Curated and hosted by iconic DC impresario and musician Jim Thomson

Rebetiko is more than a musical form. It’s a sonic passport and a timbral time machine — a unique lyrical synthesis of Greek urban and island melodies and modal traditions from around the Mediterranean. It is a musical genre that was and is an expression of the blending of cultures and the voice of the marginalized. Often referred to as the Greek blues, Rebetiko was developed by the Rebetis — musicians from downtrodden communities of Greece, including the Athens working class and refugees from around the Mediterranean. This deeply expressive music, which initially flourished between 1920 and 1950, prismatically reflects feelings of love and despair, hope and oppression, joy and sorrow. Like other international subcultural musical forms — think American blues, Spanish flamenco, Argentine tango, Portuguese fado, and French bal-musette — Rebetiko grew out of a particular set of urban confluences and circumstances. In other respects, however — including its dynamic depth and emotional complexity — it is like no other music. Once outlawed and driven underground, Rebetiko is now a celebrated art form, recognized and protected by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage to Humanity.  Perhaps no one today is doing more to preserve and propagate Rebetiko in the Washington DC area and broader region than Spyros Koliavasilis. Teaching and disseminating this music through performance while researching and analyzing its original composers, he has gradually amassed a singular repertoire of more than 200 Rebetiko songs. With his velvety vocals and rhythmic drive on a hybrid laouto-guitar, which he plays with a melodic flair, Spyros performs a heady, authentic, and carefully curated repertoire of Rebetiko songs that evoke the nostalgic essence of the Plaka and Monastiraki Square in Athens. Accompanied by his musical protégé, Niko Mitrione, on bouzouki, Spyro performs with a meticulous attention to detail and charming narration, each note suffused with emotion and nuance. Their performances have resonated deeply with Greek audiences while captivating non-Greek listeners as well. Over the past 40 years, Rebetiko has become known, and prized, around the world — a passionate, evocative music that unified strangers, people of different religions and countries, all seeking a better life at the crossroads—a reflection of society that still resonates today.

About Jim Thomson: Jim Thomson owns and operates the Washington, DC-based boutique record label Electric Cowbell Records. He currently runs Multiflora Productions out of Washington, DC, an independent live music production agency that specializes in expanding the reach of eclectic traditional and non-traditional artists by creating a time and space where their work is presented in an environment where audiences and artists alike have a meaningful and significant experience together. In 2014 he became the music coordinator for the Capital Fringe Festival and also programmed the “Fringe Music in the Library ” series, which offered free live music in the DC Public Libraries through a sponsorship from the DC Public Library Foundation. He has booked several US tours for acclaimed artists such as Sahel Sounds recording artists Mdou Moctar and Les Filles de Illighadad, along with Zedashe from the Republic of Georgia, BCUC from South Africa, and several others. He is a founding member and played drums in: GWAR, Alter-Natives (SST Records), Bio Ritmo, and CSC Funk Band. He currently plays drums in the DC-based punk rock band, Time Is Fire.