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A raid on the hashish den
Among Markos Vamvakaris’ 1933 recordings—among his very earliest, that is—is Έφοδος στον τεκέ, “A raid on the hashish den”. This was a musical revue number by Giannis Kamvysis and Petros Kyriakos. Kyriakos was a musical theatre actor, and the underworld that gave rise to rebetiko music was part of what he documented in song. With all the attentiveness of an anthropologist. Or of a linguist, to judge from his “Dictionary of the mangas”, recorded the previous year:
(Inevitably, the song is analysed at length in slang.gr)
The transcription below of Έφοδος στον τεκέ may not be perfect, and if anyone’s ears of Greek are better than mine, I’ll be grateful for corrections. It’s substantially improved by the fact that the first verse has already been posted online, in a collection of rebetiko songs about hashish.
| —Μπούρδα μπούρδα! Μάζεψε ασβέλτα τα συμπράγκαλα και καήκαμε. —Γιατί ρε Τσικρικόνη; —Ρε την κορόιδα παρισταίνεις ρε ή θέλεις να πα να κοιμάσαι στον Ωρωπό στον άσφαλτο; —Ναι γιά ρε. Μαζέψτε ρε λεχρίτες τους τζουράδες και ξηγηθήτε τους ζούλα —Μα τι τρέχει ρε Τσικρικόνια; —Ρε είσαι μεγάλο χάπι εσύ ρε κύριε, και μια που δεν αντιλήβεσαι δια ζώσης, άκου το πεντάγραμμο και έχεις το δικαίωμα της αναίρεσης, α δε σου γουστάρει. —Μπράβο Αδερφάκι κάνε μόκο —Μην κουνηθεί κανένας. Στον τόπο γιατί θα σας κάψω Ένα μαύρο μόνο ξέρω —Τώρα τραβάτε κάτω στο τίμημα [= τμήμα], και κει ξηγιόσαστε με τον αστυνόμο. | —[??] Gather up the gear quickly, ’cause we’re ruined! —How come, Tsikrokonis? —Are you playing dumb, then, or would you rather go sleep on the ashphalt of Oropos jail? —Yeah, scumbags, gather up the tzouras [musical instruments] and stash them away. —What’s the matter, Tsikrikonis? —You, sir, are a major dimwit. And since you don’t get my meaning viva voce, have a listen to these dulcet tones; and you have the right of refutation, if you don’t dig it. —Good work! Brother, keep it quiet. —Nobody move! Freeze, or I’ll do you in! I only know one hash —Right, you can get down to the station now, and you can explain yourselves to the sergeant. |
The song has been uploaded onto YouTube once already:
… And now, courtesy of GoAnimate and Yr Obt Svt, it has been uploaded a second time:
[…] A raid on the hashish denEpictetus, Discourses I 1 […]
Very likely. I'm sure it's something Turkish, I just couldn't place it. (It's clearly not the contemporary meaning of μπούρδα, "nonsense".)
I might have enough to add subtitles, after all..
Enjoyed the post, as usual.
Could it be that "Μπούρδα, μπούρδα" means "Here now, here" or "attention!" In Turkish, "burada" means "here," but it's often pronounced as "burda." I'm assuming because of the commonality of Turkish words, this could be the case.