Comic column: David Prudhomme’s “Rembetissa” is atmospheric | EUROtoday

There will not have been a extra atmospheric comedian than “Rembetissa” this yr. And maybe none within the decade and a half for the reason that predecessor appeared: “Rembetiko”. It was not foreseeable that this quantity, which was celebrated on the time (additionally by me at this level – my goodness, this weblog has been working for a very long time; due to the loyal viewers!), can be continued, as a result of this story appeared closed exactly due to its openness.

That must be defined: In “Rembetiko,” David Prudhomme, a French comedian e-book creator and music lover born in 1969, informed a semi-fictional incident from the period of Ioannis Metaxas, who dominated Greece dictatorially from 1936 to 1941. In the course of his chauvinistic populism, which was typical of the time – though Metaxas was not a fascist and pursued an unusually Jewish-friendly coverage – he condemned the musical type of Rembetiko, which had come to the nation with the Greeks expelled from Asia Minor in 1923, as a result of it appeared to him to have too Turkish influences when it comes to instrumentation and melodies; Not to say the melancholic themes that primarily mourned the misplaced homeland. Greek, which Metaxas wished, was purported to be sturdy and anti-Turkish.

In phrases of temper, Rembetiko is one thing like Fado – deeply unhappy, in reality. But on the identical time additionally it is a polyrhythmic occasion that brings the dance halls to a boil, particularly within the dock employees’ and sailors’ quarters, the place lots of the emigrants sought their livelihood. At the middle of the comedian “Rembetiko” Prudhomme put 5 associates who get collectively in a band within the night and spend an evening wandering by the pubs and low homes of Piraeus.

In view of the ban on their music and the persecution that begins (which additionally impacts them as petty criminals and drug customers), the group falls aside that night time; The morning after, one of many males will go to the United States, the place the file business that flourished within the Thirties (which after all additionally wished to supply one thing to Greek immigrants) stored the reminiscence of the Rembetiko alive from then on. So that somebody like Prudhomme might get to know and love him greater than half a century later.

And he discovered photos for this music in his comedian that would additionally convey it dwelling to individuals who have by no means heard it earlier than. And with Prudhomme you may’t learn something from it, as a result of he avoids any visualization of the music, i.e. no observe symbols floating by the pictures or drawn melodic arcs, regardless that that may have been typical of a comic book. Instead, there are primarily silent comedian photos when there are live performance scenes: the lads are sitting there and enjoying their devices, and it’s their gestures, facial expressions and Prudhomme’s colours and views that conjure up sound.

And generally there are track lyrics that run throughout the pages, in blue font. Blue notes, so to talk. It was merely a superbly crafted comedian with a splendidly pathetic ending that, as I stated, left every thing open and but left nothing lacking.

Four of the chums stayed again in Piraeus on the time. And then there was a girl, the gorgeous singer Beba, who everyone seems to be in love with and who performed alongside on their final night time collectively. A dozen pages earlier than the story’s precise conclusion, she says goodbye to the musicians and walks dwelling alongside the morning sunlit seaside, seen as a rear view along with her admirers staring behind her. And that is precisely the place “Rembetissa”, the sequel, begins.

Only within the first panel we see Beba from the entrance: proper in the course of her face, drained after an evening of appearing out, and it is half the dimensions of a web page, whereas her farewell panel in “Rembetiko” was small, nearly informal. There was no indication on the time {that a} later most important character was leaving right here, however the brand new quantity makes her precisely that. And greater than that: he makes her a very powerful protagonist, though the remaining 4 males all seem once more.

But because the title suggests – “Rembetissa” refers to a Rembetiko musician – it is a comedian about girls. And along with Beba, the pub landlady Katina and the younger up-and-coming singer Marika are significantly featured. Prudhomme thereby makes up for what the primary quantity didn’t do: to acknowledge the necessary function of feminine musicians within the historical past of Rembetiko.

This matches into the present comedian panorama, which values ​​sturdy feminine characters. But it additionally matches with the unique story, which is expanded right here to incorporate every thing that remained untold in “Rembetiko”: the concrete penalties of the music ban, the additional fates of the 4 males and likewise what turned of Beba. Prudhomme succeeds in repeating the narrative construction once more with out boring you for a second.

Yes, similar to within the first half, it is not the one that was purported to go to America who will discover their means throughout the Atlantic, however another person. And this time “Rembetissa” follows their lives there till the Nineteen Nineties.

No additional phrase on the story right here, as a result of like “Rembetiko”, “Rembetissa” additionally lives from its environment. Prudhomme has even elevated the depth of the music scenes and he turns the track performances into ballets, for instance when one of many bouzouki gamers sits on the marina and performs just for himself, or when he enters Metaxas’ palace and performs to him in his workplace – a scene that’s magnificent, exactly as a result of we all know that the aged politician’s sympathy for music, which turns into seen within the image, had no penalties: ideology was extra necessary to him than melodies, which additionally describe his life.

You might show particular person pages from “Rembetissa” as pattern sheets: for motion sequences, lighting or facial expressions. Prudhomme pulls out all of the stops, however his splendor of colours and shapes by no means distracts from the melancholic story, which itself comes throughout like 100 and ten-page Rembetiko track. Music you may see. A murals.