Greece

Greek (Music) Life

Popular music in Greece began in the 19th century with Athenian serenades. These songs were like musicals, where performers would perform comedic, tragic or satirical opera-style songs on stage. In the 1930s, the Greek music scene began to borrow Western styles of music and combine them with the Athenian serenades.

The tango, waltz and foxtrot made their way into the Greek music culture, and musician Giorgos Mouzakis brought in some jazz elements with the trumpet and saxophone.

Rebetiko was a musical form developed in the early 1900s during the Greco-Turkish war. The style was originally associated with the lower class and urban outcasts. Greeks who were scorned by society would get together and sing of prison, violence and drugs.

The musical form was popularized when musically educated Greeks began experimenting with the sounds. By the 1940s, Rebetiko was a mainstream music genre and was popularized further by musicians such as Vassilis Tsitsanis and Marika Ninou.

By the middle of the century, the popularity of Rebetiko had hit its peak, and it was replaced with Éntekhno, which means "art song." The genre mixes orchestral elements with traditional Greek music and folk sounds. With growing popularity, Éntekhno made its way into mainstream music culture and was used extensively in popular films.

Finally, Laïkó is one other well known Greek music form. This genre stays further away from Western styles and maintains Greek lyrics and and has a more traditional sound.

Today, Éntekhno and Laïkó are still two of the most common musical genres in Greece. Pop music associated with Western culture has only recently gained popularity in the country. Many of the traditional musicians will incorporate these contemporary sounds, but still maintain a sense of traditional Greek flair.

Nikos Mihas


This alternative rock musician is one of the more popular Greek stars of the decade. Nikos Mihas is known for combining traditional Éntekhno sounds with Western pop sounds to create his brand of music.

Much of Mihas' music is largely electronic and percussion-based. In addition to being a talented singer and songwriter, Mihas is a talented guitarist and plays throughout his performances.

Mihas' career began in 2004 when he decided to enter the talent show Fame Story 2, which was a popular Greek television show on ANT1. After making it to the finals, Mihas was eliminated, but he still made history by being the first talent show musician to perform an original song.

The following year, Mihas released his first album, Sti Hora Tou Pote (Into Neverland), which produced a number of hit singles and launched Mihas into Greek popularity. His second album, Trehei Tipota?, was released in 2007. The album had a bit more pop influence than his first, and it received mixed reviews.

Although Mihas has had an extended break between albums, the musician is working to release a third album this year.