Music began - all rembetes know it - with a howl lamenting a loss.  The howl became a prayer and from the hope in the prayer started music, which can never forget its origin.  In it, hope and loss are a pair.
                       ---John Berger,
                                     To the Wedding

   Over seventy-five years ago, in the slums of Piraeus and Athens, two distinct musical styles began to merge:  the rembetika music of the outcasts and outlaws of mainland Greece and the smyrneika of the Christian refugees from Asia Minor.  This music has been experiencing a rebirth, and as a rabid rembetika fan, I'd like to do my small bit in helping it along with this overview.  I hope you'll read ahead and learn a bit about the history of rembetika, its instruments and musicians, enjoy some listening suggestions, and take advantage of links to other related (and not-so-related) sites.  May you enjoy browsing through these pages as much as I enjoyed putting them together.