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”.

The relevant evidence demonstrates the musical exchanges between the Balkan repertoires 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. One such case is this recording "Chasapikos Politikos".

"Politikos chasapikos" was recorded in 1929 in Athens, with Ioannis Fokiou or Chiotis on harmonica. Of particular interest is the interjection “toumbe,” which is heard three times, at 2′44″–2′45″. The word comes from the Vlach language and is also encountered as a song title in the Vlach repertoire, which is associated with the wider Balkan region, especially with Romania but also with Greece, continually producing new performances and arrangements (for more, see the recording “Tounte, Tounte”).

The theory of a connection with the Vlach element is further supported by the appearence of a musical phrase from this instrumental piece, specifically from 1′33″ to 1′48″ and from 2′06″ to 2′39″, also appears in the song “Vlachiko Dessoura”, whose language appears to be a mixture of Romanian and Vlach (or Aromanian). The musical phrase is introduced instrumentally from 0′01″ to 0′12″ and is repeated in the sung section, from 0′ 26″ to 0′ 38″. This recording was made in Smyrna between December 15 and 18, 1911  by the sound engineer Arthur Clarke (for more information see the website of Hugo Strötbaum Recording Pioneers). Although the record label lists Mr. Salavaris (“Monsieur Salavaris”) as the singer, according to the database that emerged from Alan Kelly’s research, the recording features the Smyrneiki Estudiantina of Vasilaki, that is Vasilis Sideris [“Smyrneiki Estudiantina (Vasilaki) (Alexandrian Greek)”], as well as Giorgos Savaris (“Savaris”). However, at 0′ 52″ of the recording, the adress “Yassou, aspromallousi Salavari” (Greetings to you, white-haired Salavaris) can be heard. In the same source, next to the song title ([Vlachiko] Dessoura), the designation “Rumanian Romance” is given.

A variation of this phrase can also be found in another harmonica recording, specifically in the instrumental piece “Serviko,” which was recorded in September–October 1927 in Constantinople by Giannis Kalaitzoglou and Vasilis Psamathianos (Columbia UK W 22089 – 12318, Columbia GR W 22089 – D.G. 2024 and Columbia USA W 22089 – 7042-F).
 
The tune is found in the Romanian repertoire. Specifically, it is included in the collection “10 Chansons Nationales Roumaines,” which was published in 1897 in Leipzig by C.G. Röder and contains ten Romanian songs arranged for piano by the Romanian composer and pianist Guillaume Şorban (Arad, Austro-Hungarian Empire, February 2, 1876 – Dej, Romania, July 7, 1923). The tune bears the title “Insura-maşi, insura...” (Get married, get married, see here, p. 6) and originates from Târnava Mare, a region in Transylvania, in present-day Romania.

Alan Kelly’s database also lists a recording titled “De insurat mas insure” [De’ insurat m’ as insure] by Chitaristul Jonescu (Zonophone 13073 – 13073 and Gramophone 3-12828), undated and with London given as the place of recording. According to a Zonophone catalogue compiled by Christian Zwarg (see here), this recording was actually made in June 1903 in Iași. Since no audio material has been located, it is not possible to determine whether it concerns the same piece.

On June 8, 1918, Orchestra Regală Română, an instrumental quartet consisting of four tamburitzas, made the recording “Dansuri Romăneşti” in New York for the Victor company (Victor B-22000 – 72229-B and Zonophone Record X-7-10007 / A22000 – 3454). As indicated on the record label, the recording is a potpourri of Romanian dances. Among the dances included, the tune under examination can be identified from approximately 1′23″ onward. Of particular interest is the fact that the recording concludes with another melody familiar to the Greek repertoire, that of the song “Ego thelo prigkipessa”, beginning at 2′36″. Finally, it should be noted that this instrumental quartet made a total of nine recordings for Victor (see here), appearing under three different names depending on the repertoire performed: as Orchestra Regală Română and Căntat de Tamburas for Romanian repertoire, and as Serbian Quartet for Serbian and Croatian repertoire.

Giorgos Kokkonis (2017b: 133-161), researching "this unknown chapter of creative conversations between multiple ethnocultural groups, which are still largely unexplored" and attempting "a first approach to the penetration of Romanian folk music traditions in the Greek corresponding ones, based on the discographical sources," refers to the sirba, the chora and their relation to the chasapiko and the serviko:
"During the late Ottoman period, the terms hora and sirba in the Romanian language seem to have transformed in Greek to chasapiko and serviko, in Hebrew (Yiddish) to bulgar and freylekhs, in Turkish to kasap and, hora, longa and sirto. Chasapiko and kasap are keywords for understanding this development. In the written sources, hora and sirba seem to be dances identified with the guild of butchers of Constantinople (Istanbul) and the commercial connections of cattle transportation from Moldavia and Wallachia to Constantinople (Istanbul), which date back to the 16th century. [...] There are many dances called chora, sirba, serviko, chasapiko, chasaposerviko, sirto chasapiko, sirto politiko, etc., forming a large group with common rhythmic characteristics, even though they spread in an expanded musical/dance geographical area. It appears from this material that the chora, identified with the sirba, has various local variations. [...]
In the urban song of the 20th century, as reflected in these sources [discography], the chora-sirba duo is gradually entirely transformed, defining a new shape, where the slow-fast alternation is either limited as a final shift to vocal or instrumental compositions or takes the form of the chasapiko-chasaposerviko, with the slow part including old slow-paced choras and the fast part fast-paced choras, but also sirbas.
[...]The word sirba is mentioned very early in the recordings of Greek interest, that is, from the first decade of the 20th century. [...] The conjugated use of the terms sirba-chasapiko was established in the following decades. [...]
When found on the label of the record, it is worth noting that the latter word was no longer written in parentheses, but with a hyphen next to the former: 'Serba – Hasapeko', indicating either an identification or a musical shift. [...]
As is well known, the word 'sirba' is the Romanian word sârbă, whose pronunciation in Greek sounds like 'si' rather than 'se'. The corruption to 'serba', however, was consolidated and gradually led to the incorrect correlation of the sirba with Serbia, consolidating the common words of serviko, chasaposerviko and servikaki.
In conclusion, the term chasapiko, which was identified in discography with Constantinople (Istanbul), seems to have emerged as an aggregation of two words, that is, chora and sirba. Although this did not happen in a systematic, accurate and consistent way, its genesis must be understood as a process of musical transformation and de-linking from territory, which is evidenced by the adjectives 'Romanian' and 'Vlach'. And even though the subsequent use of the word chasapiko and its evolution into chasaposerviko was finally imposed in the field of discography, its nature is the result of a geographically expanded area with multicultural components."