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”.

It is a re-release by Victor in the USA from Concert Record Gramophone’s record 11-12165, which was recorded in Smyrna (Izmir) in 1910. According to the database that emerged from Alan Kelly's research, the violin in the recording, which was the responsibility of the sound engineer Arthur Clarke, is played by Dimitris Semsis or Salonikios.

The musicologist Spilios Kounas (2019: 293-295) states about the manedes in major scales and the manedes in F major that "despite the existence of variations, both are re-performed as specific compositions and not as improvisations, although at least one improvised case has been found. Therefore, we can say with certainty that the tautology of the manes as a purely improvised form is incomplete.”

In particular, he notes the following:

"the case of the (Smyrnaean) Major does not fit into the identically named major scale, as would be expected due to a common signifier, maintaining distances from the à la franga concept."

"These peculiarities are also implemented by a different instrumental structure in relation to the manedes that are categorized in modal categories identically named with those of the makams… It is obvious that the composition of the composition of the orchestra goes beyond the functional role of a simple means of implementation and becomes an active actor, contributing to the creation of a distinct sound that defines a specific style which could be characterized as one of the versions of the Smyrnaean style. At the same time, the spread of this specific set of instruments is an indication of the strong interactions, on a vertical axis, between the musicians of the Balkans and the Aegean area.”

"Corresponding interactions are suggested by the rhythmology as well, which also helps to create a distinct manes style. The choices of the quintuple meter and the waltz constitute an element of differentiation from versions of the manes with more intense à la turca influences, in which rhythmic variations of the tsifteteli have been widely used. The preference for these rhythmic motifs seems to be gradually weakening as we move into the bouzouki primacy period in discography."

In the manes form, which in the majority of the recordings remains exactly the same (Introduction - A verse - Intermediate theme - B verse - Shift), the last part consists of the "shift", an ambiance change that involves new melodies with new rhythmic features. The rhythms that are usually performed in the shift are horas, waltzes and sirbas.

In the case of "Fa matzore", sung by G. Tsanakas, from 2′ 40″, the musical theme of the Neapolitan song "Tiritomba", performed by Dimitris Semsis or Salonikios on the violin, is included on the "shift" as the concluding part of the recording.

However, this recording is not the only one in which we find the theme of "Tiritomba" in Greek historical discography. Nine years later, in 1919, Ka [Mrs.] Koula (Kyriakoula Andonopoulou) recorded in New York the amanes-balos under the title "Balos Smyrnis" (Panhellenion 4397 – 5005-Β), in which the musical phrase of the Neapolitan song is performed by the clarinet in the intermediate melodic bridge (from about 1′ 27″ to 1 ′52″).

The characteristic theme of "Tiritomba" can also be found in the recording "Smyrnaiikos balos" made by Marika Papagkika on November 11, 1922 in New York (Victor C 27131 - 68611-A). Specifically, we can hear, performed by Nikos Relias on the clarinet, it in the intermediate melodic bridge (from 1′ 33″ to 1 ′54″ of the recording).

Nikos Relias is the one who performs on clarinet this musical theme and on the recording of "Smyrnaiikos balos" by Marika Papagkika in 1923 for Columbia (Columbia 59805 - E-5277). In this version, the tune is integrated both in the intermediate melodic bridge (from 1′ 51″ to 2′ 13″) as well as in the shift or the conclusion (from 4′ 33″ to the end).

Finally, in 1928 the Th. Pikoulas Trio recorded in Athens the instrumental piece "Balos" (Pathé 70.018 - X. 80057 and Columbia 70018 - DG 403), in which "Tiritomba"'s musical phrase is performed by the violin (from about 2′ 08″ to 2′ 30″).

Historical sources underline the close relations between Italian-speaking and Greek-speaking music. The conversations that developed with specific places, such as the Ionian Islands, the Dodecanese and Patras, as well as their results, are enough to highlight the strong ties between the two ethno-cultural groups. Furthermore, relationships were forged in places where the two ethnicities lived together, such as, for example, in the case of cosmopolitan Smyrna (Izmir) in the Ottoman Empire, or that of New York, where Italians and Greeks immigrated. When researching the historical material, it seems that one particular city in the Italian peninsula developed special relations with the large urban centers where Greek-speaking musicians played a leading role: it was Naples, with its famous Canzone Napoletana. "Fa matzore manes" belongs to a corpus of recorded songs in which the Greek protagonists borrowed music and/or lyrics from pre-existing Neapolitan songs, adapting what they heard to their own condition, based on their own capabilities and needs.

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. The relevant evidence demonstrates the diverse musical exchanges and elucidate an ecumene where everyone contributed to the great musical "melting-pot", and where everyone may draw from it, as well as to 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.

Research and text by: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis