Greece

Of all Greek folk traditions, Rembetika is undoubtedly the most significant. Translating to "songs from the gutter," Rembetika grew out of the experience of more than a million displaced ethnic Greeks unexpectedly repatriated from Turkey in the 1920s. In the poor economic climate of the era, these displaced refugees turned to crime and drug addiction; not unlike American jazz, Rembetika consequently became the music of hash dens and whorehouses. The form underwent a revival in the 1960s, and today is no longer a music for the dispossessed, but rather the province of the intelligentsia. A few other folk forms survived the twentieth century -- notably in Crete and some western islands. In the last century, to its detriment, Greek folk music has come to be associated with the lower classes, thereby losing its sheen of respectability. Any promising young musician is quickly channeled into a school where they are taught western scales and instruments. As a result, western classical and pop/rock have come to dominate the airwaves, with traditional instruments such as bouzouki falling out of favor.