On September 16 and 17, 2022 TUSFM hosted its first multimedia festival “Rebetiko”, loosely translated as “Rebel music”, a musical and cultural expression directly linked to Asia-Minor singing and dance styles that initially spread among the urban working-class populations. Rebetiko Festival presented live concert and dance performances by Krista Papista, Plastelini, Ceytengri and Hogir Göregen; safer clubbing experiences with Rafush’s afrobeats set, ambient EBM of Etkin Çekin (God is God), Greek and Middle Eastern vinyl DJ set of Freak Ass A and reggatone beats of rza; queerfeminist poetry by Elnaz Farahbakhsh and prosa reading by Duygu Agal from her/his book “Yeni Yeserenler”, a theatratical piece by Angelo on the displaced middle eastern women, video works of ZAK Kostopoulos, a drag queen and musician who was killed in Athens on September 21-2018 followig a hate-crime assult, the screening of the film “Liebe, D-Mark und Tod” which have sceenes from rza’s former off-location queerfeminist collective Dümtek’s work and a chat with the director Cem Kaya and with a speculative black storytelling performance aka UdK graduation project of Heiko-Thandeka Ncube, our dearest long-time friend & comrade who committed suice on June 9,2023, leaving a significant body of work on film, fine arts, art education & criticism on race, religion, mythology, nature and history.

About Rebetiko

Developed by musicians who were forced to leave Asia Minor (present day Anatolian Turkey) to Greece due to their ethno-religious background in the beginning of 20th century, Rebetiko was mainly founded by the intercommunal music brought together by the Greek survivors of the Ottoman Empire coming from Smyrna (Izmir), Constantinople (Istanbul) and other urban centers. Inscribed on UNESCO‘s “Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”, Rebetiko (loosely translated as “Rebel music”) is a musical and cultural expression directly linked to song and dance that initially spread among the urban working-class populations. Liberal, anti-authoritarian, slightly self destructive, but most of all honest and straightforward to the feelings and real life experiences of the Rebets (musicians), this genre is still a matter of interest, attraction and inspiration for the poetics of the everyday life. The genre draws influence from various Byzantine, Greek, Turkish, Roma, Armenian, Jewish and other urban and local musical conventions that were once scattered around the Ottoman Empire but came together in mainland Greece, producing an entirely unique sound.

Like most forms that can be loosely described as “urban blues” (rai, flamenco, fado, and tango), the rebetika was regarded as working class and disreputable. However, Rebetiko’s capacity to be current and to reflect the multiculturalism of the time makes it quite authentic. The artistic components of Rebetiko “are close to the magic of spontaneous creativity, and yet they have the surety of a tradition behind them, and a social framework where musician and listener are united by the mutual recognition of being outside” (Road to Rembetika 77).
The musical cross-fertilisation or hybridisation that creates such styles is only possible when people are forced into close proximity and share a common experience of social marginalisation. That’s why Rebetika has historically been about an underground attitude.

words by rza

original track of the festival video by Plastelini

Video Documentation by Platon Yiannakakis

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