Benefit for Libertatia squat in Greece. Music with Rebet Guitar

Thursday February 1st 2018, Benefit for Libertatia squat in Greece. Volkseten Vegazulu from 7pm. Music afterwards with Rebet Guitar (Charis Konstantinou).

On 21 January 2018, the fascists attacked the squat Libertatia in the center of Thessaloniki, under the protection of the police after a demo that was called by the Christian fascist groups for the name of Macedonia. The day after, there was a demonstration in the city and 5 people got arrested. All around Greece, there was a call for demonstration against the state and the fascists. It’s not the first time that the police and the fascists work together against the anarchist movement, immigrants, free spaces and queer people. The collective of Libertatia is not giving up and they want to rebuild the social center. This attack is not gonna frighten anybody within the movement. Such an attack makes a stronger movement to fight against the state, the capital, the Christian churches and the fascists.

REBET GUITAR – Rebetiko, the music crossroad between middle east and west from the early 1900’s. Songs about love, joy and sorrow.
A musical sub-culture, a music of the lower classes.
“The womb of rebetiko was the jail and the hash den. It was there that the early rebetes created their songs. They sang in quiet, harsh voices, unforced, one after the other, each singer adding a verse which often bore no relation to the previous verse, and a song often went on for hours. There was no refrain, and the melody was simple and easy.” Ilias Petropoulos
Rebet guitar, focuses on the early rebetiko with one guitar, finger-pick style developed in USA by Giorgos Katsaros (George Curly), Kostas ‘Gus’ Dousias. […Lees verder]

Benefit for the political prisoners in Greece. With Rebet guitarS and Tassos

Monday 22nd May 2017, Solidarity fund for prisoners and persecuted fighters. Volkseten Vegazulu at 7pm. Music from 9pm with With Rebet guitarS (Charis Konstantinou and Jaap Faber) and Tassos (violin).

The Solidarity Fund for prisoners or persecuted militants is a nationwide structure in Greece consisting of individual assemblies in various towns. The structure of the Solidarity Fund supports people who struggle and are persecuted and imprisoned for their involvement in the social and class struggles, for their subversive action within the spectrum of the multiform revolutionary struggle.

We support the imprisoned militants MATERIALLY-ETHICALLY-POLITICALLY
Up until the demolition of the last prison…

Rebet guitarS (Charis Konstantinou and Jaap Faber) and Tassos (violin):
Music from the 30’s, composed A. Kostis, Spyros Peristeris, Kostas Skarvelis, Stelios Chrisynis.
Rebetiko, the music crossroad between middle east and west from the early 1900’s. Songs about love, joy and sorrow. A musical sub-culture, a music of the lower classes.
“The womb of rebetiko was the jail and the hash den. It was there that the early rebetes created their songs. They sang in quiet, harsh voices, unforced, one after the other, each singer adding a verse which often bore no relation to the previous verse, and a song often went on for hours. There was no refrain, and the melody was simple and easy.” Ilias Petropoulos. […Lees verder]

Benefit for the Refugees Squats in Athens. Music with “Rebet guitar +S”

CityPlazaAthensThursday November 17th 2016, Benefit for the Refugees Squats in Athens. Volkseten Vegazulu, 7pm. Music with “Rebet guitar +S”, Jaap Faber and Charis Konstantinou, from 9pm.

Οn 17th of November we hold a benefit for City Plaza and Notara26 squats in Athens. Theses squats have been created in the past couple of years to accommodate refugees and immigrants coming in Athens from Turkey. They are a place where refugees can sleep, eat and socialize without any money needed. The squats are managed by refugees and greeks alike in weekly assemblies.
The City Plaza Refugee squat is the biggest in Athens, in the multicultural area of Acharnon, and started in May 2016. It used to be a hotel closed for almost 10 years. Now it permanently houses more than 300 people from 7 countries. It also offers food three times every day, childcare and medical care. City Plaza Squat also participates in the struggle against racism by organizing rallies and demonstrations. Read more here: http://solidarity2refugees.gr/english/

Notara26 is the first refugee squat in Athens, in Exarcheia, and started in September 2015. At first it was used for temporarily hosting refugee who traveled to Northern Europe. Since the Balkan route closed Notara26 houses permanently more than 100 people from different countries. Food is brought in the squat by cooking collectives and it has also been a gathering place for clothes, medicines and toys. The Notara26 squat was attacked in August 2016 by fascists and as a result it was partly burnt. The squat was very quickly rebuilt and a big antifa demonstration took place is respond to the attack. The Notara26 squat participates in the anti-racist, antifa movement with various demonstrations and events. […Lees verder]

Greek night with ‘Rebet Guitar’

Thursday April 28th 2016, Greek night with ‘Rebet Guitar’, aka Charis Konstantinou. Volkseten Vegazulu, 7pm

Rebetiko, the music crossroad between middle east and west from the early 1900’s. Songs about love, joy and sorrow. A musical sub-culture, a music of the lower classes.
“The womb of rebetiko was the jail and the hash den. It was there that the early rebetes created their songs. They sang in quiet, harsh voices, unforced, one after the other, each singer adding a verse which often bore no relation to the previous verse, and a song often went on for hours. There was no refrain, and the melody was simple and easy.” Ilias Petropoulos
Rebet guitar, focuses on the early Rebetiko with one guitar, finger-pick style.


Rebet guitar-“Ντερτιλήδικο” @ Molli, Amsterdam, April 2015. […Lees verder]

Prisoner support in Chile. Benefit voku and music with Rebet guitarS

20160104_Prisoner_support_in_ChileMonday January 4th 2016, Prisoner support in Chile, Benefit voku. Rebetiko music with ‘Rebet guitarS’ and ‘Rebet guitaR’. Volkseten Vegazulu, 7pm.

Joseba‘ is a comrade from Chile, currently under house arrest until his trial beginning of 2016. He was arrested on 2014 under charges of transporting an incendiary device. He was accused, under false testimonies, of participating in a firebomb attack. Due to personal finances, the case was given to a public defender from the state. Thanks to this lawyer’s irresponsibility and disinterest in the case, necessary legal procedures were never completed and during a routine probation visit, Joseba was arrested a few months ago and put in jail. The state wanted to keep him in preventative imprisonment until his trial in 2016, but thanks to the pressure generated by friends and comrades they were able to change his preventative imprisonment for house arrest.

Earlier in February of 2015, the Chilean state modified the arms control law to classify molotov cocktails as the same as a firearm, increasing the penalties for their use or transportation. In July, 5 students were arrested for a 2014 molotov attack against a station of the PDI (Policía de Investigaciones). During the September 11 demonstrations in memory of Chile’s brutal 17 year long military dictatorship, two students were arrested and charged with transporting an incendiary device. While Joseba‘s case came before the approval of this new repressive legislation, it is obvious that the Chilean state is trying to make an example of cases involving molotov cocktails in order to damper the anarchist and social struggles in this country, making it especially important to support comrades while the state equips itself with ever more repressive laws.

When Joseba‘s trial comes, he will be facing a sentence of up to 5 years and one day. In order to hire a private and sympathetic lawyer for his case, we need to raise money that is impossible for him to raise on his own while under house arrest. Because of this, we are asking for solidarity and monetary support from any and all anti-prison comrades. Thank you!

‘Rebet guitaR’ – Charis Konstantinou
Rebetiko, the music crossroad between middle east and west from the early 1900’s. Songs about love, joy and sorrow. A musical sub-culture, a music of the lower classes.
“The womb of rebetiko was the jail and the hash den. It was there that the early rebetes created their songs. They sang in quiet, harsh voices, unforced, one after the other, each singer adding a verse which often bore no relation to the previous verse, and a song often went on for hours. There was no refrain, and the melody was simple and easy.” Ilias Petropoulos
Rebet guitar, focuses on the early Rebetiko with one guitar, finger-pick style.

‘Rebet guitarS’ – Jaap Faber and Charis Konstantinou.
A guitar duet, will present the music of the legendary “Kostis”, the most enigmatic of all greek rebetika artists. 12+1 songs of truly unique guitar duets and black-humor lyrics chronicling the hash dens, prison culture and pickpockets of old Athens. Recorded in 1930-31 on 78 rpm records, under a pseudonym for export to the greeks living in America, research has uncovered the musician, journalist and cartoonist Kostas Bezos as the figure lurking behind the Kostis name, with ties to the famous singer and producer Tetos Demetriades.


Rebet guitar-“Ντερτιλήδικο” @ Molli, Amsterdam, April 2015.

Volkseten Vegazulu is a people’s kitchen, every monday, 7pm, vegan food for 4€ or donation. All benefits go for social & political struggles. No reservation.

We’re always looking for cooks. Any help is welcome in the kitchen. Experience not required. Enjoying it is a must. If you want to know which days are still available in the schedule, send an email to joe [at] squat [dot] net and book yourself the night. You can, of course, also participate by rolling up your sleeves and doing the dishes.

Rebetiko songs, traditional Greek songs

YannisQarabaEnsembleMonday March 2nd 2015, Rebetiko songs, traditional Greek songs. Volkseten Vegazulu, 7pm. Concert after the food.

Rebetiko songs, traditional Greek songs, with Charis Konstantinou and Υannis Karampatzias from Qaraba Ensemble.
http://qaraba.cz/music/
https://soundcloud.com/hellash

Qaraba was founded in 2012 in Prague by Yannis Karampatzias. He performs on a variety of Greek and Turkish traditional stringed instruments including saz baglama (taburas), lavta (Constantinople lute), tzuras and baglamas. In 2013 together with violinist Milan Jakes (CZ), guitarist Thomas Opata and Geraldine Baar on koboloi they formed the Qaraba Ensemble. The repertoire includes traditional folk music from the Asia Minor to the Black Sea focusing on melodies from Smyrna (Izmir) and Constantinople (Istanbul) of the early 1900’s, Rebetiko songs (undergound musical genre that was born at the end of the 19th century in hash dens and prisons of the Greek urban centers), Byzantine and Ottoman classical compositions emphasizing on the art of taxim (form of improvisation on non-occidental musical scales known as ‘makams/maqamat’).
Qaraba Ensemble: http://qaraba.cz/music/
[…Lees verder]