A rebetiko sensation with a laika heart

Apostolos Nikolaidis started working in construction at the age of 13, singing as he climbed the scaffolding. "Give us another song," the other workmen would shout when he stopped. As a teenager in Thessaloniki, he sang along to the bouzouki played by other boys in the neighborhood, before sneaking off to Athens with dreams of becoming a professional singer. He got his first gig at a bouzouki joint in 1959 and an audition for Columbia Records three years later, where he performed in front of his icon, Stelios Kazantzidis. He made an immediate impression, but when he mentioned that he hailed from Pontus, too, Kazantizidis invited him to perform at the venue he was playing that summer in the southern Athens suburb of Moschato. The place filled up with fans waiting to hear Kazantzidis; soon they were also coming for Nikolaidis.

He worked with many of the Greek greats in the...