At the beginning of the 20th century, Europe is living in peace and prosperity. The “Belle Époque” is an outgrowth of previous important historical events and developments. The networks that are created and which evolve funnel both people and their products, tangible and intangible. It is within this multi-layered world that sound recording and sound reproduction is invented. Early record labels send mobile crews literally all over the world to record local musicians. The range of the repertoire is endless. Cosmopolitanism in large urban centers favors polystylisms and polymorphisms. Colonialism, revolutions, conflicts, refugee flows; the theater, cinema, radio, photography, orchestras’ tours, but also circulations in all kinds of commercial channels in a world that evolves dynamically and anisotropically, form a complex network of “centers” and “peripheries” in alternating roles setting musical idioms in motion, both literally and figuratively. The networks in which the Greek-speaking musics participate, constantly conversing with their co-tenants, are magnificent. Discography has already provided important tools in understanding the relationships that developed between “national” repertoires. The result of this ongoing research is “Cosmopolitanism in Greek Historical Discography”.

The relevant evidence demonstrates the musical exchanges between the Balkan repertoires and elucidate an ecumene where everyone contributed to the great musical “melting-pot”, and where everyone may draw from it, as well as redeposit it, in a new form, with a reformulated text and its meaning, with sometimes clear and sometimes blurred references to its pre-text, until someone else pulls it out again, through the “melting-pot”, so that it becomes clear that there is no end in this recreational and dynamic process where fluidity prevails. One such case is this recording "Chasapiko (Politiko)".

According to the findings so far, the tune appears seven times in Greek historical discography under the following titles:

– “Chasapiko (Politiko)”, Unknown performers, New York, 1919 (Constantinople Record 463-1 – 4009-B), present recording.
– “Chasapiko”, Giannis Kyriakatis (clarinet), Athens, 1928 (Odeon Go 581-2 – GA-1368).
– “Chasapikos”, Trio Alexandris, Zervas and Agrios, New York, October 16, 1928 (OKeh W-500032 – 82531).
– “Chasapiko Politiko”, Popular Orchestra with harmonica, Athens, 1930 (Parlophon 101136 – B-21555-ΙΙ).
– “Chasapiko Politiko argo”, Popular Orchestra with harmonica, Athens, May 12, 1931 (His Master's Voice OW-94 – AO-1012).
– “Chasapiko Politiko”, V. Androutsopoulos (Psareos) [violin], K. Vourloumis (banjo), Unknown (piano), USA, 1949 (Oliver OL-101 – 5A).
– “Politikos chasapikos”, Jerry Vlesmas (clarinet), Tony Stevens, H. Cosmetos, USA, 1955 (Ariston 249-B).

Also, Giorgos Katsaros (Theologitis) uses the tune as a second introductory theme in the recording “Neoi geroi psithyrizoun” (Camden, New Jersey, June 4, 1930, Victor CVE-62640 – V-58058-B).

As usual, both the form and the style of the melodies and harmony can be found in a variety of repertoires, the relationships of which have already been documented for a number of musical tunes in discography (see for example "Chasapiko Politiko", "Nina" and "Aeroplano tha paro"). In this particular case, with the first-basic theme as a starting and common point, multiple variations, edits, recompositions, reconstructions and assemblies of tunes, forms, and adaptations of these, arise. Thus, in the wider geographical area of ​​Macedonia, one can find the tune known as "Kasapsko oro" (khoro or choro). In Alan Kelly's database, it appears that the first recording with this title was made in Sofia on September 1, 1910 (Gramophone 11300 - 18241) by Pulio Zurladzhiya. As there are other tunes with the same title in discography, we are not in a position to know if this first recording in Kelly’s database is about the same piece.

We also find the tune as "Bŭlgarsko kasapsko khoro" (Българско касапско хоро 1), recorded by Mr. D. Stoyanoff in 1919 or 1920 in New York (Columbia 85327 – E4708). In this recording, another musical theme that appears on Greek discography under titles such as "Serviko", «Choros Chasapikos» can also be heard from about 2′ 09″.

A variation of the tune is also found in the Serbian repertoire. On December 2, 1927, in Belgrade, the instrumental duo Mile i Badja, consisting of Mile Velimirović (Миле Велимировић) on the accordion and Badža Todorović (Баџа Тодоровић) on the clarinet, recorded “Kokonješte - Niško” (Кокоњеште–Нишко) for Gramophone (BK 2644-1 – 18454 and ΑΜ1091). The recording was reissued in the United States in October 1929 by Victor (Victor V-3015-B).

In 1948, in the USA, the Kime Nanchoff Orchestra recorded "Kasapsko Horo" [record made by RCA-Victor (QB-6361–1-D8 No. 5)]. As one can read on the website "Библиотека "Струмски", the clarinetist Kime Nanchoff (Киме Нанчов, 1902-1993) "was born in the village of Kriveni located in the Municipality of Resensko in North Macedonia" and "was a prominent Macedonian-Bulgarian musician and activist of the MPO (Macedonian Patriotic Organization)". For more about Nanchoff see here.

In 1951, the Russian instrumental quartet consisting of Boris Tikhonov (accordion), Nikolay Nazaruk (clarinet), Vasily Riskov (guitar), and P. Kupreishvili (double bass) recorded in Moscow the composition by David Lvov-Kompaneyets (Д. Львов-Компанеец) titled “Moldavian dance” (Молдавская Пляска, Artel “Gramplastmass” 20724–20724). The following year, in 1952, the same quartet, with Sergey Stikhin on double bass, recorded the piece again in Leningrad (“Молдавская Пляска”, Artel “Plastmass” 1058-1–1058). The main motif of the introductory phrase is heard on the clarinet.

In 1956, the American composer of Armenian origin Allan Hovhaness [Alan Vaness Chakmakjian (Աական Հայիկան Պայաներեն), Somerville, Massachusetts, March 8, 1911 – Seattle, June 21, 2000] completed his work "Seven Greek Folk Dances, Op. 150". Hovhaness, who considered the Greek painter Ermolaos Ionidis (better known as Hermon di Giovannno) as his spiritual teacher while visiting Greece in the period 1953 – 1955, arranged seven Greek dances for harmonica and strings (or piano): 1. Hassapiko, 2. The Selybrian Syrtos, 3. Sweet Basil Green, 4. Karagouna, 5. Tsaconian dance, 6. Pastoral, 7. Sousta. The first, entitled "Hassapiko" draws material from the tune we are examining. The work was presented in 1958 in Berlin by John Sebastian, harmonica, and Renato Josi, piano (see here), in 2001 in Athens by Christos Zerbinos, accordion, and the Athens String Orchestra conducted by Lefteris Kalkanis (see here), in 2003 in Tokyo by the Japanese Joe Sakimoto, harmonica, and Haruki Mino, piano (see  here), and in 2013 in Milan by the Italian Gianluca Littera, harmonica, and the Orchestra Stesichoros conducted by Francesco Di Mauro (see here).

The tune, however, also appears in Dutch discography. The Dutch composer Derek Laren (Elsa Antonia de Groot, Amsterdam, December 19, 1919 – May 29, 1994) is inspired by this tune and writes the 1′ 22″ song under the title "Hassapicos". The instrumental song was recorded in 1963 in London by the London Studio Orchestra conducted by Hugh Granville. It is included, along with the instrumental song "Danse Saharienne" by British composer H.M. Farar, on a 78-rpm record (DW-2760-A – D.W. 2760 A) by the library music publisher and record label Music De Wolfe (see here).

It is worth noting the communication with the Ashkenazi repertoire. A variation of the first phrase of the tune can be found in a series of recordings under the title “Kolomeika”, a form of Ukrainian folk song as well as dance, which is also found in the repertoire of Poland and Slovenia. As an example, we note the recording made by the orchestra of Harry Kandel (“Κolomeyka”, Camden, New Jersey, April 8, 1918, Victor B-21665 – 72054-A), and that of the orchestra of Abe Schwartz, as Jewish Orchestra (“Κolomeika”, New York, September 1918, Columbia 84672 – E4122). This variation is also found in historical musical transcriptions. Specifically, Wolff Kostakowsky included it in the book International Hebrew Wedding Music, which was published in New York in 1916 under the titles “Freilachs 25” (p. 102) and “Kolomeyka 3” (p. 113). Additionaly, the book Jewish Instrumental Folk Music – The Collections and Writings of Moshe Beregovski, edited by Mark Slobin, Robert Rothstein, and Michael Alpert (2001), includes transcriptions from Skotshne (numbers 54 and 116), i.e., tunes associated with Eastern Ashkenazi dances. The first pattern we are interested in is transformed at the beginning of these Skotshnes. Between November 19 and 22, 1996, at Studio 10 of DeutschlandRadio Berlin, the Joel Rubin Jewish Music Ensemble recorded the CD “Beregovski’s Khasene (Beregovski’s Wedding): Forgotten Instrumental Treasures from the Ukraine” (Weltmusik SM 1614-2), which also includes Skotshne no. 116 (see here).

From the findings in discography, it is clear that the tune is still active in the repertoire related to the wider Balkan region, constantly producing new performances and arrangements. The appearance of the tune in multiple performative environments, which determine its performative and, ultimately, overall aesthetic identity, is of great interest:

– "Kasapsko Oro", Ansambl Čalgija, in the record "Kaži Jano, Kaži Dušo", Jugoton – LPY-61294, 1976.
– "Kasapsko Oro", Vlatko Stefanovski (spanish guitar), Miroslav Tadic (spanish guitar), Theodosii Spassov (kaval), Swapan Chaudhuri (tabla) (concert in Zagreb 2007, uploaded on YouTube in 2010).
– "Butcher's Air", New York Gypsy All Stars (uploaded on YouTube in 2010).
– "Kasapsko Oro", Ampe & Despina Band (uploaded on YouTube in 2023).

Finally, various parts from the multiple expressions of this tune seem to communicate with other "puzzles" of motifs, such as for example, the song "Tatavliano chasapiko" by Loukianos Kavvadias, or the song "Servikaki" by Spyros Peristeris, from the Greek repertoire, which, in turn, also communicate with tunes from other repertoires, such as, for example, the Turkish song "Kasap Havası", a Bulgarian "Касапско хоро", or with the repertoire of the zurna and tunes such as the Turkish piece "Kasap", or the "chasaposervikos" from the city of Serres in Greece.

(Many thanks to Josh Horowitz, Joel Rubin, Martin Schwartz and Ilya Saitanov for their advice and information.)

Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis