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 inextricable relation between music and performing arts is more than vital. The cinema (as well as the theater too) traffics music on its own terms and plays a key role in diffusing it to places that are often far away. It also builds a special network that communicates with discography. Some of the songs written for the cinema are often the tip of the spear as regards the popularity of the films. One such case is the song "Santa Loutsia".

Tango is one of the main musical elements of the national identity of modern Argentina. It is born in the marginalized environment of the port of Buenos Aires, but soon conquers Europe and the USA, where it is carried by traveling Argentine musicians and dancers during the first decade of the 20th century. Its acceptance by the upper and middle classes was due to its transformation from a multicultural musical expression of the underworld to a dance-music one for whites, as well as to its thematic cleansing of its overtly sensual origins. Primarily marginal types and their provocative liminality are replaced by quaint figures who are possessed by unquenchable, but stylized love passions. This is how a “tamed” musical genre emerges that recalls a more romantic Argentina. Tango takes Parisian cabarets by storm, and its initially targeted popularity soon develops into widespread appeal. Record companies, composers and orchestras manage it as an integral part of their business. At the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s, Greece succumbs too to this “tangomania”. During the interwar period, tango has a central place in the repertoire of elafro (light music) and enriches discography’s catalogs with hundreds of original compositions which complement the systematic arrangements of popular pieces, mainly of European origin, “dressed” with Greek lyrics.

This recording (a re-release from Columbia's Greece DG-204) is an adaptation with Greek lyrics of Otto Stransky's (Brno, Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Czech Republic, May 15, 1889 - Berlin, November 23, 1932) German tango "In Santa Lucia". It was written for the German film "Opernredoute", directed by Max Neufeld, which began its screenings in German cinemas in July 26, 1931.

The film and the soundtrack, which includes the song of the present recording, became a global hit. About a year later, in March 1932, the French version of the film, entitled "Grains de beauté", premiered in the cinemas, and in November of the same year the British version "After the ball".

At the same time, the song was covered and recorded countless times in various forms, languages and locations in discography. For example:

- “In Santa Lucia”, Lewis Ruth Band - Leo Moll (Leo Monosson), Berlin, May 11, 1931 (HMV 0D 386-1 - AM 3585 - 60-1601), in German
- "I Sancta Lucia", Warny & Hans Orkester - Ejnar Jensen, Copenhagen, September 9, 1931 (HMV 0T 464-3 - X3824 30-7257), in Danish
- "Ach, Santa Lucia", Tino Muff, Berlin, 1931 (Homocord 69506 -7149), in Czech
- "În Santa Lucia", Cristion Vasile, Romania, 1932 (Odeon - A 199600), in Romanian
- "Santa Lucia", Adam Aston - Henryk Wars orchestra, Warsaw 1932 (Syrena-Electro 22454 - 6887), in Polish. It was included in the revue "Przez dziurkę od klucza" staged at the Morskie Oko theater in Warsaw, in 1932 (for other Polish recordings see here).
- "A Santa Lucia", Enzo Fusco - Tito Leardi, Milan, 1932 (Excelcius – 25Μ/180 - T6732), in Italian. It was included in the revue “Danubiana”.
- René Juyn, France, 1932 (Magnis 513), in French
- “In Santa Lucia”, Joseph Strijbosch, Europe, 1930s (Homokord HN 66254), in Dutch
- “In Santa Lucia”, Billy Cotton and His Band - Sam Browne, London, January 28, 1933 (Regal Zonophone MR 833 -CAR 1721), in English

In its Greek-language version, the song falls into the trend of exoticism. Santa Lucia is described as an exotic place, full of intense eroticism (Oh, what cool flowers, what a blue sky, what lively girls for everyone's coolness), referring to representations of Latin America and Hawaii. This atmosphere is supported by both the tango and the Hawaiian (lap steel) guitars that are part of the orchestration. However, the use of the tango and the Hawaiian guitar is not exclusively linked to their "exotic" identity, but to the fact that they have gained widespread popularity and enjoy commercial success. They are exotic, modern and cosmopolitan at the same time.

In addition to the present recording, in the Greek historical discography, the song was also recorded one more time by Petros Epitropakis (“In Santa Lucia”, Pathé 70557 – 80284), in 1932 in Athens.

The Greek musical score with lyrics by Pol Menestrel, was published in Athens, in 1931, by the Stefanos Gaitanos publishing house.

Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis, George Evangelou and Nikos Ordoulidis