PandorasBOX reveals a performance of Rembetika music. Documented live at the Enmore Theatre, Sydney, CARNIVALE multicultural arts festival, 2003. The music conjures a smoky taverna on the island of Kythera, & images of Piraeus & Athens, Greece 1930s. Special thanks to musician Archie Acropoulos (Melbourne, Australia).
The performance begins with two ouzo glasses beating together to create a rythmn. The accordian wheezes out a Parisian style haunting melody. Archie picks an elaborate taximia on his miniature Bouzouki or is that a Baglamas? Nina is too intoxicated to know. But the modal arabic tones mix with the orthodox drones in the taverna. The dancers get up in a trance, cigarette drooping from the lip & dance the Zembekiko, just like Zorba the Greek, but with an arabic twist the Tsiftateli dance. Fingers slide and create another taximia (ornamental road) in the music. The dancer sits down & orders another metaxa. An old man in the corner swings his Kombolio worry beads, repositions his sharp Manghes styles hat & checks out the street angel with red lipstick in the doorway.