Preserved on a few stone inscriptions, a handful of medieval folk songs, and a number of papyri scraps found in Egypt, ancient Greek music lived to be heard at present day. From these, historians have been able to glean knowledge of the rhythms, patterns, and scales employed by the ancients in composition. Vase paintings, literary descriptions, and cross-cultural studies have further revealed much about the instruments used. Amongst these were the handheld lyre, the stringed kithara, the aulos pipes, the organ-like hydraulis, and the conch sea-shell.

Still, it is only in very recent times that it has become apparent to musicologists what ancient music was like, particularly at the start of the Roman Empire. After much piecing together, and upon first listen, the music has been described as delightfully florid and quite extravagant.

By comparison to music of the ancients, the sounds heard today in Greece are incredibly diverse, and a blend of many cultural styles, including Byzantine and Turkish traditions. The most prominent of Greek song styles are akritic, klephtic, laiko, and rebetika. While akritic has its origins in 9th century Byzantine communities, klephtic is a rather militant style which dates to Ottoman times. By comparison, laiko and rebetika are the forerunners of modern Greek song and have strong similarities with Turkish folksong.

The beginnings of rebetika trace to the traditions of the lower class urban communities of Greece. Characterized by subversive, anti-authoritarian lyrics, as well as its close association with bouzoukis and hashish dens, rebetika is dark, passionate music. Verse is often political, and sometimes poetic.

The oldest songs of the style were composed perhaps in jails cells or over the hookah pipe, and lyrics typically ponder themes of drug-use, violence, and the hard-knocks life of the poor. At one point, a dictatorial Greek government attempted to ban the music and anything associated with it. Naturally, such a move only made the music seem more attractive.

During its history, the rebetika scene has uncovered some talented, well educated, and skilled musicians and song-writers. These have included Markos Vamvarkaris, Vangelis Papazoglou, Panayiotis Toundas, and Vassilis Tsitsanis. In recent times, modern artists have taken the style and blended it with rock to create a new vibrant version of rebetika. Amongst the more famous of these are singers Dionyssis Savopoulos, Nikos Papazoglou, Stavros Xarhakos, Georgios Ntallaras, and Pavlos Sidiropoulos.

Laiko, descended from rebetika, is in essence up-tempo folkdance music. Like rebetika, laiko has roots in Turkish traditions, but did not come into its own as a Greek music style until the 20th century. In the 50s and 60s, when pop and rock music was making waves across the globe, these styles in Greece took the form of laiko.

Many of Greece’s most popular singers have produced music in the laiko style, beginning with Manolis Angelopoulos, Stratis Dionisou, Apostolos Kaldaras, Akis Panou, and George Zambetas. Later musicians of the style included Giorgos Mazonakis, Glykeria, Eleni Vitali, Despina Vandi, and Anna Vissi. become famously associated with the Spanish gypsy, across waters it forms the classical backbone of Moroccan music.

Contemporary Greeks also celebrate their more classical performers. Among these are famed opera star Maria Callas, and composers Manolis Kalomiris, Dimitris Mitropoulos, and Manos Hadzidakis. As one of Greece’s most important music artists, Manos Hadzidakis created music to accompany films, ballets, and theatre plays, including some of the ancient tragedies. Hadzidakis has been further credited with inspiring a revival of folk song.