Traditional Greek Music: Monahi Zoume

The Marcians, in various pairings, have been playing Greek music since the 1960s. Founder Theo Hambi (or Kkoshi) still resides as the lead singer and bouzouki player in most of the recent recordings, with a backing band of younger players in support. On Monahi Zoume, the sound is largely stereotypical, bouzouki-driven, and lilting. Theo croons over the top of sweet and rumbling melodies. Though there are interludes of atypical sound (a twinkling piano from the realm of Mikis Theodorakis, for example), the album as a whole holds to the traditional, the rural, the joyous. The instrumentalists steal the show for much of the proceedings, turning what is otherwise simply a pleasant atmospheric album into a show of virtuosity. There are countless Greek folk albums available, but for a romanticized notion of what Greek music once was (or was once thought to be, perhaps), this outing from the Marcians is a fair starting point.