Giorgos Batis

Giorgos Batis ( Greek Γιώργος Μπάτης , * around 1885 in Methana ; † March 10, 1967 in Piraeus ) was a Greek singer , composer and bouzouki / baglamas player.

Life

His family moved to Piraeus from the village of Kato Mouska on Methana in 1902 . Batis experienced the time of the Balkan Wars, the influx of refugees after the Asia Minor catastrophe, the Great Depression and the Metaxas dictatorship.

Giorgos Batis was a virtuoso on the baglamas . It is not so well known anymore, as Markos Vamvakaris towers above all other rembeten from Piraeus in the 1930s. His texts were censored by the Metaxas dictatorship . So he vowed never to record a song again. A total of 16 compositions by him have been preserved on sound storage media. "Jiftopoula sto hamam" (see song example) interpreted the Greek singer Glykeria and made this title, in which Batis approaches the world of gypsies, famous.

He was also called "The King of Piraeus". The global economic crisis also tore Piraeus into poverty, but ironically, Batis opened his "one-man kafenion" in the "Street of Hopelessness" on the instructions of the mayor, Zorz A. Bate, no. 262. (cf. Zelepos, p. 143)

His nickname was "Zorz". His real name (coming from Russian) was Giorgos Tsoros. He played with Markos Vamvakaris, Anestis Delias and Stratos Pagioumtzis in the Piraeus Quartet , the so-called Tetras, in the 1930s . Batis was a coffeehouse owner and a dance teacher. His music business was the center of the scene ("piatsa") of Piraeus. Batis is often compared to the shadow theater figure Karagiozis - a satirical figure who targets the world of Greece or the character Stavrakis, the vagabond with hat, ankle boots, komboloi, suit and sash.

Discography

• Ellinikis Diskografias Synthetes toy Rembetiko 9 - Minos EMI: Giorgos Batis

literature

• Ioannis Zelepos : Rebetiko - The career of a subculture. Romiosini Verlag Cologne, 2001