Rebetiko, and the tale of two mahallas

Posted by Aylin Yardimci in Inspiring, Music, rebetiko

14 comments.

Last Sunday, I published an article on an Istabul-based rebetiko band called Tatavla Keyfi in Radikal, a Turkish daily newspaper. The story of this band is so intriguing, so inspiring, and so mahallas-like in essence that I thought the entire public in Turkey must read about it and find out more about the history of the music that this band plays and what kind of ideas and feelings they play with. Music perhaps doesn't have borders but unfortunately languages do, so it's a pity that the article could only be published only in Turkish. That's why I felt the urge to talk about what I wrote in the article also here on Mahallas. This whole story perhaps has nothing to do with Cyprus per se, but the cultural connection surely is there. You can read the article in Turkish by clicking here.

I discovered Tatavla Keyfi randomly on a regular Youtube break off work and I was immediately fascinated by the very idea behind their existence - rebetiko! It is the music of the inbetweeners, the immigrants, the misfits, the Greeks that were stigmatized as 'Turks' in Greece and the Turks that were received as 'infidels' in Turkey. It is in fact a sub-culture, a way of life or even a whole philosophy on its own that surpasses the boundaries of a meagre musical genre. And these guys, all from Istanbul (except for Haris, who is from Athens, born and bred) are the first to make this music semi-popular and back in demand in the nightlife of Istanbul, just like it used to be in the 1920s and 30s.

Tatavla Keyfi: (from left to right) Mamed Cafarov, Haris Rigas, Ceyhun Kaya and Alper Tekin.

What's most interesting about this band is, the name they call themselves, "Tatavla Keyfi", stems from a true mahallas inspiration. Tatavla is the name of an old mahalle in Istanbul which used to be inhabited predominantly by Greeks during the Ottoman times and until 1960s. During the early decades of the twenieth century , Tatavla was synonmous with the Tukish word keyif (or κέφι in Greek) which means "pleasure" in English, as the area was renowned for its lively nightlife and vibrant musical scene, dominated by songs in both Greek and Turkish. The band calls itself Tatavla Keyfi, "the pleasure of Tatavla" exactly for this reason, and tries to bring back the spirit of Tatavla and the authenticity of the old rebetika back in town.

The story of Haris Rigas, the bouzouki and baglama player of the band, is genuinely one of a kind. Haris is originally from Athens and had never seen Istanbul or spoken a word of Turkish until about five years ago, but after a brief visit to the city to attend a conference in 2005 he made a radical decision to settle in Istanbul. He has been living there since 2006, speaks nearly flawless Turkish, teaches Ancient Greek and Latin in the Bosphorus University and also pursues a PhD in the Political Science Department of the same university. On top of that, he performs old Istanbul and Izmir style, "Greco-Turkish" rebetiko songs with his band every Tuesday in Badehane. To cut this whole story short, we could just say that Haris is the perfect example of an individual who is pursuing a peaceful life in the "other" mahallas and loving it.

If hearing bilingual songs performed live and together by the kids of two different neighbourhoods sounds like an interesting experience to you, do go to Istanbul sometime and drop by Badehane on a Tuesday. At the end of the night, you will not be able to wait for the next time you can hear them.