Rembetiko (Xarhakos) [Soundtrack]

I have over a hundred greek recordings and this soundtrack by stavros xarhakos is one of the best i have ever heard. the instruments get into the soul and the singing is powerful and soulful as well.

Stavros Xarhakos's "Rembetiko" OST is of course a firm classic and three generations of Greeks have been giving it its due respect and adoration.
I am not sure if this white version with the English/German lettering contains all the songs of the original (the proper Greek yellow version has 2 discs), but I definitely hope it does, as all songs are classics, even the instrumentals- although the songs with lyrics are much better known in Greece, of course. In fact, you could play this OST to any Greek and most of them will be immediately able to recognise most of the songs (and sing along to some) with the possible exception of the "Hasapika nos. 22 and 36".

In any event, if you are a purist and want to own the real thing (and you can read Greek characters), I would suggest you buy the yellow covered version of this OST, with the entirely Greek lettering. The yellow covered version is the original one and it proudly sports the original cover work for the CD, created by one of Greece's most famous painters, Yannis Tsarouhis.

This CD is easily worth 5 stars (based on the yellow version which I own); rarely can a contemporary composer create "modern" rembetika in the original vain of the old rembetika songs from the beginning/middle of the 20th century, and Xarhakos has done just that here. When I was younger I hadn't even realised that he had composed most of these songs himself. I thought they were reworked covers of old original rembetika from Minor Asia. Some ("Ta paidia tis Amynas", "Imitlerim", "Erinaki") are indeed covers of old songs, but the most famous songs on this OST are his. The classics for us Greeks are the heart-chilling amanes(=mourning song) "Mana mou Ellas" (where he's mourning Greece's children- how timely!), "Stou Thoma" and "Stin Amfiali".

The lyrics to almost all of these songs are written by another well known and beloved (to us Greeks) personage, Nikos Gatsos, who is responsible for writing lyrics to hundreds of post-dictatorship 20th century Greek songs, which are known and can be instantly sung by pretty much everyone in Greece. Gatsos has collaborated with almost every single one of the most loved (post-dictatorship 20th century) Greek composers.

As regards the actual movie, I have to confess I found it excellent- and it was a rather expensive production for Greek standards. It has always been very hard to find funding for making good quality films with big budgets in Greece, so it is amazing they managed to even make this when they did. But you'd probably have to be a Greek - or closely familiar with 20th century Greek history - to appreciate it (it might also help if you were not in the right wing camp during the Greek civil war in the 1950s; this is not the film for conservatives, but interestingly, the songs have universal appeal to every single Greek - while the movie just doesn't have the same pull for obvious political reasons). Either way it is a classic and at least it is a film made by Greeks for Greeks, unlike, say, "Corelli's Mandolin".

This movie appears to have something of a cult following, both in Greece and outside, so what I'm about to say will probably upset a few people: this is a mediocre movie saved by a great soundtrack. The plot has been done to death, much of the acting is in the Middle Eastern soap opera vein, and the whole thing is just too long (two and a half hours) - it aims for a portrait of an epoch but only manages a costume drama.

BUT the music is out of this world. Some of the songs make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. ...Plus Sotiria Leonardou is mighty easy on the eye. For those two reasons, four stars.