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Laïko tragoudi (Greek: λαϊκό τραγούδι, popular/folk song) is a style of Greek urban folk music, especially the Greek music popular after the end of the 1950s, when a new generation of musicians developed from the rebetiko folk music of the time a characteristic new style, the modern laïkó tragoudi.
Although laïko tragoudi evolved from rebetiko, it adopted innovations including the use of amplifiers on the instruments, the use of drums and the four-chord bouzouki and, later on, electronic keyboards. Poverty remained a strong theme, although love and relationships also figured prominently.
As laïko became ubiquitous in 1960s Greece, a number of different schools emerged. One branch was indoprepeh (Greek: ινδοπρεπή, "Indian proper", of Indian origin or influence) heavily influenced by Middle Eastern music with performers such as Manolis Angelopoulos covering Indian filmi songs.
At the same time the skyladika emerged — nightclubs with a bad reputation, most of them not quite legal, typically on the outskirts of town. The style of music played there was called skiladiko too. In the '80s laïko began to interact with Western pop music.
