younger generations. One consequence of this has been a tendency to overemphasize the aspect of rebetiko at the expense of the European components and, most significantly, at the expense of perceiving and problematizing this music's truly syncretic nature. However it is important to note in this context that a considerable proportion of the rebetiko repertoire on Greek records until 1936 was not dramatically different, except in terms of language and musical "dialect", from Ottoman café music (played by musicians of various ethnic backgrounds) which the mainland Greeks called Smyrneika. This portion of the recorded repertoire was played almost exclusively on the instruments of /Ottoman café music, such as kanonaki, santouri, politikí lyra (), (, actually identical with the Hungarian cimbalom, or the Romanian țambal), and clarinet. Scales The scales used in rebetiko music are the traditional western major and minor scales, as well as a series of eastern makams, influenced by the Ottoman classical music. Some of them include rast, uşşâk, hijaz (or "phrygian dominant scale"), and nahawand. Rhythms Most rebetiko songs are based on traditional Greek or Anatolian dance rhythms. Most common are: Syrtos, a general name for many Greek dances (including the Nisiotika), (mostly a meter in various forms) Zeibekiko, a or a meter, in its various forms Hasaposervikos, including various kinds of Greek music. It is also the fast version of hasapiko (like and meter) Hasapiko, a meter and the fast version hasaposerviko in a meter Antikristos or Karsilamas and argilamas (a meter) Kamilierikos (a meter) and aptalikos, broken down into sixteenths, (slow version a and fast version a meter in various forms Tsifteteli, cheerful dance for women (a ) Bolero, in a few songs, mainly for guitar (a ) Various other rhythms are used too. Taxim There is one component within the rebetiko tradition which is common to many musical styles within Eastern musical spheres. This is the freely improvised unmeasured prelude, within a given /, which can occur at the beginning or in the middle of a song. This is known in Greek as or ( or ) after the Arabic word usually transliterated as taqsim or . Instruments The first rebetiko songs to be recorded, as mentioned above, were mostly in Ottoman/Smyrna style, employing instruments of the Ottoman tradition. During the second half of the 1930s, as rebetiko music gradually acquired its own character, the bouzouki began to emerge as the emblematic instrument of