Greek ensemble Polixeni will feature at Visible Sessions, a series of Friday evening music performances at Curve Bar, at The Arts Centre. Playing rebetika music, predominantly from the 1940s and ’50s, Polixeni contribute to the theme “Songs of Yearning”, which focuses on the music of displacement and nostalgia. While this will be Polixeni’s first outing as a group, the musicians involved have played together in varying permutations for many years.

Vocalist Jenny Theologidis will front the quintet, supported by long time musical collaborator Wayne Simmons along with Con Kalamaris, Achilles Yiangoulli and George Butrumlis. Yiangoulli was the musical director of Cafe Rebetika, which recently completed a second season at the Arts Centre. “So the band is newly formed but we’ve all worked together in the past, it’s just a different combination and a new name.”

Jenny’s conversion to rebetika is relatively recent. She’d done backing vocals for it in the past, but began in earnest about a year ago, and she’s been enjoying it more and more. “It’s been great. I’ve learned so much. And I’ve developed a side of my music that was never there before. I’ve done a lot of work over the last few months. It’s the kind of music, if you haven’t been brought up listening to it, you have to study it a lot to understand and interpret it.”

As a performer, rebetika is very challenging, requiring great discipline to both do the form justice and to communicate effectively with an audience. But while a formidable task, she feels it still resonates with the crowd. “It’s Greek blues, urban music, like flamenco or fado. It grew out of life on the street. These are songs about life, the circumstances of the time. The music is soulful and passionate and emotional, it speaks the truth. It’s also very eerie.” This is the third year the program has run, and it’s popularity shows no sign of diminishing. “It’s all about bringing together artists from different communities in Melbourne, to demonstrate the diversity of music, and to highlight how these new communities have shaped Australian culture and art. It’s a great initiative I think.”

Polixeni perform at Visible Sessions: Songs of Yearning at The Arts Centre Curve Bar, Friday 2 December, 4:30pm to 7pm. Free.