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Interviewing One of the Last Rebetes Alex Panos

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I'm trying to raise funds to interview one of the last rebetes, Alex Panos.  Born near Chicago in 1928 his parents died when he was young which meant he got sent to Greece right on the eve of Italian Invasion. After living through the occupation he came back to the USA and went to work at a factory, until the rebetis the late Athanasiou taught him guitar and invited him to New York. Soon afterwords he met the legendary bouzouki player Jack Halikias and is one of a handful of people alive to have known him. This time with Athanasiou was the highlight of his life, as he puts it his "golden era". Afterwards he went to California and continued his career playing with Iordanis Tsomidis. Currently 91, Panos lives in Las Vegas and this fundraiser will fund my flight  and journey to interview him. I will publish a free article with never before seen photos of Panos and his circle including Jack Halikias. Any unused funds will go towards buying a plane ticket for Panos to visit the son of Halikias, who grew up with Panos after his father died and moving to California. That will also allow him to hear the home recordings he participated on over 60 years ago.

Organizer

Aydin Chaloupka
Organizer
Mount Vernon, WA

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