Roza Eskenazi – Rembétissa – LP

Fantôme Phonographique

Fantôme Phonographique presents: “Rembétissa“, by Roza Eskenazi, a giant of rembetika, the urban Greek music of Ottoman origin associated with the poor underclass.

Cutting over 500 songs in the 1930s, she became the leading exponent of the Smyrna school of rembetika. Running a nightclub in Athens during the German occupation of World War II, she hid resistance fighters and British spies and helped many Jewish families flee the country. She finally toured the USA in the 1950s, and though her career subsequently waned, a 1970s revival led to further work. The longevity of her output is such that her song Misirlu was included on the soundtrack of Pulp Fiction; the 21 gems collected here were recorded between 1931 and 1947.

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