Seen & Heard

REBETIKO SONG OF THE DAY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puMhIECd36E

Kostas Kaplanis was an accomplished bouzouki player who wrote a handful of hit late rebetiko songs, added his bouzouki playing to dozens more recordings and continued performing and recording in Greece and the U.S. until his death in Los Angeles in 1997. He was one of 11 children in a family that fled Smyrna and eventually wound up in Athens.

He started learning bouzouki in his teens and played with Giorgos Batis before collaborating with Manolis Chiotis on the classic song The Pastime in 1947. That was followed by a string of hits with his own compositions. In 1954, he toured America with Marika Ninou and spent the rest of his life splitting his time between Athens and the U.S.

This is a great video of a casual performance from 1982 with Kaplanis playing bouzouki for singers Sotiria Bellou, Anna Chrysafis and another singer I haven’t been able to identify, on a song written by Vassiis Dimitriou.