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”.

We stumble upon wandering musical tunes in various places in Europe, Africa, Asia and America, where local musicians adopt and reconstruct them. In addition to these, the mutual influences concern the performance practices, the instrumentation, the rhythm, the harmonization, the vocal placement and, in general, the habits that each musician carries in him/her. Repertoires are deterritorialized and mixed with others, which take on supralocal characteristics. Musicians are often on the move within multicultural empires, serving and adopting diverse repertoires, coming from and/or implemented by heterogeneous ethno-cultural groups. This “convergence” of geographical coordinates is often accompanied by another one, the “convergence” of internal cultural “coordinates”. These are the fields of scholar and popular music, which have traditionally been treated not only as independent, but also as segmented. The popular and the scholar enter into a creative dialogue in a variety of ways, introducing in-between “places” depending on historical conditions.

This particular recording is about one of the most interesting cases of "wandering" tunes, adopted by various ethno-cultural groups over a wide geographical arc, and appearing in a variety of versions, areas, periods and contexts.

Anyone who wishes to have a look at this case of "wandering" melody may consult the publication Chalepianos Manes: to taxidi mias melodias pou den gnorizei synora by Kyriakos Eleftheriadis and Karmen Vourvachaki, as well as the music channel where the recordings mentioned in the aforementioned study were collected (see here).

Starting from Greek discography, the tune was recorded under various titles in Constantinople (Istanbul), Smyrna (Izmir) and Athens. For example:

- "San pas stin Kriti Kritikia", Michalakis, Constantinople, November 1907; (Odeon Cx 1726 - 58503)
- "Critica", Uknown, Constantinople, 1908 (Pathé 34814R - 11281), this recording
- "I Kritikia", Elliniki Estudiantina (Greek Estudiantina), Smyrna, March or April 1909 (Gramophone 12820b - 2-14649 & Victor 63518-B)
- "I Kritikia", Estudiantina Christodoulidis, Constantinople, July 7, 1910 (Favorite 3984-t - 1-59041 & Columbia E-6130)
- "Matia mou", Antonis Ntalgkas, Athens, 1928 (HMV BF-1819 - AO-242)
- "San pas sta xena", Kostas Karipis, Athens, 1928 (Columbia UK W 20346 - 8266)
- "Ta vasana mou chairomai", Stelios Foustalieris, Ioannis Bernidakis, Athens, 1938 (Columbia CG-1712 - DG 6364)

Two other recordings made in New York, by Greek singers in the Turkish language, were found:

- "Atalar Sahilinde", Kyria Koula, [Giorgos Makrygiannis, violin - Achilleas Poulos, oud], New York, 1919 (Panhellenion Record 4112-1 - 6017B)
- "Adalar Saedinde", Achilles Poulos [Achilleas Poulos], New York, 1920s (M.G. Parsekian 170a – 535 & Pharos 535)

Finally, we should note the connection of some performances-versions of the musical tune with the song "Bournovalia" by Stavros Xarchakos - Nikos Gatsos (interpreted by Sotiria Leonardou) from the film "Rembetiko" (1983) by Costas Ferris.

Below are some examples from the historical discography of other repertoires and regions where the specific musical tune was found. Several of these songs could not be fully documented.

Turkish repertoire:

- "Ele Hoch Gueldi Canto", Safinaz Hanem, Constantinople, May 1909 (Odeon XC 2061 - 46258)
- "Adalar sahilinde - Neva Hicaz Kanto", Hâfız Ahmet, Constantinople, 1927 (Odeon X131532b)
- "Bando İle Adalar Sahilinde", Trompet Bay Maraşlı Ramazan, Constantinople, between 1930-1935 (Columbia CTZ 5613 - RT 17382)
- "Adalar Sahilinde", Necmi Riza, Turkey, 1938-1939 (Columbia CTZ 6814 - RT-17380)
- "Adalar Sahilinde Bekliyorum", Hamiyet Yüceses, Turkey, 1948? (Odeon CO 4182 – LA 270543 a)

Arabic repertoire (Lebanon and Syria):

- "يا ويل يا ويل حالي" (Qadduka al-mayyasu yā ʻumrī), فرج الله بيضا (Faraj Allāh afandī Bayḍā = Faragallah Effendi Baïda) Lebanon, 1907 (Baidaphon 132)
- "Qadduka al-mayyās", حسيبة موشيه (Ḥasība Moshēh), Beirut, 1908 (Gramophone)
- "Qadduka al-mayyās yā ʻοmrī", Roza al-Zaḥlāwiyya, Beirut, ca 1911-1912 (Baida No. 813)

Kurdish repertoire:

- "Bahar" (or "Ke deĺên emřo"), Mela Kerîm (مامۆستا مه‌لا که‌ریم). According to info by Kemaĺ Re’ûf Miĥemed (The records of Mela Kerîm…, Hawkarî, No. 496, October 15, 1979, p.2), Amir Hassanpour (see here) mention that the song was recorded in Baghdad, in 1927-1928, for His Master's Voice, and is included, along with "Eto bûy leylekey esĺî", on record with Side A OMD 249, N11007 and Side B OMD 249 and DM252.

Jewish repertoire:

For covers under the title "שמח נפשי" (Sameach nafshi), see here.

Armenian repertoire:

- "Adalar sahili", Kanuni Garbis Effendi (Garbis Bakirjian), New York, 1927 (Stamboul 111-A - 406)

We should also note an instrumental version under the title "I Kritikia", which took place in New York between 1919-1921 by the gypsy accordionist Mishka Ziganoff (Odessa, January 15, 1889 - New York, February 1967) for Columbia (7001-F). According to Richard Spottswood (1991: 1551), on this particular recording, as well as on the one included on the other side of the record ("I Vlacha", which was also released under the title "האָפּ ליאַ ליאַ" [Hop-lia-lia-Tanz, Columbia W110405 - 8189-F]), Ziganoff is referred to as M. Tsinganidis. Moreover, in Columbia’s list of Greek recordings that took place up to February 1925 in the USA, he is listed as Μ. Τσιγγανίδης [M. Tsigganidis] (see here page 15).

It seems that this tune is one of the most popular choices not only in the Greek-speaking urban folk-popular repertoire but also in others, something which highlights the cosmopolitanism and syncretism in which popular musicians lived and acted. Like other tunes, which eventually became what we would now call a “hit”, this one also puts emphasis on the interplay between the various repertoires which were discussants in a large geographical area. Thus arises an exciting network that includes repertoires from Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean but also from two large worlds that were constantly on the move: the gypsy and the Jewish (mainly Yiddish) one.

The label of the record reads "Rebetiko". Often, in the glossary of rebetophiles, the term "rebetiko" is identified with very specific specifications. Rebetiko has been identified with the city-port of Piraeus, and its emblem is the bouzouki. On the other hand, rebetiko from Smyrna (Smyrneiko rebetiko) is also often mentioned, either as a categorization of the genre, or as its precursor. And yet, historical discography, that is, the records that began to be produced from the end of the 19th century all over the world with primitive equipment and techniques, reveals a different reality. The research in this archival material of historical discography reveals that the term "rebetiko" began to be printed on the labels of the records around 1912, in Greek recordings that took place in Constantinople. So far, at least 80 recordings that are labeled with the term have been identified. There are two impressive facts: on the one hand, these recordings took place in the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s. Markos Vamvakaris started recording in Athens in 1933. So, his own recording career cannot be that easily and exclusively identified with the term. On the contrary, the word "rebetiko" began to disappear from labels after 1933. On the other hand, when listening to the musical works labeled as "rebetika", one might be surprised. None of these recordings contain a bouzouki. In addition, a part of the musical works is not oriented towards the East. Overall, the findings so far concern recordings made in Constantinople, Athens, New York and Chicago. It seems that the term was rather an invention of discography, of that early sound industry, whose decisions determined many times the developments regarding this historical repertoire and the way in which it reached us.

Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis