Queerbetika: Queering Rebetika
By Michael Alexandratos
English/Greek
Paperback. pp. 132.
With B/W illustrations.
Cycladic Press (2019)
$15.00 (AUD)
Available from amazon, online book retailers and bricks and mortar stores (listed below).
“Queerbetika” is a term used to describe the queering of the genre of rebetika – an urban Greek popular song from the late 19th century to the 1950s – through academic or creative interventions. This zine explores queerness and homosexuality in rebetika through its exponents, sites of performance, gay supporters and song lyrics.
This is the first study and anthology in either Greek or English to investigate such an important but overlooked theme in the field of rebetology.
Michael Alexandratos (b. 1997) is a writer, researcher and publisher based in Sydney, Australia. He runs a research blog dedicated to his music and recorded sound research, titled Amnesiac Archive, and has produced numerous album compilations of 78rpm recordings from Australia’s recorded sound history (1926-1957).
Press
«Κούνα, μπέμπη, τον κεφτέ σου…»: Υπήρχε queer πλευρά στο ρεμπέτικο τραγούδι; [“Shake your ass baby…”: Was there a queer side to rebetiko?”]. LiFO magazine, 22 October, 2024.
Ποιος έχει μαύρη την καρδιά: Η ιστορία ενός ρεμπέτη που αγάπησε άντρες [Whoever has blackness in his heart: The story of a rebetis who loved men], LiFO magazine, 28 January, 2024.
Also stocked at:
Meteoritis (Μετεωρίτης) bookstore in Kypseli (Athens, Greece)
Hypo Hypo (Athens, Greece)
Repressed Records (Sydney, Australia)
Brunswick Bound (Melbourne, Australia)
The Paperback Bookshop (Melbourne, Australia)
Cycladic Press 