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1. Hypno Rebetiko CD (Atomic Bongos records)
2. Hypno Rebetiko on Cassette Tape (Tennis Cop records)
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Hypno Rebetiko (the forbidden blues from Greece)
With a Tzouras, a dusty drum machine and a pocket symphony orchestra, Crash Normal revisits the standards of Rebetiko, which some call the Greek blues. The garage shrapnel of the latest records released on Born Bad (Fr) and Kill Shaman (USA) gives way here to a minimalist result mixing deviant folk music and reverberant fuzz pedals. Falling in love with Greece 20 years ago, Jerome (aka Crash Normal) is going through this dark and pretty unknown period in his new solo project named Hypno Rebetiko.
History of rebetiko: In the 1920s, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Greek army tried to take back their lands in Asia Minor lost for 500 years which were inhabited by a large Greek population. Turkey reacted violently forcing its nationals to flee in disaster from massacres and looting. More than a million refugees begin a long journey through the islands to the port of Athens. Their reception is cold. Neither turkish, neither greek they're seen as intruders. They now live deep in poverty. Among these refugees, many musicians. From their collective suffering was born a music: Rebetiko. Eastern-sounding in the 1920s, Rebetiko gradually finds its style in the 1930s and 1940s. it is spontaneous and wobbly, often accompanied by rough vocals and lyrics thrown in the face of conformists. Living from petty trafficking of all kinds, and spending most of their time in prison or in hashish dens, the Rebetes (the rebetiko players) find the strength to carry on through music.
A century later, in 2022, I find myself in front of you playing some of these songs. I did not experience the same difficulties as the Rebetes for sure, and it’s with humbleness that I offer you a personal version of this music. Repetitive, hypnotic, it may transport you to one of the dark taverns of Piraeus, the port of Athens.