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 this recording.

Starting from the Turkish-speaking repertoire, the earliest recording of the tune was made in October-November 1911, probably in Constantinople (Istanbul), by the Armenian Ovrik Efendi [Ovrik (Hovrik=Ovrestes) Kazasyan, see here) under the title “Suya gider su testisi [elinde]” Premier Record 10973).

The next Turkish-speaking recording of the tune is this one, made by Ka Koula in New York, in January 1917, under the title “Kioutsouk Glastan” (Columbia 44912 - E-3388). The title of the song, in Turkish “Küçük Gülistan”, could be translated as "Little Gulistan".

On the label of the record, the song is characterized as “Hiouzam Canto” (Hüzzam kanto). In other words, it is considered part of the repertoire of the kantolar, a term that seems to have been first used by Turkish-speaking Muslims mainly in large urban centers and especially in Constantinople (Istanbul) since the time when Italian troupes performed there. Although initially the kantolar were associated only with theatrical music, they soon became autonomous, when the term "kanto" (singular form of kantolar) came to describe any popular and light secular singing forms (see Pennanen, 2004: 9, O'Connel, 2006: 276, Beşiroğlu & Girgin, 2018: 49).

These recordings with the following titles can also be found in the Turkish historical discography:

– “Suya Gider Has Gelin”, Avanoslu Selahattin Ercan, Istanbul, 1938 (Odeon 270212).
– “Suya Gider”, Diyarbakırlı Celâl [Güzelses], Istanbul, 1948 (Sahibinin Sesi AX 2414).
– “Suya Gider”, Cevriye Ceyhun, Istanbul, 1951 (Odeon 270611).
– “Deli gönlü”, Mustafa Çağlar, Istanbul, 1951 (Sahibinin Sesi AX 2536).
– “Küçük Yaşta Aldım Sazı Elime”, Mustafa Ceyhanlı, Istanbul, 1959 (Sahibinin Sesi AX 2666).

In the Greek-speaking repertoire, the tune, entitle “Den mou lete ti na kamo”, was recorded on October 26, 1927 in New York by Amalia Vaka (Victor CVE 40518 – 68921-B).

In later versions the tune can also be found under the titles “Prevezaniko syrto” and “Sourmeli vai” [or “Den ton afino ton giatro” (I'm not leaving the doctor)].

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