We use cookies on our website to provide you with the best experience. Most of these are essential and already present.
We do require your explicit consent to save your cart and browsing history between visits. Read about cookies we use here.
Your cart and preferences will not be saved if you leave the site.
Special 25% discount on all Mode Records items for members until Sunday at midnight!
play
Out of stock
1
2

A. Kostis

The Jail's A Fine School

Label: Mississippi Records

Format: LP

Genre: Folk

Out of stock

First ever vinyl collection of the legendary 'Kostis,' the most enigmatic of all Greek rebetika artists of the early 1930s. Truly unique guitar duets and black-humor prose chronicling the hash dens, prison culture and pickpockets of old Athens. Virtuosic fingerpicking of Near-Eastern modes at the dawn of rebetika, when the bouzouki was yet to become supreme. Recorded under a pseudonym for export to the Greeks living in America, it stands as an enduring mystery and the high standard for a once subversive art form. Includes Greek and English lyrics, extensive liner notes by Tony Klein and many previously unpublished photographs. Co-released by Olvido Records

Presented in pristine audio quality mastered from original 78 rpm discs by Michael Graves, “The Jail’s a Fine School” stands as an important document of an enduring mystery in Greek music, and a high standard for what was once a truly subversive art form.

LP version includes a 28 page booklet with extensive notes by Tony Klein (“Greek Rhapsody,” “Mortika”), full lyrics in Greek and English, and several previously unpublished photographs. Digital version includes a PDF of the full booklet.

Details
Cat. number: MRP 097
Year: 2015