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 network in which the Greek-speaking urban popular song participates, constantly conversing with its co-tenants, is 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”.

This instrumental tune was originally released for Zonophone's label (X 108001) or Gramophone's (404r – 18363) (in 1903, the Zonophone label was purchased by Gramophone). The above recording was re-issued by Victor (VI 63556-A). The DAHR states that the date of the recording was June 1910, and the location of its realization was Smyrna (Izmir). However, for matrix number 405r, the DAHR itself states the year 1905 as the recording date. Based on Hugo Strötbaum’s archive, the recording took place in the second half of 1905 in Constantinople (Istanbul), something which Alan Kelly’s database corroborates. The sound engineer Max Hampe was responsible for the recording. Tony Klein (see 2013: 18) speculates that the mandolin in the recording is played by Aristeidis Peristeris, who during that time lived in Constantinople and founded his famous estudiantina (see Ordoulidis: 2021a: 88–97 and 2021b).

According to Alan Kelly’s database, a recording entitled "Vlahico sirto" (1576y – 17953) took place in June 1910.

In September 1910, based on the text by Joel Rubin and Michael Aylward in the collection “Chekhov’s Band, Eastern European Klezmer music from the EMI archives 1908–1913”, the song was recorded in Vilnius, the current capital of Lithuania. The recording was made for Zonophone (X 60914 – 1600 SA) under the title: Веселыя ночи шанта (Merry Nights at the Café Chantant). A. S. Olevsky’s orchestra played.

The tune seems to be quite popular in the Greek repertoire, with recordings having been made both in Greece and in America. In 1940, it was also recorded by Georgia Mittaki for Odeon (Go 3497 – GA 7276) under the title "Mou proxenevoun dyo". The same year, it was recorded by Roza Eksenazy for Columbia as well (CG 2063 – DG 6544) under the title "Tha paro dyo". In 1943, it was recorded for Balkan in America (BAL 815-A), by Kostas Gkantinis, under the title "Tha paro nio". In 1948, it was recorded for Panhellenic Record, by Tzim Apostolou and Andreas Poggis, in America (P 175 B) under the title "Tha paro dyo". In 1950, it was recorded for Liberty in America (Lib 109-A), by Eleni Barkopoulou, under the title "Tha paro dyo" (see here and here).

The musical score of the song titled "Tha paro dyo" was published in New York in 1950 by Hermes Music Publishing Co. as an adaptation by Antonis Sakellariou.

Of particular interest is the appearance of the tune, as a concluding theme, in the song "Athanato romaiiko", which probably comes from an unidentified revue. The song was recorded twice by Petros Kyriakos, on October 19, 1929 in New York (Victor CVE 55878 – V-58042-A) and in May 1931 in Athens (His Master's Voice OW-168 – AO-2010).

Around 1947–1948, once again in America, Ioannis Chalikias recorded "Trikouverto Chasapiko" for his own record label, Athena Recordings. In this recording, the dominant musical theme under consideration can also be heard. What is special about this recording is that the first theme played by Chalikias is the same as the theme heard in “Mortis” (W 206205-1 – CO 56174F), which was recorded for Columbia in May 1929, in New York. The song seems to be a composition by Theofrastos Sakellaridis. The Columbia Greek Orchestra took part in the recording. Despite its name and judging by the sound but also by Dick Spottswood's notes (see 1990: 1143), the Jewish musicians Abe Schwartz and Dave Tarras participated in the orchestra. In addition, in "Mortis", another famous melody can be heard: the one from "Kasapiko", “Nina” and their Jewish versions (check the tabs of the aforementioned Greek titles).

Syncretism, which is observed in the musical actualizations of the areas where Greeks lived and recorded, mainly in the area of folk-popular traditions, is monumental. It only takes one to listen to historical discography, which begins in New York, Smyrna (Izmir), Constantinople (Istanbul), Athens and Thessaloniki since 1900. An essential part of this syncretism concerns the Jews, who constitute one of the main conduits in the uniquely diverse cultural heritage of the Greek-speaking world. They borrow and lend, but they also carry more distant traditions from the places where they have previously lived and the places they have traveled to. They are the central interlocutors in the Greek and Ottoman ecumene, together with Turkish-speaking Muslims, Orthodox but also Catholic Greek-speaking and Armenians, Levantine Protestants, Europeans and Americans, and compose a rich musical mosaic which consists of heterogeneous but co-existent palimpsests: a reservoir to which everyone contributes but from which also everyone receives.

The sources show the timeless existence of a Jewish element, at least since the Hellenistic period, in areas that millennia later formed the modern Greek state. After the “Edict of Milan” in 313 AD and the gradual Christianization of the Eastern Empire, the Jewish element found itself in a difficult position. The Jewish populations that have since been established in these lands became known as Romaniote Jews (or “Romaniotes”’ Rome – Romios). Their historical geographical center of reference was the city of Ioannina, and they speak Greek with various linguistic mixtures. After 1492 and the “Alhambra Decree” by the joint Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, those Jews who did not accept to embrace Christianity were expelled from the Iberian peninsula. They became known as the Sepharadi Jews (or “Sepharadim”), one of the largest Jewish ethno-cultural categorizations (Sepharad in Jewish texts is referred to as the region of present-day Spain). Thessaloniki was one of the main destination points of this displacement, as the ties with the city were older and already close. Apart from the role played by the Greek Jews in the musical developments on the Greek peninsula, there were also important mutual influences between the Greek-speaking Orthodox and the Jews in various other areas where the two communities lived together. As, for example, in Odessa, with the Eastern Ashkenazi Jews, who mainly speak Yiddish, a sui generis Semitic-Slavic language (in Jewish texts, the Kingdom of Ashkenaz, a descendant of Noah, is connected with north-eastern European territories). Their orchestral repertoire is often called klezmer. In other words, apart from the geographical limits of the modern Greek state, the cultural conversations between the Greek Orthodox and the Jews also concern other parts of the world, both in Europe and America, where they met as immigrants.

Research and text: Nikos Ordoulidis