rebetisn.

1966 D. Stratou Greek Folk Dances 40 A rebetis was normally one who did not want to work, shave or conform in any way.

1973 K. Friar Mod. Greek Poetry 9 Originally the expression of the rebétis (the idle one, the wretched one, the habitué, more than likely, of the underworld), these songs are individualistic, avoiding more often than not sexual or pornographic innuendos, concentrating on the beloved mother or the betraying mistress.

1975 K. Butterworth & S. Schneider Rebetika 9 These rebetes were people living a marginal and often underworld existence.

1988 P. Manuel Pop. Musics Non-Western World (1990) iv. 134 Tsitsanis did not grow up in the bohemian mangas underworld, and his song-texts generally concern love rather than hashish, prison life, or the rebete life-style.

1980 G. Holst Theodorakis 56 [Bithikotsis] was in many ways a typical ‘rembetis’. He was handsome, cheeky and rough spoken, with a voice that had a cutting edge and no vibrato.

1991 Mandatoforos 34 19 In another [song] the rebetis is urged to don wild-west spurs and a stetson hat by a rebetissa with a sudden passion for cow-boys.

1995 W. Barnstone Sunday Morning in Fascist Spain iv. 144 He sang the songs of Asia Minor. He sang very well. His rough high voice was a perfect lament. It was dark, shrill, ecstatic, very low. A rebetis.

1999 S. Broughton et al. World Music: Rough Guide I. i. 130/2 After the imposition of the puritanical Metaxas dictatorship in 1936, rembétes with uncompromising lyrics and lifestyles were blackballed by the recording industry.