Yiorgos Batis

Key Information

Yiorgos Batis Γιώργος Μπάτης
Yiorgos Batis in the 1930s
Background information
Birth name	Yiorgos Tsoros (Γιώργος Τσώρος)
Also known as	Yiorgos Ampatis (Γιώργος Αμπάτης)
Born	1885 Methana, Greece
Died	10 March 1967 Piraeus, Greece
Genres	Rebetiko
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, songwriter
Instrument(s)	Baglamas, bouzouki
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Yiorgos Batis (also Giorgos Batis; Greek: Γιώργος Μπάτης; born Giorgos Tsoros (Γιώργος Τσώρος); 1885 – 10 March 1967) was one of the first rebetes influential to rebetiko music.

He was born in Methana in 1885 and moved to Piraeus when he was very young.^[1]

He served in the Greek army from 1912 to 1918. In the mid-1920s, he opened a music school called "Carmen". He opened a café named "Georges Baté" in 1931 and formed one of the most important scenes of rebetiko music. He continued to work as a quack salesman, improvising treatments for toothache and other minor ailments. He kept a collection of many instruments and also used to name them. In 1933, Yiorgos Batis did his first sound-recording with bouzouki in Greece. In the 1930s, he dedicated himself solely to music and collaborated closely with Anestis Delias, Markos Vamvakaris, and Stratos Pagioumtzis in a rebetiko band (Greek: Η τετράς η ξακουστή του Πειραιώς, romanized: I Tetras i Xakousti tou Peiraios, lit. 'the Famous Quartet of Piraeus').^[1][2]

He died in Piraeus on March 10, 1967.^[1][3]