"Calgary's Rembetika Hipsters adapt a passionate, plaintive and complex music without losing the dirt under its fingernails. Soulful and accomplished? You bet." - Penguin Eggs

"The Rembetika Hipsters sure know how to play the Greek blues...they play with soul" – Exclaim

"Got back to Calgary in time to see the amazing Rembetika Hipsters holding forth at their regular Wednesday night gig at the Pegasus. Sitting around a table, supping on a mezz and downing Metaxa brandy, they played the old school Greek-Oriental music like I’ve never seen live before. Bouzouki, guitar, baglamas, fiddles and clarinet. Mark gives highest recommendation." - Mark Rubin, Musician (Rubinchik's Yiddishe Orkestar, Bad Livers), Austin, Tx.

"What can I say? The Rembetikas are a perfect festival band and the sessions they led were stellar." - Kerry Clarke (Calgary Folk Festival)  

Nick Diochnos Bouzouki, Vocals

Allen Baekeland Guitar, Vocals

Ben Johnson Percussion, Other

Lincoln Frey Clarinet, Squeezebox

Jonathan Lewis Violin, Baglama

Brigitte Dajczer Violin

Meet the Rembetika Hipsters: a group of Calgary-based musicians, only one of whom is Greek-born, who over the past decade have toured across Canada spreading the word about the underground music they love - rembetika, which some have called the "Greek blues" with its songs of poverty, dislocation, heartache and hashish. Rembetika's origins are in the former Greek communities scattered across Asia Minor and the shanty towns that emerged around port towns such as Pireias and Thessaloniki in the early years of the last century. The music is characterized by its use of swirling Middle Eastern rhythms and modalities, and in the use of unusual stringed instruments such as the bouzouki and the tiny baglama.

The band was started as a duo in 1996 by Nick Diochnos (bouzouki, vocals) and Allen Baekeland (guitar,vocals), longtime musical pals who were looking for a departure from their rock and country backgrounds. Nick had taken up the bouzouki under the teaching of master Toronto musician Kostas Apostolakis, who introduced him to the incredible and somewhat forgotten catalogue of  pre-WW II rembetika songs. Nick and Allen began performing these songs in Calgary Greek eateries, where they met and added multi-instrumentalist Ben Johnson (percussion, santour and tzoura, similar to the bouzouki). Soon Lincoln Frey (clarinet, saxophone and accordion) was added from Calgary's jazz scene and Brigitte Dajczer (violin) completed the quintet. This lineup began writing and recording original songs in the rembetika tradition, coloured by their backgrounds in jazz, rock and experimental music. The band released two acclaimed CDs, Architects of Narghile (2001) and Dinner In Polidroso (2004) and toured festivals, clubs and concert halls from the Maritimes to the Yukon. In 2004, Network Records in Germany licensed a track from Architects for their brilliant compilation of modern rembetika music, The Diaspora of Rembetiko.

With the departure of Brigitte for Montreal, where she has a very active career in the world music scene (Les Gitans De Sarajevo, Juan Jose Carranza and many others), the Hipsters were joined by another superb multi-instrumentalist, Jonathan Lewis (from Calgary’s infamous Plaid Tongued Devils) on violin, baglama and accordion.  Brigitte continues to perform with the band on eastern Canadian excursions and whenever she drops into Calgary.

The Rembetika Hipsters have twice visited and performed in Greece, most recently in June 2006, where they met and played with outstanding Greek musicians such as clarinet maestro Petroloukas Halkias and rembetika revivalists Giorgos Xindaris and Manolis Dimitrianakis. In December 2006 they celebrated their 10th anniversary with a sold-old concert at Calgary's Center For the Performing Arts featuring an eight-piece lineup. This past summer they toured festivals and theatres in the western provinces. They are currently constructing their third CD for release in 2008. And every Wednesday evening for close to five years,  the Hipsters have returned rembetika to its intimate and natural element, sitting around the table singing and playing at the well-loved Calgary Greek restaurant, Pegasus.

Ben Johnson is the Hipsters' percussionist.. and oudist.. and santouri.. A drummer and guitarist in his former musical lives, in 1997 Ben joined Nick and Allen and they began a journey of learning Greek songs and rhythms which Ben first played on the djembe, later adding toumbeleki (doumbek) and frame drums, setting the djembe aside in favour of more traditional Greek percussion sounds. Ben is a multi-instrumentalist bent on not only having a lot of sounds to choose from, but also a deepening knowlege of the tradition and repertoire behind each one. To that end he has travelled to Greece, Turkey, and India, picking up new instruments and rhythms along the way.
Ben is also a digital media artist, and creator of this web site.