Giorgos Katsaros

This is both a fabulous historical document and a musical treat from the rebetika heyday of Greek émigrés to the US. The singer and guitarist Giorgos Katsaros started his musical career in Greece when he was very young, and on moving to the US in 1917 he continued to perform and develop his personal style of rebetika before starting to record in the 1920s. The ten tracks on this album all date from the late-20s and early-30s and, coming from almost pristine 78s, sound so fresh it is like time travel. Although the singer-songwriter, guitar-and-voice combination is a little different from the bouzouki-based rebetika many of us are familiar with, the songs themselves are classic examples of the style, dealing with all the usual themes of loss, drug-taking and dubious nightlife that we have come to expect. Stand-out tracks include ‘Look What a Mangas I Am’, ‘Last Night at Garipi’s and the splendid ‘Since You Don’t Want Me as Your Partner’, but the whole album is a gem and an experience rebetika fans will not want to miss.