music.

1. Greek Pop/ Modern Music

2. Greek Modern/ Pop genres
 Considering how widespread music itself is within Greece and its culture
it is hard to comprehend the immense scarcity of new or even pop music
that can be viewed or researched. I noticed there is not much evidence on
the internet at least of modernized or pop music coming from Greece.
Even so I found the importance of music within the Greek culture has not
changed much as it is still holds a significant part in peoples daily lives.
 With this being said, for the majority of new music and genres available
online it became apparent that they mostly relate to previous traditional
genres however some upgrades and tweaks can be seen. An obvious
difference between the traditional music era where all the genres were
specific to a culture or region, can be viewed with the modernized music
containing a combination of various Greek themes and cultural
influences.

3. LaÏko
 Is probably the most famous or practiced music genre residing in Greece today. Laïko is
considered urban folk music because it is mainly controlled by the already established Greek folk
music. It has adapted in so many ways over the years that it has become the word for Greek
Popular music as a whole. It contains styles used in both Rebetiko and Demotika along with the
majority of their instruments as well. As the genre got older it began to split into sub genres the
two being Classic Laïko and Contemporary or modern Laïko.
 Classic Laïko was popular in Greece during the 1960s and 1970s. It was the first evolution of
traditional Greek music culture and is still around today. Many artists at the time used a
combination of éntekhno and laïko traditions to create music which ended up working out really
well for them.
 Contemporary laïko is currently the mainstream music genre found within Greece. It is refered
more frequently in its plural form known as contemporary Iaiká which contains elafro laïkó which
is a more cheerful light form of laïkó. Within this sub genre artists still combine the traditions of
laïkó and éntekhno where they continued to excel. A major part of the contemporary Iaiká culture
is the “Písta” or night club/ venue where DJ’s only play contemporary Iaiká. The most modern
aspect of contemporary Iaiká is mixing the already mainstream LaÏko music with modern western
music culture.

4. Rebetiko
 Rebetiko was born in the smoke shops and underground cafes found within Piraeus and the city
of Thessaloniki. It traveled through the people who had lost their homes in Asia Minor after being
attacked by the Turks. These people were rejected by their own native culture simply because they
didn't live in Greece. This however led to the creation of Rebetiko as it was used as their voice to
describe the atrocities they had been through including loosing their home, poverty, police
oppression, hunger and rejection.
 In the beginning it was often frowned upon to listen to such music within the Greek culture as it
was regarded as foreign trash. This opinion quickly changed however as it was soon being played
at nightclubs all around Athens. The main instruments seen in this genre were the bouzouki an
eight string oval shaped instrument, baglama which is similar to a bouzouki but smaller,a guitar,
ziyia and the ntefi.
 Although it lost some popularity when rock and roll was introduced in America It still remained
solid throughout the years. Some musicians were even able to incorporate rock and roll into it
thus making it more popular among those in Greece who enjoyed it. It has been molded into many
shapes by new artists looking to create a new popular sound. Today most Rebetiko music
encompasses personal and political freedom, the journey of everyday life, pain and the
connections between this generation and drugs. The genre is still played frequently inside of
taverns and at local gatherings in Greece so I would consider it a modern form of Greek music
especially because it is still very relevant today even in the United States.

5. Rebetiko/ Lakïo Instruments
Bouzouki
Baglama
Guitar
Ntefi
Ziyia

6. Famous Pop/ Modern Greek Musicians
 The amount of Modern/ Pop Greek musicians seen today are very scarce however I was able to
find a few.
 George Dalaras is a Greek singer and musician born in Piraeus, Greece. He is well known within
the Greek contemporary musical culture. He also has over 70 personal albums with more than 15
million records sold today. George has worked with many other talented Greek artists like Mikis
Theodorakis who I mentioned was very important to the Greek music culture in the last
presentation.
 Dionysis Savvopoulos although a Greek singer is more renowned for his song writing. He was
born in Thessaloniki, Greece. and has had a sort of strange job history as at one point he worked
as a nude model for the Athens School for Fine Arts. Through his music Dionysis was able to
encompass the use of many other artists styles in his songs these include the politically incisive
lyrics, folk tunes from Macedonia and Rebetiko music all of which was very popular within
Greece.
 Stavros Xarhakos is a Greek composer and conductor who was born in Athens, Greece. Within
Greek music culture he is mainly recognized for composing music for theater and cinema. He
focused the majority of his time on the popular Greek music genre known as LaÏko but also
dabbled in the classical genre too. He has 42 albums, 21 film scores, and has made music for 15
Television productions. Stavros has served as the director of the National Orchestra of Greek
Music and was even elected a member of the Greek Parliament twice before later becoming a
member of the European Parliament, overall he was very busy man.

7. Sources
 “Stavros Xarhakos.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/name/nm0944366/.
 “Stavros Xarchakos.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Sept. 2020,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stavros_Xarchakos.
 “Music of Greece.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Dec. 2020,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Greece.
 “Rebetiko.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Oct. 2020,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebetiko.
 “George Dalaras.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Dec. 2020,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Dalaras.
 “Dionysis Savvopoulos.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Dec. 2020,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysis_Savvopoulos.
 “Laïko.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Oct. 2020,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La%C3%AFko.