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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 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 the recording “Gkel gkel”.
This is the first recording of the song in Greek historical discography. It was made for Columbia in January 1928, in New York, by Marika Papagkika and Athanasios Makedonas (violin), Markos Sifnios (cello) and Kostas Papagkikas (cimbalom).
As musicologist and guitarist Giorgos Evangelou points out, in his forthcoming book which deals with the recorded works of three emblematic guitarists, Giorgos Katsaros, Kostas Dousas, and Kostas Bezos, similar couplets are found in several earlier sources:
In the journal Neoellinika Analekta (Modern Greek Miscellany), 1870:
I wanted to come at night, but a light rain began to fall,
I prayed to God so I might find you all alone.
In Chorotragouda by Agapitos, 1881:
I wanted to come at night, but a light rain caught me,
I was fervently praying to God so I might find you all alone.
In Songs of Modern Greece by George Frederick Abbott, 1900:
I wanted to come at night, but a fine rain began,
And I prayed to God that I might find you alone.
In 260 Greek Folk Songs from the Mouth of the Greek People by Georgios Pachtikos, 1905:
I wanted to come at night, but a gentle rain began.
And I was praying to God so I might find you alone.
Ah, if only you would come, my dear, even if you got soaked like a duck.
And in the Bulletin of the Hellenic Folklore Society by Ioannis Sideris, 1914:
I wanted to come at night, but a light rain caught me,
O Lord, grant me kindness, that I may find her all alone.
Ah, if only you had come to find me, even if you got soaked like a duck,
I had clothes to change you, and a bed for you to sleep in.
Similar lyrics can be found in the songs "Ozman Agas" with Giorgos Vidalis, "Ol' imera paizei zaria" with Giorgos Katsaros (Theologitis) and "Giorgitsa" with F. Tambouras.
About eleven years earlier, on January 1917, Ka [Mrs] Koula, with Athanasios Mekedonas (violin) kai Andreas Patrinos (lute) recorded in New York the tune under the title "Karsilamas" (Columbia 44944 – Ε3365).
The song with different lyrics and under the title "Se agapo, Theos to xerei" was recorded in America around 1945 by Marko Melkon Alemsherian for Balkan (Balkan 806 & Me Re 806).
The tune is also found in the Turkish repertoire. In 1906–1907, Hafız Âşir Efendi recorded “Atımı bağladım ben bir ormana – Köçekçe Şarkı” in Constantinople [Odeon Cx 760 – 31978, Odeon USA 83036-A, and on the “pirate” record Fabrication Ottomane (İmalat-ı Osmaniye) No. 23]. Approximately four years later, in October–November 1911, it was recorded, probably in Constantinople, by Agopos Efendi, who was of Armenian origin (“Atımı bağladım”, Premier Record 11085), and again in the late 1940s by the actress and singer Suzan Yakar Rutkay (“Atımı bağladım ben bir ormana”, Constantinople, Sahibinin Sesi AX 2327).
The Turkish version of the song can also be heard (from 0:49 to 1:35) in the recording “Davetsiz Düğün Misafirleri”, which includes an excerpt from a meddahlik (traditional Ottoman storytelling theatre) performance. It was recorded in Constantinople in the 1940s by Beşiktaşlı Kemal Şenman and Zehra Bilir (Sahibinin Sesi AX 2260).
In 1997, the Hungarian ensemble Falkafolk Együttes presented an instrumental arrangement of the Greek version of the song at the Táncháztalálkozó, the Hungarian folk festival held annually in Budapest every spring since 1982 (see here). The recording was released under the title "Gkell, gkell" on the CD "Táncháztalálkozó of '97/16th Hungarian Dance-House Festival" (Magyar Művelődesi Intézet, CD MMICD004 and cassette MMI MK 004).
America, where this recording took place, was a microcosm of the globe: a "successful Babel". Naturally, a unique syncretism also dominated in the field of music. The birth, on the other hand, of discography, built a condition that favored debates and osmosis between the innumerable ethno-cultural groups that made up the population. These processes led to the re-imagining, the update and the renewal of old musical trends arriving in the United States and, at the same time, to their re-exportation to the "old worlds", thus setting up a uniquely multi-layered network. "National" repertoires live a new, parallel life, largely molded by discography, which attended to and "tuned" the overlapping relationships that had already developed in the "Old World". Repertoires communicated with each other once again; a familiar and already dynamic condition in Europe. The circulation of music was already a reality before the 20th century with theatrical and musical performances tours, but also with the networks of music publishing houses. Discography is not only embedded in this context, but also plays a key role in its transformation.
Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis 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 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 the recording “Gkel gkel”.
This is the first recording of the song in Greek historical discography. It was made for Columbia in January 1928, in New York, by Marika Papagkika and Athanasios Makedonas (violin), Markos Sifnios (cello) and Kostas Papagkikas (cimbalom).
As musicologist and guitarist Giorgos Evangelou points out, in his forthcoming book which deals with the recorded works of three emblematic guitarists, Giorgos Katsaros, Kostas Dousas, and Kostas Bezos, similar couplets are found in several earlier sources:
In the journal Neoellinika Analekta (Modern Greek Miscellany), 1870:
I wanted to come at night, but a light rain began to fall,
I prayed to God so I might find you all alone.
In Chorotragouda by Agapitos, 1881:
I wanted to come at night, but a light rain caught me,
I was fervently praying to God so I might find you all alone.
In Songs of Modern Greece by George Frederick Abbott, 1900:
I wanted to come at night, but a fine rain began,
And I prayed to God that I might find you alone.
In 260 Greek Folk Songs from the Mouth of the Greek People by Georgios Pachtikos, 1905:
I wanted to come at night, but a gentle rain began.
And I was praying to God so I might find you alone.
Ah, if only you would come, my dear, even if you got soaked like a duck.
And in the Bulletin of the Hellenic Folklore Society by Ioannis Sideris, 1914:
I wanted to come at night, but a light rain caught me,
O Lord, grant me kindness, that I may find her all alone.
Ah, if only you had come to find me, even if you got soaked like a duck,
I had clothes to change you, and a bed for you to sleep in.
Similar lyrics can be found in the songs "Ozman Agas" with Giorgos Vidalis, "Ol' imera paizei zaria" with Giorgos Katsaros (Theologitis) and "Giorgitsa" with F. Tambouras.
About eleven years earlier, on January 1917, Ka [Mrs] Koula, with Athanasios Mekedonas (violin) kai Andreas Patrinos (lute) recorded in New York the tune under the title "Karsilamas" (Columbia 44944 – Ε3365).
The song with different lyrics and under the title "Se agapo, Theos to xerei" was recorded in America around 1945 by Marko Melkon Alemsherian for Balkan (Balkan 806 & Me Re 806).
The tune is also found in the Turkish repertoire. In 1906–1907, Hafız Âşir Efendi recorded “Atımı bağladım ben bir ormana – Köçekçe Şarkı” in Constantinople [Odeon Cx 760 – 31978, Odeon USA 83036-A, and on the “pirate” record Fabrication Ottomane (İmalat-ı Osmaniye) No. 23]. Approximately four years later, in October–November 1911, it was recorded, probably in Constantinople, by Agopos Efendi, who was of Armenian origin (“Atımı bağladım”, Premier Record 11085), and again in the late 1940s by the actress and singer Suzan Yakar Rutkay (“Atımı bağladım ben bir ormana”, Constantinople, Sahibinin Sesi AX 2327).
The Turkish version of the song can also be heard (from 0:49 to 1:35) in the recording “Davetsiz Düğün Misafirleri”, which includes an excerpt from a meddahlik (traditional Ottoman storytelling theatre) performance. It was recorded in Constantinople in the 1940s by Beşiktaşlı Kemal Şenman and Zehra Bilir (Sahibinin Sesi AX 2260).
In 1997, the Hungarian ensemble Falkafolk Együttes presented an instrumental arrangement of the Greek version of the song at the Táncháztalálkozó, the Hungarian folk festival held annually in Budapest every spring since 1982 (see here). The recording was released under the title "Gkell, gkell" on the CD "Táncháztalálkozó of '97/16th Hungarian Dance-House Festival" (Magyar Művelődesi Intézet, CD MMICD004 and cassette MMI MK 004).
America, where this recording took place, was a microcosm of the globe: a "successful Babel". Naturally, a unique syncretism also dominated in the field of music. The birth, on the other hand, of discography, built a condition that favored debates and osmosis between the innumerable ethno-cultural groups that made up the population. These processes led to the re-imagining, the update and the renewal of old musical trends arriving in the United States and, at the same time, to their re-exportation to the "old worlds", thus setting up a uniquely multi-layered network. "National" repertoires live a new, parallel life, largely molded by discography, which attended to and "tuned" the overlapping relationships that had already developed in the "Old World". Repertoires communicated with each other once again; a familiar and already dynamic condition in Europe. The circulation of music was already a reality before the 20th century with theatrical and musical performances tours, but also with the networks of music publishing houses. Discography is not only embedded in this context, but also plays a key role in its transformation.
Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis
© 2019 KOUNADIS ARCHIVE
