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”.

There was no previous management model in the early period of discography. Each company creates their own networks, something that will allow them to take a dynamic lead in the market. New specialties and professions are created and new conditions emerge, or the need to update older facts, with the most serious being intellectual property. The latter, until then, concerned mostly printed commercial musical scores and the publishers’ rights. The ever-evolving recording industry proves to be centripetal: the decisions that are taken follow the policies centrally dictated by the managements of the companies and their subsidiaries. The circulation of musics is already a reality before the 20th century with theatrical and musical performances tours, but also with the networks of music publishing houses.

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 is an adaptation with Greek lyrics of the song "Oh, Donna Clara". The song was originally composed as an instrumental song under the title "Tango Milonga" by the Polish composer Jerzy Petersburski for the needs of the revue "Warszawa w kwitach", which premiered on May 7, 1929 at the theater "Morskie Oko" in Warsaw.

It was recorded in its instrumental version for the first time in 1929, in Warsaw, by Henryk Gold's orchestra (Syrena Electro-20235 - 6360). Almost simultaneously, as can be witnessed from the matrix numbers of the records, it was recorded for the first time, as a song with Polish lyrics by Andrzej Włast, by Stanisława Nowicka, who also sang it in the revue, and by Henryk Gold's orchestra (Syrena-Electro, Warsaw 1929, 20236 - 6359). For other performances in Polish discography, see here.

The Polish musical score of the song under the title "Tango Milonga" was published in Warsaw, in 1929, by Nakład Rzepeckiego and F. Grąbczewski.

After the Bohême Verlag publishing house in Vienna acquired the rights, Fritz Löhner-Beda wrote German lyrics, and, under the title "Oh, Donna Clara", the song became a global hit and was recorded countless times in historical discography in various formats, languages and locations. For example:

- Austin Egen & Dol Dauber Tango Orchestra, Vienna, January 7, 1930 (HMV BW 3111-2 - AM 2680/70-1015)
- Fernando Orlandis, Italy, 1930 (Odeon O 10423)
- Kees Pruis met Fred Bird Rhythmicians, Berlin, 1930 (Homocord H. 4-66111)
- Jean Moscopol, Vienna, March 22, 1930 (HMV BW 3283 - AM 2807/70-1227)
- Jindrich Láznicka s dopr. Saxofonového Orkestru Dobbri, Berlin, March 28, 1930 (Parlophon 118016 - B.13703-II)
- Grégor - Jazz Grégor, France, 1930 (Æolien 1083 - G.8)
- "O, Donna Klára", Karel Hašler - Jankovcův Arena Divadla Orchester, Prague, April 24, 1930 (BW 3366 - 70-1217 - AM2802)
- Nello Manzatti [Ion (Nelu) A. Mânzatu], Bucharest, 1930 (Columbia DV 65)
- "Óh Donna Klára", Sebő Miklós & Dobbri Saxophon Zenekara, Budapest, 1930 (Parlophon 73209 - B. 13179-II)
- The Hottentots, England, 1931 (Eclipse JW 101 - 13)
- Jazz Sinfonico Mascheroni, Italy, 193? (Columbia WB 3458 - CQ 210)
- Juan Pulido, New York, May 29, 1931 (Victor BRC 69669 - 30456)
- О, ДОННА КЛАРА, Малахов (Kazimir Malakhov), Moscow, 1932 (MusTrust 2115 - 2115)

In Greek historical discography, two other recordings of the song can be found:
– "O Ntona Klara", by Dimitris Krionas, New York, 1930 (Columbia W 206400 – 56220-F)
– "Ntona Klara", by Petros Epitropakis, Athens, May 28, 1931 (His Master’s Voice OW.243-1 – AO 2004)

In its Greek-language version, the song falls into the trend of exoticism as it constitutes the exotic representation of the Spanish dancer Dona Clara.

In exoticism Spain is represented as a permanent spring and blooming landscape, often nocturnal, in which cities that are symbols of "Spanishness", such as Granada, Valencia and Seville, are usually placed. Spain is borderline medieval, a cultural amalgam of Gypsies, Christians, Moors and Jews. It constitutes the absolute exotic place where one meets almost all the characteristics of the East, the Latin world and the Gypsies.

The Spanish are represented as a pre-modern and semi-exotic people motivated by honor, and an archaic way of life, different from the materialism and progress of the Western world. Their life is characterized by an unconventional freedom dominated by passion and nostalgia. The musical instruments in Spain, mostly guitars and castanets, are not played to accompany a feast, as is the case in the East, but to express amorous passion.

The usual stereotypical expressions are used to describe Dona Clara: the Spanish dancer is “enchanting, an exotic fairy, as hot as the Sahara and a joyous enchantress”. The tango perfectly lays out this exotic condition.

In the rich Greek-speaking discography of tangos during the interwar period, which includes works by almost all the composers of the elafro (light music), one can distinguish the following two manifestations:
a. The "cosmopolitan" tango, which, thematically, mainly describes love stories and rarely touches on social issues such as drugs and poverty. As an expression of a global and cosmopolitan trend, which is growing alongside discography networks, it adds a touch of modern.
b. The "exotic" tango which, in abstract terms and with a multitude of cosmetic adjectives, recalls idealized Argentina, but also the equally idealized environment of Spain and the Gypsies.

These are of course not two completely differentiated trends, but they are characterized by fluidity and often converge. Under these conditions, tango is chosen both because it is the expression of a modern musical cosmopolitanism, popular and commercially successful, and because it involves characteristics capable of structuring an exotic atmosphere.

The commercial musical score, with lyrics by Xenofontas Asteriadis, was published by the Stefanos Gaitanos publishing house (see here).

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