“My Sweet Canary”: Documentary on Legendary Greek Songstress

No, this documentary is not about Greek opera star Maria Callas but a woman by the name of Rosa Sarah Eskenazi who was born in either 1897 or 1898 in the Jewish quarter of Istanbul.

Eskenazi was known in the 1930’s as the Queen of Rebetiko which can be roughly equated as the Greek blues. She was also an excellent singer of Smyrneiko. Rebetiko is greatly influenced by Anatolian music before various borders sliced it up. I see Turkish, Greek and Persian tinges to her music.

You might want to call this documentary her biography but being so dear to the heart of many Greeks perhaps the documentary might be called a tribute.

We follow three musicians skilled in Greek music from London, Jerusalem and Istanbul as they visit Istanbul, Athens and Thessaloniki trying to follow in the footsteps of Eskenazi and hook up with local musicians and play and sing as she would have done. Rest assured if you like Greek music you’ll enjoy the music you will hear in this film

Having visited Greece numerous times and been to many a Greek wedding including a couple in Greece I have had an earful of what I thought was “traditional” music but in fact was Rebetiko. Rebetiko petered out after the Second World War and subsequent “Europeanization” of Greece but was revived by students in Greece in the late sixties and early seventies.

Understanding some Greek might help you understand Rebetiko but the music and lyrics are truly soulful and sentimental often about the different aspects of love. And when most Greeks hear this music they too are transformed and swept away by it. If you see Greeks dancing to it is more than dancing but almost a melting into the music.

We hear from her biographer, family members and musicians that have worked with her. She only made one television appearance in the 1970’s. As her biographer says she has a special place in the heart of Greeks.

“Sweet Canary”, a huge success for Eskenazi, was recorded in 1934. In 1932 she was the first female to sign an exclusive recording contract with Columbia Records.

Her last appearance was in 1977 and she died in 1980 of what we today call Alzheimer’s.

When I next run into a Genie with a magic lamp I want to see Eskenazi perform in the late 1930’s!

This Israeli-Greek 2011 film was produced and directed by Roy Sher and is in several languages with English subtitles.

You can catch this film streaming at the Hellenic Film Society USA through February 6th.  In fact, the Society streams a couple of Greek films for a month starting on the first Sunday of the month. It is accessible to viewers throughout the world so check out their website https://hellenicfilmusa.org/.

You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KSRaB9Pseg&feature=emb_logo

Poetry Corner: “In the interests of productive behaviour”

In the interests of productive behaviour

Motivation
goals
group dynamics
profit sharing
job enrichment
mindfulness
tasty tidbits to woo the middle class
bribery for the otherwise belligerent
soothed with technocratic brews and of course group meditation
psychological trickery
blessed in the holy catacombs of management classes
where the ambitious
grovel at the swill bucket of possible social mobility
fed by Harvard Business School priests
sacrosantly selling communion to the highest bidder
of course

Robert K. Stephen

Poetry Corner: “It’s mainly because of the meat”

It’s mainly because of the meat (a day at the hospital)

Defying fate
the numbered pieces of meat are kept tender by the singing of the dart laden
Nightingales
they lie glistening
some in cellophane wrap
fresh and clean
for the bug eyed greedy fate regulators and their machines
white clad techno princes
sounding the charge armed with reams of slaughtered trees
and sticks that relentlessly scratch
knives or forks?
needles or thread?
charting with sage chants the ringmasters of pain
whip the remnants of human dignity
for the hungry audience of apprentices
gawking at the wisdom of the teacher
all believing
who perhaps
one day will know the power of their
Pharisees

Robert K. Stephen

Poetry Corner: “Hysterical Silence”

Hysterical silence

Majestic craggy mysticism
awe inspiring
timeless
proud
towering over the Ken and Barbie dwarfs
with the $599 I Phone imaginations
snapping like spoilt poodles
(which were left at the 5 star kennel)

Soon their blind eyes tire
such strenuous activity!
they can see the damn massifs on the home screen anyways
now its off to air conditioned retreats
with pleather seats
deodorized compartments of the living dulled

down the road another scenic lookout
more innocent corrupted children
chocolate smeared faces
stuffed at a simulated logger’s camp
“all you can eat buffet”

Belly protruding leader of the pack
bermudaed intelligence office instinct
hunter of the high dividend
decked his wife with gold and diamonds
that mean so much
and even more to the neighbours

and all gather at the lookout
object of mockery they are
the craggy mountains laugh
in hysteria
kings and queens of it all

Robert K. Stephen

Poetry Corner: “Was it better in the Old Country?”

Was it better in the Old Country?

We were in a cab last night
I was staring at the meter intently uptight
while the driver was talking with you
of stories of love and wine
Ah……..the girls of his youth
in the Old Country
many grey hairs less

Robert K. Stephen

Virus # 26 : Chapter 48:”Diverse politico reactions”

Chapter 48“so what did we learn from all these plagues? :Diverse Politico Reactions”

After 10 years of virus attacks what can be learnt from our dear politicians? Well that rather depends what jurisdiction you were living in. From a Canadian perspective the pandemic was managed very well. COVID-19 was a totally new political challenge and it was managed as well as any pandemic could be. And strangely enough when Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that they had our backs I believed them and they delivered on that promise until Virus # 26 arrived and by that time Ford and Trudeau were long gone!.

Federal and provincial governments rose to the challenge. ironically it could be said their pre-pandemic management led to a pandemic crisis  because of their slashing of health care budgets but if we go beyond that fundamental flaw their management of the situation brought out the best in provincial leaders such as Premier Doug Ford in Ontario and Quebec’s Francois Légault.

The United States was a confusing and deadly disaster with the COVIDs being mismanaged by the feds and the individual states. The Trumpian administration seemed more focused on re-election than containment of the COVID-19 attacks and promoted congregate spreading at its 2020 rally events and shockingly at  a 2020 Tulsa Trump rally the rally organizers ordered campaign workers to remove social distancing stickers from the Tulsa auditorium’s seats .That stupid and simplistic action was the event that was the beginning of the end of Donald J. Trump. Of course, the super spreader campaign events after the Tulsa fiasco helped beat Trump in the 2020 elections. 

Now there were other “regimes” that took advantage of the pandemics to solidify their political power hence Putin emerged as the new Tsar and countless corrupt third world countries ended up in their traditional military dictatorships and military juntaships.

Generally speaking what was corrupt before the viruses became more corrupt.

And when Virus # 26 hit the rotten became even more rotten. The public hangings in Russia ordered by Tsar Putin against the “spreaders of the virus” (or was it opposition party member?) were really over the top. The African genocides against the “tribes” that introduced the killer Virus # 26 were an exercise in transparent despotism.

All said and done what was bad prior to the pandemics became a stinking rotten mess.

The United States seemed stuck in a perpetual race riot. Africa lost all democracy and happily sent its delegates to the United Nations General Assembly meetings lodging them at high end super luxury hotels while millions died of starvation and disease in their countries.

So there were well meaning and honorable politicians that did the best that they could to inspire and rally their troops but there were many that took advantage to seize power and blame opposition members for introducing the viruses. Blame, cause fear and solidify power.

Poetry Corner: “Personalized Rubrics only after”

Personalized Rubrics only after

Initially a friendly glance
late at night you can never tell
but there’s more
as steel rips through your soft belly

mocking thanatos
has conquered eros
who
weeps
in silence
of red flashes

Robert K. Stephen

Virus # 26: Chapter 47: ” so what did we learn from all these plagues?: Big Pharma and conventional medicine take it on the chin”

Chapter 47 “so what did we learn from all these plagues? : Big Pharma and conventional medicine take it on the chin”

So many casualties. Beyond all belief.

Initially when COVID-19 swept right on in in 2020 there was a certainty that a vaccine was on its way. Regular encouraging announcements came from Big Pharma, the politicos and medicos that a vaccine was on its way on a heavily fast tracked and mega funded superhighway of optimism. Despite securities legislation in the developed world prohibiting insider trading Big Pharma executives skimmed off big sums of money prior to their company’s brimming with hope announcements. Many were caught but many escaped with bulging pockets full of cash. This slammed their reputation as an industry. Billions in government money went their way that supposedly funded research but much of it went to performance and incentive payments to Big Pharma’s senior management teams not for developing a vaccine but due to their “entrepreneurial skills” in snagging funding!

Yes they did finally develop a vaccine for the COVIDs but only after it had mutated was the efficacy of the great vaccine made appare and it failed to deliver a vaccine for Virus # 26. Perhaps somewhat undeservedly all Big Pharma was categorized by whomever survived as parasitical scumbags. If you thought Big Pharma took it on the chin for thalidomide and DES it was nothing compared to the near universal shaming they got blasted with for failing to deliver a magic bullet for the OVIDs and Virus # 26. Finally the survivors believed the alternative medicine community and “conspiracy theorists” (those who challenged conventional medicine) who had been telling anyone who cared to listen to them that Big Pharma made its huge profits by making you continually ill so your conventional physician could “manage” your symptoms by prescribing more Big Pharma products. What Big Pharma lost Big Nutraceuticals gained. And the latter was subject to fraud, false advertising, impure products but if you did your research you would find  many honest supplement providers backed by double blind studies for their products and completely forthcoming with certificates of analysis for their products.

As for conventional medicine its practitioners also took it on the chin for failing to find a “cure” for Virus # 26. Due to the training they had many had their heads so far up the ass of Big Pharma they had lost their vision of healing and gained the skill of prescribing. Yes I will say these conventional practitioners were victims of their training so heavily financed by Big Pharma. Who brought the attention of the public to the unconventional immunity weapons to be used against Virus # 26? It was the functional medicine specialists that always looked to find the root cause of the symptoms and deal with those instead of the conventional practitioners who were trained to mask and manage the symptoms with pharmaceuticals. Not all the conventional practitioners were the bad guys as some actually hunted down the cause of the symptoms instead of doling out prescriptions like jellybeans. But they were in the minority.

As a cardiologist when I first commenced by career, I was one of those conventional practitioners happy to prescribe a magic bullet. But after several years of listening to my patients I heard a continuous litany of complaints about adverse reactions and intolerance to prescriptive medicines. I took a year sabbatical from my hospital position to go to Stanford University School of Medicine in California to become certified as a functional medicine specialist. I learned how to really listen to patients and spend time with them to try and determine their illness and what may be causing it. I learned about yoga, mindfulness, the crucial importance of diet to create optimal health and about the many supplements available to prevent some illnesses from arising.

Upon returning to my hospital practice I got somewhat of the reputation as a lotus land doctor. The old guard guffawed at my approach to medicine but I was overjoyed to see so many relieved and appreciative patients. The younger residents saw the success I was having with my patients and started to listen to what I had to say about, diet, sleep, mindfulness and yoga and soaked it up.

But despite my newfound medical approach there was nothing I could do to stop and kill the COVIDs and Virus # 26 in their tracks. It seemed like many other doctors we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. While you had a good chance to save someone infected with the COVIDs against Virus #26 you had no chance.