Road to Rembetika: Music from a Greek sub-culture songs of love, sorrow and hashish by Gail Holst.

Road to Rembetika: Music from a Greek sub-culture songs of love, sorrow and hashish by Gail Holst. Hardcover book published by Anglo-Hellenic Publishing 1977, 176 pages with black and white photographs and one black and white map. EX LIBRARY

As some of you may have noticed, I like music... and all sorts of music. Throughout my life i've considered music to be an adventure and something that should be explored. Over the years I've found that sometimes i hear something new and then consciously make a decision not to pursue that line of sonic exploration, choosing instead to venture elsewhere within the plethora of auditory worlds. Sometimes I dabble within a genre, leave it and then return many years later to further pursue my explorations. Once such genre is Rembetika.

I don't speak Greek and I don't smoke hashish, yet Rembetika has piqued my interest over the years to the point that I own a few CD box sets and a few individual discs, all of which contain vintage recordings as apposed to newer versions... and all of which I haven't listened to in recent years. Listening to the youtube clip above has reignited my Rembetika fire and i've got a feeling that tomorrow may be Rembetika day here at Huc & Gabet... which is a great way of celebrating Australia day.

… oh yeah, the book. I haven't found many/any books specifically about Rembetika before this one, so when I saw it, I figured that there was a high probability that this book would meet my criteria as being a “book of interest”... and without question it is a book of interest, but so far i've had no takers. What's wrong with you all...