2LPs in box with book with exclusive photographs of the singers and musicians, complete lyrics of all songs both in the original Greek and in English translations, discographical data, and extensive information on the artists, on the instruments, and on several other aspects of the music..


"The word 'mortis' in Greek underworld slang refers to a person who is both tough and elegant, as it were the cool bearer of a knife and suit, a counterpart tot he 'Apache' of Paris. Mortika simply means songs about male 'mortes' and female 'mortisses.' These LPs hold a collection of urban songs and instrumentals centered on this theme, recorded commercially between 927 and 1946 [with two exceptions].
All might be considered as belonging to the 'rembetica' genre, but we who have compiled and produced this record would rather see them emancipated from the strightjacket of genre catagorisation. Apart from the intrinsic, moving musical quality of the performances, this compilation is distinguished by the rarity, and often excellent condition of the originals, and by the quality of Ted Kendall's remastering. Listening through these LPs, you will make the acquaintance of some of the central figuresof the period [...] becoming familiar with some of their variety of vocal styles and techniques, their idiomatic use of various plucked, hammered and bowed string instruments and accordion, and also with their song lyrics, which treat of typical 'underworld' themes such as drugs, love, theft, murder, prison, and having a good time. All this music is associated one way or another, with subcultures of outsiders, where at home or in imposed or self-chosen exile, and where they represent the urban musical culture of Asia Minor and Istanbul/Constantinople, the local tradition of Pireaus subcultural music, or the Greek music of the Greek-American population."
-Tony Klein, from the notes.

"A shade over 74 minutes' worth of superbly remastered – and therefore sonically stunning – recordings from the 1920s to the 1950s, recorded in Athens, the US, and, in one case, Weimar Republic Berlin, offer just about the single most cohesive portrait of this extraordinarily tough and beautiful music. Rebetika is often compared to the blues, and while that offers a useful comparison to set novices upon the right path, rebetika has its own sound and feel. It belongs completely to the Greek underworld experience, a history of displacement, social isolation, suffering and truculent reaction to it all that is well-documented in the extraordinary 50-page book that cohabits the elegant digipak with this CD.
Of the music, I can tell you that the 21 well-chosen performances present the listener with a superbly balanced variety of the sub-styles within rebetika, and offer not only the heroines and heroes like Rita Abadzi, Rosa Eskanazi, Markos Vamvakaris and Andonis Dalgas, but lesser known, inner-sanctum figures that include the stunning loannis Halikias and the utterly obscure but fabulous Pol-Meraklis, singing his hashish ditty in a doomed 1929 Berlin. But perhaps the most astonishing recording here is the most recent, a hackle-raising performance by Nikos Vrachnas, recorded in 2000. It's a superb live time-warp performance, packed with tough energy and as the final tour de force of well over an hour’s worth of muscular history, it provides a most satisfying end-note. The production values are extraordinary; Charles Howard, the project's director, is probably the world's foremost expert on the genre, and producer Tony Klein has written a wonderfully succinct history of the genre, its meanings, its instruments and its raison d’etre. There's also a well-researched glossary of underworld terms, complete lyric transcriptions in Greek and English, full recording details and two dozen well-chosens photos of artists, instruments and ephemera. If you wanted just one rebetika CD, this is it. Those of you who quietly gather everything Mangas will immediately see the value of this, perhaps the best of all rebetika anthologies. Utterly wonderful." - Paul Vernon, fRoots

"Hash-fuelled music from the 1920s and ‘30s that gets deep under my skin. The best selection of rebetika music I’ve found. Given to me very kindly by Ian Nagoski, a fanatic collector of amazing music himself and a contributor to the Dust-to-Digital label. This CD was compiled by Charles Howard, who also compiled the Rembetika Rounder series that until very recently was my favorite rembetika collection. The beauty of this music is that the melodies are mostly melancholy but always with some amazing catchy hook that lifts them out of their own misery. The songs are made by Greek refugees who returned from Turkey to the Athens port of Piraeus, where they set up an underground community and introduced these dark, sad trance-like songs mostly about lost love, prison, drug addiction and tuberculosis. The word 'Mortis' is Greek underworld slang for someone who is tough and elegant, the cool bearer of a knife and suit. These songs are about these type of people. The song titles tell everything: the hash smokers, heroin and hashish, hash-smoking chicks, the lifer... oh mother, I can’t stand it. The musicians on this really come from the best period of Rembetika -- the mid ‘20s to the mid-’40s, including Markos Vamvakaris, whose rough, growling voice is trademark stuff, and Rita Abatzi, my favorite woman singer of rembetika. It’s great music to play when youre eating, smoking and drinking..." - Andy Moore (the Ex), Dusted

"Just when you think Mississippi Records releases can't get any cooler, along comes this deluxe 2lp boxset of Greek underground folk music...

These two lps contain an incredible selection of sounds from this important movement in Greek folk music, some of the songs are intricate and dramatic, others simple and stripped down, others festive and jubilant, the sound is a twangy gypsy folk, lilting and haunting and lyrical, the vocals are deep and crooned typically, but can slip into something much more keening, or even operatic, the music too is quite varied, often skeletal and spare, but can get quite intense and complex, but always melodic and quite beautiful and emotional.
The two lps come housed in a printed box, and includes a bit booklet filled with photos, lyrics, as well as a history of the music and the musicians. So cool!!" - Aquarius Records