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”.

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 Smyrna Izmir.

In September 1909, the Капела Цицварића (Kapela Cicvarića), consisting of members of the well-known Cicvarić musical family (see here) from the town of Šabac (Шабац) in Serbia, recorded in Belgrade the tune under the title “Цицварића коло” (Cicvarića kolo) for the Gramophone (Concert Record Gramophone 13675b – 19523).

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 also appears in the Romanian repertoire in the form of a song within a theatrical number. The actor and playwright Constantin Tănase, a central figure of revue theatre in Romania, and Natalita Pavelescu recorded “Mămăliga” [Polenta] in 1928 in Bucharest, accompanied by the orchestra of the Teatrul Cărăbuș (Columbia H1773 – D 15747). The song originates from the opening number of the revue “Cioc, Cioc, Cioc” [Knock, Knock, Knock], 25th revue theatre piece written by Nicolae Kiritescu and one of his most successful. Comprised of two acts and 14 scénettes, the musical featuring political and social commentary premiered at Constantin Tănase’s Cărăbuș Theatre on 14 June 1928 and closed on 2 August 1928. The show was such a success that it subsequently toured all over Romania from September to December 1928.

(We warmly thank Shaun Williams for the discographical documentation as well as for the information regarding the revue.)

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 recorded in Athens by Georgia Mittaki (“Mou proxenevoun dyo”, Odeon Go 3497 – GA 7276) and by Roza Eksenazy (“Tha paro dyo”, Columbia CG 2063 – DG 6544). In the United States, it was recorded in 1943 by Kostas Gkantinis (“Tha paro nio”, Balkan 815-A), in 1948 by Tzim Apostolou and Andreas Pongis (“Tha paro dyo”, Panhellenic P 175 B) and in 1950 by Eleni Barkopoulou (“Tha paro dyo”, Liberty Lib 109-A, Attikon ATT 9004 N – 501 A and Heleni Records 501-A). In the same year it was recorded for a second time by Kostas Gkantinis under the title “Ntounaraki” (Metropolitan 177-Β. Special thanks to Ilya Saitanov for pointing out the above recording). Around the mid-1950s, the tune was recorded in Cleveland, Ohio, by Ann Marvis and Giorgos Pontikos (violin) with his orchestra, the Athenians Ensemble (“Tha paro dyo”, Hellenic G.P. 1-Α). Finally, in 1955, it was recorded by Jimmie Polos and his orchestra (“Hasapikos horos”, Cavalier Records CAV-845-A – 845).

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.

The characteristic musical phrase of the tune is also found in the recording “Politiko Hasapiko” made in Chicago on February 1, 1937, by Kostas Doussas on the guitar and Spyros Parisis on the accordion (Columbia XCO 23805 – 56374-F).

Of particular interest is the appearance of the tune, as a concluding theme, in a song originating from an unidentified Greek revue. The song "Athanato romaiiko" 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).

In March 1929, the Columbia Greek Orchestra made four recordings in New York for the Greek-American market, which were released on two records (Columbia 56147-F and 56174-F). Among them was the piece “Skoutari Hasapiko” (W 206208-1 – 56147-F), in which the tune under examination can be heard. Despite the orchestra’s name and judging by the sound but also by Dick Spottswood's notes (see 1990: 1143), the Jewish musicians Abe Schwartz (Romania, 1881 – New York, 1963) and Dave Tarras (Teplik, Ukraine, 1895 or 1898 – New York, February 13, 1989) participated in the orchestra.

Around 1947–1948, once again in America, Ioannis Chalikias (bouzouki), with Nick Yortamas (guitar), recorded "Trikouverto – Chasapiko" for his own record label, Athena Recordings (1903). In this recording, the dominant musical theme under consideration can also be heard (from 1′ 09″). What is special about this recording is that the opening theme played by Chalikias is the same as the theme heard in “O mortis” (W 206205-1 – 56174-F), one of the four aforementioned recordings made by the Columbia Greek Orchestra in New York in March 1929, in which the Jewish musicians Abe Schwartz and Dave Tarras took part. It is the instrumental version of the duet of Agamemnon and Mina, “Po, po, po”, from the three-act operetta “O Arlekinos”, by Theofrastos Sakellaridis, which was first performed on June 3, 1920, by the Papaioannou troupe at the Papaioannou Theatre (see the musical score here). In addition, in "O mortis", another famous melody can be heard: the one from "Kasapiko", “Nina” and their Jewish versions (check the tabs of the aforementioned Greek titles). It is worth noting that the other two recordings by the Columbia Greek Orchestra include the instrumental pieces “Magia mou ’kanes – Syrtos” (Columbia W 206206-2 – 56174-F) and “Politikos Syrtos” (W 206207-1 – 56147-F), tunes that also appear in several performances within the Greek discography (see respectively in the tabs of the songs “Tis Pliges” and “Politikos Syrtos”).

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: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis