I am not Greek, nor a musician, nor even a smoker. But rebetiko, this universe with its anarchic spirit, immediately captivated me as soon as I discovered it. At first, I was intrigued by the environment in which it developed, in the disreputable neighborhoods, in the prisons, in the hash dens, in the ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki.

Then I was mesmerized by the figures of rebetiko, the musicians, the rebetes, the marginalized, brothers in misery and exile. Uprooted from Asia Minor and its coasts, they survived living in shacks in the ports of the big cities. When rebetiko was born, the audience and the musicians were brothers. The outcasts, the dregs of society who sang with that hoarse voice, were disturbing… And now, try to understand.