Greek Baglamas Samouelian

The Baglamas is part of the “Bouzouki family”. It is the smallest out of the three main sizes (the other two being Tzouras and the Bouzouki). The instrument became prominent in early 20th-century Greece, mainly due to the Greek immigrants who fled Minor Asia in the 1920s. It is especially used in rebetiko music — the “urban blues” of the working-class neighborhoods and prison communities, especially Piraeus and Thessaloniki.

During times of censorship (especially under the Metaxas regime in the 1930s), rebetiko music was sometimes banned, and the baglamas was small enough to hide easily, even inside a coat or under a table, which made it a symbol of resistance and underground culture.

The Baglamas is based on the original 3-string (or 6-string) Bouzouki and it is tuned D-A-D.