Stelio’s Blues

Greek Blues by Stelios Vamvakaris. Stelios Vamvakaris, son of Markos Vamvakaris , was born in 1948. Vamvakaris has quietly gone about releasing worthy work, at a steady rate, since making his debut as a recording artist in 1977. Stelios Vamvakaris who, as a youngster, liked to accompany his father to the various haunts where he would perform, began learning bouzouki at the age of seven. He turned professional five years later. By the age of 17, the younger Vamvakaris began performing alongside his father. Around this time, he also began writing his own material. Besides his father, Stelios Vamvakaris began playing with other leading acts, among them Yiannis Papaioannou, Vassilis Tsitsanis and Stratos Payioumtzis. As a songwriter, Stelios Vamvakaris did not simply approach rebetika as a stagnant form of the past. In search of variation and freshness, he branched out and also worked with figures beyond the rebetika guild. Local rock pioneer Pavlos Sidiropoulos, Cretan music legend Nikos Xylouris and endurin