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Biography

Μάρκος Βαμβακάρης {Markos Vamvakaris} (1905-1972) was a rembetika singer, composer, and bouzouki player. Vamvakaris was born on 10th May 1905 in Ano Chora, Syros, Greece. His family belonged to the sizeable Roman Catholic community of the island, the Frankosyrians, a name deriving from the common Greek reference to West Europeans collectively as "Franks". At the age of twelve, believing he was wanted by the police, Vamvakaris left Syros and went to Piraeus. He worked as a stevedore, at a coal...

Μάρκος Βαμβακάρης {Markos Vamvakaris} (1905-1972) was a rembetika singer, composer, and bouzouki player.

Vamvakaris was born on 10th May 1905 in Ano Chora, Syros, Greece. His family belonged to the sizeable Roman Catholic community of the island, the Frankosyrians, a name deriving from the common Greek reference to West Europeans collectively as "Franks".

At the age of twelve, believing he was wanted by the police, Vamvakaris left Syros and went to Piraeus. He worked as a stevedore, at a coal mine, as a polisher, paperman, and butcher, and at other jobs. He heard a bouzouki player called Crazy Nick playing, and swore that if he did not learn to play the instrument in six months he would cut off his hand with a cleaver (he was working in the Athens slaughterhouse at the time). He learned bouzouki, becoming an innovative virtuoso player, and began to compose music, and write songs. At first he often played in hashish smoking establishments known as Tekes, later he and his band, which included Giorgos Batis, Anestis Delias and Stratos Pagioumtzis played in more legitimate clubs. They were extremely popular, and Markos made many recordings.

Vamvakaris recorded his first rembetiko disc, "Να 'ρχόσουνα ρε μάγκα μου" (Na 'rchosouna re manga mou) in 1934. Among other songs in that period, he wrote the classic love songs "Frangkosyriani" (Franco-Syrian Girl) and "Ta matoklada sou lampoun" (Your Eyelashes Shine).

After the liberation of Greece from the occupation of Nazi Germany, difficult times arrived, since his kind of music was no longer fashionable. He had to amend many of his songs during the dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas. He also suffered badly with arthritis in his hands. The slump in his fortunes lasted until the end of the 1950s, when after initiatives by Vassilis Tsitsanis, many of his old songs were revived, sung by famous artists including Grigoris Bithikotsis, and Stratos Dionysiou. That was how he made his comeback on the scene, becoming known as one of the greatest figures of rebetiko. Vamvakaris died on 8th February 1972 at the age of 66. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.