The book "From the Pandoura to the Piraeus Rebetiko. The Rebetika of War and Occupation" by Georgios Ath. Makris is a concise yet comprehensive history of the rebetiko song, which – by common consensus – is intrinsic to the identity of the modern Greek.

The songs "of War and Occupation" in particular, where Georgios Makris primarily focuses, constitute one of the peak expressions of rebetiko. The author examines rebetiko in its evolution over time and integrates it into its socio-political context, rekindling knowledge regarding cultural influences and practices from various fields of art that decisively contributed to shaping the content and style of the rebetiko song.

From the pages of the book, the major contributors parade: composers and lyricists, musicians, and performers, as well as the musical instruments that accompanied the rebetiko song from its inception to the present day. Special mention is made of its reception by the society of the time, as well as the relentless persecutions suffered for many years by the greatest rebetes until the ultimate recognition of rebetiko song in the collective consciousness.

Its institutional recognition is also marked by its inclusion in UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage. The publication is complemented by an appendix and a CD featuring twenty rebetika songs "of War and Occupation" performed by the musical group "Parapetameni".

Contents

Preface
1. The roots of rebetiko as part of Greek urban song
2. Requiem for rebetiko
3. The wandering of the pandoura – the ancestor of the bouzouki – in the Greek territory
Secular music in the Byzantine period
“In the beginning was the Word”
Fall of Constantinople - Ottoman rule
Athens as the capital of Greece
Greek music after the Revolution and its influences
Other cultural movements, musical and theatrical venues
4. The musical tradition of Smyna. "Ah, Smyna, my mother"
5. Urban folk song in Greece. The geopolitical situation of Greece and the Balkans at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century
6. Greece's reception and integration of the refugees from Smyna into its social fabric
Smyna
Piraeus
Drapetsona
Athens
Music and musicians in the new “homeland”
The Piraeus rebetiko
Markos of rebetiko
7. The rebetiko songs of War, Occupation, and Resistance
The rebetes with weapons and pen
Athens, Occupation 1941-1944 and rebetes
The outline of the German-Italian Occupation
The musicians of rebetiko during the Metaxas dictatorship and the Occupation
Occupation with puppet governments
The punishment
Black marketers and collaborators with the Germans
The market
The occupying casinos and the collaborators
National Resistance
The uprising in the hell of Auschwitz-Birkenau and the songs of Markos
January 11, 1944. The bombing of Piraeus
The end of World War II
The rebetiko songs of War, Occupation, and Resistance
Bibliography
Appendix
The songs of War and Occupation