loukoumi: Turkish Delight
mangha: tough guy
manghissa: tough girl
manghites: young toughs
meltemi: strong August wind
mezzedes: hors d’oeuvres
narghile: hookah, waterpipe
outi: oud
pitsiriki: little fellow
putana: prostitute, whore
rebetiko: Greek urban folk music, combining influences from European and Middle Eastern music. Often referred to as the Greek Blues.
retsina: Greek white (or rosé) resinated wine
skordalia: potato and garlic puree
tekke: hash den, from the Turkish word for Dervish convent
tiropites: cheese pies
toumbeleki: round, flat drum
tsifteteli: Greek belly dance
tsipouro: eau de vie, moonshine
xenos: foreigner
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
THIS NOVEL HAS BEEN A long time in the making, and many people helped me along the way, providing historical and musical expertise, editorial feedback, readerly insight, and friendly support and encouragement. Among them are Michel Basilieres, Alan Bourassa, Marylin Casselman, Sally Cooper, Michael Devine, Steve Heighton, Susan Lamond, Andrew McCrae, Athanasios Sklavis, Tanya Tree, Helen Tsiriotakis, William Weintraub, the members of the Rembetiko Forum, the Rebetiko Hipsters, and the staff of the Centre for Asia Minor Studies in Athens. I thank them all for their contributions, and I hope anyone not mentioned by name knows that his/her help was appreciated. I would like to express profound gratefulness to Cigdem Erkal Ipek and her father, Ali Erkal, who welcomed me into Izmir as if I were a prodigal daughter, and showed me what remained of Smyrna. Thanks also to my agent, Samantha Haywood, whose enthusiasm and belief in this book never flagged. The support of The Canada Council of the Arts, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and CUPFA’s Professional Development Fund was instrumental in the extensive research and the writing of this book. Finally, I would like to thank Cormorant Books for publishing this novel in a climate where literary fiction is increasingly a labour of love and a feat of daring against all odds.
AMONG THE BOOKS THAT INFORMED my research are Marjorie Housepian Dobkin’s, Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of a City; George Horton’s, The Blight of Asia; and Gail Holst-Warhaft’s, Road to Rembetika: Music of the Greek Sub-culture. There were also many books written in Greek, including memoirs, eye-witness accounts, academic studies, and other types of narratives from both Smyra and Piraeus that helped me enter into the spirit and the time of the two places. Finally, Costa Ferris’s film, Rembetiko, also had an influence on my understanding of time, place and culture.
The Goodtime Girl Page 31
