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”.

Naturally, in the large urban centers of the Ottoman Empire around the Mediterranean Sea, the “conversations” of the Greek-speakers with their Turkish-speaking Muslim “co-tenants”, the Catholic Greek-speakers, the Armenians, the Sepharadi and Ashkenazi Jews, the Levantine Protestants, and the Europeans and the Americans, were more than intense. Very often, the scope of this network extends to the Balkans, to Eastern and even to a part of Central Europe. Especially regarding relations between Orthodox and Muslims, the relevant evidence demonstrates the musical exchanges between them 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. A case that comes from such repertoires is this recording.

It includes a Turkish song which became a hit with the Greek-speaking public of the Ottoman Empire, but also in Athens during the period when the Eastern bands toured liberated Greece.

Aristomenis Kalyviotis (2015: 120) mentions in this regard: "The song 'Memo' was recorded in Thessaloniki three times in the period 1909-1912. It was known from much earlier and beloved by the Turkish and Greek inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire. It was also a great success in Athens in 1886! Thodoros Chatzipantazis, in his book 'Tis Asiatidos mousis erastai' (The Asian Muse's Lovers), refers extensively to the oriental songs that were a great success in Athens at the end of the 19th century, including 'Memo':

'Fotini's male voice has deep and mysterious tones, sighs that tear the heart of even the most insensitive effendi, the throat singing of a nightingale sending its echo of its song from one bank of the Bosphorus to the other, and above all a sweet, deep hoarseness, like the voice of a dervish nāy. With that popular Memo, indeed, he hath the world overwhelmed. Everyone now knows:

Aman Memo
Kuzum Memo
Yavrum Memo
Şeker Memo
Evlat Memo"

The song was also a hit in Smyrna (Izmir), as Angela Papazoglou and Dimitris Archigenis inform us. The latter, in his book "Laografika C′ I zoi sti Smyrni" (Folklore C′ Life in Smyrna) writes the following:

"Angela was singing the Turkish şarkı (şarkı in Turkish means 'song') Memo with these lyrics: Aman Memo, canım (my soul), Memo, tam-tam, Memo, etc. The Turks who were listening to her would take off their fezzes and throw them in the air. This şarkı is the story of a Turkish Circassian efe (bandit) who was accidentally killed by his mother-in-law."

Elsewhere in his book, referring to the amusement center "Terpsithea" in Smyrna, he writes the following:

"And Güzel-Katina (Güzel in Turkish means beautiful) was singing, a beautiful woman with beautiful almond eyes. Nouros (the nightingale of Smyrna) and Kostas Masselos, who was driving the best hearts crazy with his songs Memo and Mavili, were singing along with her."

The tune appears several times in Turkish-speaking historical discography. For example:

– "Memo", Ahmet bey – Kemani Memduh (violin), Constantinople (Istanbul), January - February 1903. This is the record Gramophone Concert Record 537z – 12853 or 538z – 12854)
– "Güzel Memo", Madame Eugénie, Constantinople, 1906-1907 (Odeon CX418 – 31710)
– "Memo", Hafız Âşir Efendi, Constantinople, 1906-1907 (Odeon CX808 – 31343)
– "Μemo", Hafiz Burhan Bey, Constantinople, around 1929 (Columbia 22340 – 12359)

Aristomenis Kalyviotis records more than twenty Turkish-speaking versions containing the word "Memo" in their title in the period 1900-1950 (2015: 225 – 227). However, we do not know to what extent they are related to the song in question, as audio material has so far been found for very few of them.

In Greek historical discography, the tune was recorded in Turkish, in 1928 in Athens, by Kostas Nouros under the title "Memo" (Οdeon Go 624 – GA 1305 / A 190086 a). Two Greek versions followed, one with Marika Frantzeskopoulou ("Memo", Athens, 1929-1930, Odeon GA 1444/A 190290 a) and a second one with Grigoris Asikis ("Memo", Athens, 1929-1930, Pathé 70203 - 80211).

The tune can also be found in the Turkish-speaking Armenian repertoire that was recorded in America. The oldest is the presente recording, that was performed in November 1917 in New York by the Armenian violinist and singer Kemany Minas Effendi, whose real name was Minas Chaghatzbanian (for more info see here). It was also recorded under the title "Aman Memo" between 1945-1950 in the USA, by Armenians Garbis Bakirjian (vocals and qanun), Marko Melkon Alemsherian (oud), Nick Doneff (violin) and someone unknown (darabuka) for Kaliphon (Kaliphon 706-Α).

Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis