Tuesday 15th June, 7.45pm
Director: Ed Emery
The SOAS Rebetiko Band is made up of semi-professional and amateur musicians based in London. It developed out of ethnomusicology seminars organised by Ed Emery at the School of Oriental and African Studies [SOAS] and monthly jam sessions in a London pub in Clerkenwell. It brings together Greek, Turkish, Cypriot, and British musicians. Our repertoire includes music from the Greek, Turkish, Arabic and Jewish musical traditions.
The composition of the band - a varying membership between 5 and 20 depending on the event - reflects the roots of Rebetiko in the common culture of the Aegean and Anatolia and Greece. Rebetiko was born at the beginning of the twentieth century out of the emigration and population exchanges that followed the First World War. It sings of hardship, prison, poverty, war and love. It is unsentimental and unromantic but at the same time moving and human. As well as melody and lyric, dance is a vital element of Rebetiko, in particular the Hasapiko of old Constantinople and the Zeibekiko of Anatolia.
The histories of the peoples of the Aegean are often tragic, not least at the hands of each other. Our songs commemorate them. At the same time, by making music together, we celebrate a common heritage and embody hope for the future of this culturally rich and dynamic part of the Mediterranean.
To view a video of Ed's latest project, click here