Rebétiko evolved from traditions of the urban poor. Refugees and drug-users, criminals and the itinerant, the earliest rembétika musicians were scorned by mainstream society. They sang heartrending tales of drug abuse, prison and violence, usually accompanied by the bouzouki, a sort of lute derived from the Byzantine tambourás and related to the Turkish saz. August is the month when the "school house" cafe in Anidri hosts some of the finest Cretan artists of this genre...