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”.

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.

The song appeared in Turkish discography from the first decade of the 20th century and was recorded many times in the following decades. For example:

- "Koniala avec clarinette", Haffouz Aschir Effendi [Hafız Aşir Efendi], Constantinople (Istanbul), 1908-1909 (Odeon CX 1924 - 54574), this recording
- “Koniali”, İbrahim Effendi, Constantinople, February 26, 1909 (Gramophone 12267b – 6-12230 & re-issue in the USA by Victor 63064-A)
- "Conialy Cantosou", Kemani Minas Efendi, New York, November 1917 (Columbia 58757-1 - E3745)
- "Konyali Hani Benim Elli Dirhem Pastirmam", Louis Matalon, New York, late 1940s (Balkan 4008-A)
- "Konyalım", Zehra Bilir, Istanbul, in 1950s (Sahibinin Sesi OTB 1772 - AX 2332)

According to the data collected so far, in Greek historical discography the tune was recorded two times in Athens:

- Ιn 1933, by Roza Eskenazy under the title "Konialis" (Parlophon 101369 - B-21707-II). According to the label on the record, the song is attributed to Giannis Dragatsis or Ogdontakis.
- The song was also recorded in Turkish on July 7, 1960, in Athens, by Stelios Kazantzidis, under the title "Hani benim elli dirhem pastırma" (Columbia CG-4195 - DG-7590).

We should also mention that one can find this musical tune in the repertoire of Cyprus too, titled "I vraka" (see for example here).

Finally, there is another tune in the Turkish repertoire with the same title:
- "Konyali", Hafız Burhan Sesyılmaz, Istanbul, 1931 (Columbia WT 2726 - GG 1013 & 18646)

The tune above interacts with a 1949 recording by Marika Ninou, titled «Soula» (HMV OGA 1479-1 - AO 2868), in Athens. The label of the record mentions D. Chatzitheologou - K. Sotiriadis as the authors.

For more about "Konialis", that is, the man from Iconium (Turkish: Konya), check the website http://www.dance-pandect.gr.

Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis