For my grandfather, and for everyone who never fit in
I built RebetiChord in honour of my grandfather, a mangas of Piraeus who raised me on rebetiko.
My grandfather
He lived the life the old songs sing about. He was a mangas, an outlaw who made his living outside the law and answered to no one. The music of the tekedes was his world.
He raised me on that music. Before I understood the words, I knew the zeibekiko in my body and the sound of the trichordo in my ears. Everything on this site starts there.
The instrument
I play a trichordo made by a luthier in Piraeus, tuned D-A-D the old way: three courses, the sound of rebetiko before the four-course bouzouki took over. That is why RebetiChord is built around the trichordo first.
Why this platform
Rebetiko was always the music of outcasts: refugees, prisoners, workers, the people society pushed to the edges. It gave them a voice when no one else would listen.
I want RebetiChord to do the same for new generations. Learn the dromoi and the rhythms, then make something of your own, whether that is a traditional zeibekiko or rembetiko crossed with punk or rap. The core tools are free, and they will stay free.
Come in
Pick up the instrument and add your voice.
Keep the road open.