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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”.
Tango is one of the main musical elements of the national identity of modern Argentina. It is born in the marginalized environment of the port of Buenos Aires, but soon conquers Europe and the USA, where it is carried by traveling Argentine musicians and dancers during the first decade of the 20th century. Its acceptance by the upper and middle classes was due to its transformation from a multicultural musical expression of the underworld to a dance-music one for whites, as well as to its thematic cleansing of its overtly sensual origins. Primarily marginal types and their provocative liminality are replaced by quaint figures who are possessed by unquenchable, but stylized love passions. This is how a “tamed” musical genre emerges that recalls a more romantic Argentina. Tango takes Parisian cabarets by storm, and its initially targeted popularity soon develops into widespread appeal. Record companies, composers and orchestras manage it as an integral part of their business. At the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s, Greece succumbs too to this “tangomania”. During the interwar period, tango has a central place in the repertoire of elafro (light music) and enriches discography’s catalogs with hundreds of original compositions which complement the systematic arrangements of popular pieces, mainly of European origin, “dressed” with Greek lyrics. It should also be noted that, in various cases, often due to the great international success of the songs, the resulting network is extremely complex and contains recordings in countless places, languages and aesthetical frameworks. One such case is the song "Argkentina".
It is an adaptation of the Italian song "Argentina", set to music by Vincenzo Raimondi and lyrics by A. Ferrari.
According to Antonio Sciotti, it is one of the few songs in the Neapolitan dialect (in its original version) which refers to the Italian immigrants who were living in Argentina and who were working in the mines. Following the recording of the song by Neapolitan Gilda Mignonette, the iconic singer of Italian immigrants to America, the song was a hit in Argentina and around the world.
The musical score of the song was published in Milan in 1927 by the Casa Editrice Italiana "Alba Musicale" publishing house.
In the same year, that is, 1927, the recordings of the song in historical discography began, among them in Romanian and Spanish. For example:
- Orchestra Columbia da ballo, (Columbia B 1707 – 14246)
- Dajos Béla (orchestra), Berlin, August, 30 1927 (Odeon Be 5866-3 – A 167171 a and BL O-2577 and Columbia USA 14679-F)
- Salvatore Papaccio, Napoli 1927 (Phonotype 4889)
- Celebre Orchestra di Danza Edith Lorand, Berlin, October 26, 1927 (Parlophone W34355 – B7527)
- Daniele Serra, Milan, November 7, 1927 (Gramophone BD 4764 – 7-252573 – R4545 and Victor V 12007A)
- Mediolana Jazz Band, Milan, November 9, 1927 (Gramophone BD 4915 – 7-250171 – R4893)
- Dance Band (Bert Firman), London, December 16, 1927 (Gramophone Bb 12255 – 7-250172 – R4893)
- Gilda Mignonette, New York, January 11, 1928 (Brunswick E25974-E25975 – 58085 and 58080)
- Jean Moscopol, Romania, 1929 (Homocord T.C. 1943 R. – R. 4-11019)
- Lizica Petrescu – Violeta Ionescu, Romania, 1930 (Odeon A 199475 a)
According to the piano roll catalog (see page 8) of the Italian company F.I.R.S.T (Fabbrica Italiana Rulli Sonori Traforati), the song was released on piano roll in 1927 under number 261.
Another recording of the song by Michalis Thomakos in 1930 (Columbia G2 – DG 4) was found in Greek historical discography.
Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis, George Evangelou and Nikos Ordoulidis
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”.
Tango is one of the main musical elements of the national identity of modern Argentina. It is born in the marginalized environment of the port of Buenos Aires, but soon conquers Europe and the USA, where it is carried by traveling Argentine musicians and dancers during the first decade of the 20th century. Its acceptance by the upper and middle classes was due to its transformation from a multicultural musical expression of the underworld to a dance-music one for whites, as well as to its thematic cleansing of its overtly sensual origins. Primarily marginal types and their provocative liminality are replaced by quaint figures who are possessed by unquenchable, but stylized love passions. This is how a “tamed” musical genre emerges that recalls a more romantic Argentina. Tango takes Parisian cabarets by storm, and its initially targeted popularity soon develops into widespread appeal. Record companies, composers and orchestras manage it as an integral part of their business. At the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s, Greece succumbs too to this “tangomania”. During the interwar period, tango has a central place in the repertoire of elafro (light music) and enriches discography’s catalogs with hundreds of original compositions which complement the systematic arrangements of popular pieces, mainly of European origin, “dressed” with Greek lyrics. It should also be noted that, in various cases, often due to the great international success of the songs, the resulting network is extremely complex and contains recordings in countless places, languages and aesthetical frameworks. One such case is the song "Argkentina".
It is an adaptation of the Italian song "Argentina", set to music by Vincenzo Raimondi and lyrics by A. Ferrari.
According to Antonio Sciotti, it is one of the few songs in the Neapolitan dialect (in its original version) which refers to the Italian immigrants who were living in Argentina and who were working in the mines. Following the recording of the song by Neapolitan Gilda Mignonette, the iconic singer of Italian immigrants to America, the song was a hit in Argentina and around the world.
The musical score of the song was published in Milan in 1927 by the Casa Editrice Italiana "Alba Musicale" publishing house.
In the same year, that is, 1927, the recordings of the song in historical discography began, among them in Romanian and Spanish. For example:
- Orchestra Columbia da ballo, (Columbia B 1707 – 14246)
- Dajos Béla (orchestra), Berlin, August, 30 1927 (Odeon Be 5866-3 – A 167171 a and BL O-2577 and Columbia USA 14679-F)
- Salvatore Papaccio, Napoli 1927 (Phonotype 4889)
- Celebre Orchestra di Danza Edith Lorand, Berlin, October 26, 1927 (Parlophone W34355 – B7527)
- Daniele Serra, Milan, November 7, 1927 (Gramophone BD 4764 – 7-252573 – R4545 and Victor V 12007A)
- Mediolana Jazz Band, Milan, November 9, 1927 (Gramophone BD 4915 – 7-250171 – R4893)
- Dance Band (Bert Firman), London, December 16, 1927 (Gramophone Bb 12255 – 7-250172 – R4893)
- Gilda Mignonette, New York, January 11, 1928 (Brunswick E25974-E25975 – 58085 and 58080)
- Jean Moscopol, Romania, 1929 (Homocord T.C. 1943 R. – R. 4-11019)
- Lizica Petrescu – Violeta Ionescu, Romania, 1930 (Odeon A 199475 a)
According to the piano roll catalog (see page 8) of the Italian company F.I.R.S.T (Fabbrica Italiana Rulli Sonori Traforati), the song was released on piano roll in 1927 under number 261.
Another recording of the song by Michalis Thomakos in 1930 (Columbia G2 – DG 4) was found in Greek historical discography.
Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis, George Evangelou and Nikos Ordoulidis
© 2019 KOUNADIS ARCHIVE
