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

These songs are called rebetiko songs. After 1950, rebetiko songs enjoyed great success, and at the same time, a rapid decline in quality. Rebetiko songs are the songs of the Greek underworld.

More specifically, rebetiko songs are the songs of the rebetes. The rebetes are also called 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 an eccentric way outside the usual social flow.