Panagiotis Kounadis and Amalia Avgoustaki talk about the production “Souls of the Women of Rebetiko”

Guests on the program “Take Your Time” on Voice of Greece were journalist and rebetiko music researcher Panagiotis Kounadis and performer Amalia Avgoustaki, on the occasion of the musical production “Souls of the Women of Rebetiko”, which is staged every Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at the “Angelon Vima” theatre in central Athens. Panagiotis Kounadis welcomed us into his home, where in recent years he has been collecting material related to rebetiko music and the people who served it—material that, if all goes well, will soon be housed in the historic Columbia factory in a museum dedicated to rebetiko music. We heard stories of people as recorded by Panagiotis Kounadis, the stories behind the songs featured in the performance, and references to the great figures of rebetiko as he came to know them. Amalia Avgoustaki also spoke about her personal relationship with rebetiko music, which began at outdoor celebrations and village festivals in her homeland of Chios, shaped by musical influences from Smyrna and Asia Minor more broadly. We discussed the performance, which is dedicated to the women of rebetiko and the songs written for them, as well as the fortunate opportunity to collaborate in one production with the incomparable Nena Venetsanou and Yvonni Siemou, who arranged for piano the songs selected by Panagiotis Kounadis and performs them herself as part of the show.