of the difficult living conditions, poverty and repression, and describe situations on the borderline between legality and illegality; more generally, the consequences of the economic, political and social crisis on a human being as an individual and a social being, and above all on love and interpersonal relationships. The anthology is prefaced by a lengthy critical introduction, a presentation of comments on the individual lyrics of the songs, a biography of the authors and a complete glossary of rebetiko terms.