Bouzouki: The sound of Greek music

The tempo that builds in the bouzouki gives a real sense of the underlying raw emotion, of ‘rebetiko’s’ illegal past and its gentrification by the greats of modern Greek music, Vassilis Tsitsanis, Manos Hadzidakis and Mikis Theodorakis.The bouzouki is Greece’s siren call. To hear but a few bars is to instantly conjure raki-fueled nights at rebetika dives or sultry evenings beneath the stars. Nothing captures the Greek zest for life and that lingering feeling of kaimos (or longing) more than this beloved long-necked lute. Photographer Angelos Giotopoulos visits a bouzouki atelier in Pangrati. The making of an icon.