Bouzouki

The bouzouki is the characteristic instrument of Greek rebetiko music. With roots in Asia Minor and the Levant, it was long associated with a criminal underworld element among Asia Minor refugees of the 1930s, but its image was largely rehabilitated in the 1950s by such laiko composers as Hiotis and Tsitsanis. Its performance styles range from deep and bluesy to virtuosic, it has by now become an icon for Greek music in general.