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Rembetika 4 Vassilis Tsisanis The Postwar Years 1946-1954 on CD

The years 1941 to 1949 were terrible for Greece. The Axis invasion of October, 1940 was followed by three years of brutal occupation involving great destruction of property, hundreds of thousands of deaths from famine and reprisals for acts of resistance, plus the deportation and virtual wiping out of the 70,00 strong Jewish population of Thessaloniki. Then followed a vicious Civil War involving much more death and misery. In the midst of all this, Vassilis Tsitsanis, already established as the leading artist in the field of Rembetika, managed to produce a stream of outstanding works. Here we present his first thirty-seven post-war recordings in chronological order, which at the time confirmed his status as a Greek national treasure. They are followed by fifty-five more sides made over the subsequent seven years. As always with JSP, remastering is of the highest order. Sleeve notes are by Charles Howard, an expert on the subject - who also supplies translations of songs frequently thought too racy for broadcast when they were first issued.