Markos Vamvakaris I
Markos Vamvakaris
Minos EMI
724348041326
| 1 | O Hasapis |
| 2 | Sta sidera me valane |
| 3 | O Harmanis |
| 4 | O Dervisis |
| 5 | Plimmyra |
| 6 | An eisai magkas |
| 7 | Psila ti htizeis ti folia |
| 8 | Zito pantou o kaimenos |
| 9 | An theleis na me dis gabro |
| 10 | Ta dyo sou heria pirane |
| 11 | Foras foustani vyssini |
| 12 | Soultana mayrofora |
| 13 | Siganopapaditsa |
| 14 | Af otou egennithika |
| 15 | Me planepses boemissa |
| 16 | An fygoume ston polemo |
| 17 | Maroko |
| 18 | Taximi Zeibekiko |
This series of discs is the ultimate for the serious Rebetiko fan who is interested in quality conversions of 78rpm records. Put simply, most of these tracks appear to have been taken from brand new 78s, being played for the first time. The usual surface noise that one hears is almost entirely absent, but the original sounds of the recordings are all there. You are not going to find better recordings of Markos Vamvakaris anywhere.
You can still get this from Studio 52, at present (2004). Quite a few of the CDs in this series have gone out of stock already, so we must hope that Minos EMI see what a good idea it would be to make some more.
I am not going to write about any particular track, except to say that the taximia at the end is a superb piece of trichordo bouzouki playing. Everything on this CD is excellent. It comes with a forty page booklet, with Markos's biography, full page notes and lyrics for each track. If it had been in English it would have been perfect, but I will just have to work harder at learning Greek.