In Greece, for the last fifty years, and particularly during the time of the Civil War (1946-1949), all social classes sang certain peculiar songs, filled with complaint and passion, love and bitterness, melancholic songs that narrated the sufferings of insignificant people.

These songs are called rebetika songs. After 1950, rebetika songs gained great success, and at the same time, a rapid decline in quality. Rebetika songs are the songs of the Greek underworld. More precisely, rebetika songs are the songs of the rebetes. The rebetes are also known as magkes.

It is very difficult to define a rebetis, or magkas. Generally, one could say that a rebetis (or magkas) is a person who lives in a peculiar way outside the usual social flow.

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