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.

In the Turkish-speaking repertoire, the song was recorded under the title "Adalardan bir yar gelir" as a composition of Yesârî Asım Bey (Mustafa Yesârî Asım Arsoy). The composer was born on August 6, 1896 in Drama, then a city of the Ottoman Empire, and died in Constantinople (Istanbul) on January 18, 1992.

Below are some indicative recordings that can be found in Turkish historical discography:

- Muganni Hamit Bey, Constantinople, ca 1929 (Columbia W 24169 – 18502 & re-issue by Columbia USA 130820-1 – 40073F).
- Makbule Enver Hanım, Constantinople, ca 1929 (Columbia  WT 24271 – 18507 & re-issue by Columbia USA 130281-1 – 40047F).
- Safiye Ayla, Constantinople, ca 1930 (Polydor 1176 BN - V-51001).
- Hafız Burhan Sesyılmaz, Constantinople, ca 1930 (Columbia WT 2388 – 18564 & re-issue on a 45 rpm record in the 1960s, Columbia 7XTZ 2388 - 45-RT 829).

In the Greek-speaking repertoire, the tune was recorded three times in 1931, in Athens. Two of these recordings are entitled "Mia Smyrnia stin Kokkinia", and the name of Antonis Diamantidis (Ntalgkas) is printed on the labels of the records as the name of the creator:

- "Mia Smyrnia stin Kokkinia", Grigoris Asikis, Athens, 1931 (Columbia W.G. 186-1 - D.G. 137), with Lampros Leontaritis (Politiki lyra [classical kemençe]), Spyros Peristeris (mandola) and Kostas Skarvelis (guitar), this recording.
- "Mia Smyrnia stin Kokkinia", Antonis Ntalgkas (Diamantidis), Athens, May 12, 1931 (HMV OW-87-2 - AO-2039 & RCA Victor 26-8355 & 38-3013-B, Orthophonic S-608-B).

The third recording in Greek is entitled "Xelogiastra" and was made by Dimitris Atraidis (Athens, 1931, Columbia W.G. 192 - D.G. 124). On the label of the record, one can read that the lyrics were written by Atraidis; the names of the musicians participating in the recording are also listed: "Clarinet Tzouros, oud Markoglou, drum Mirijanian".

Also, the word "Rebetiko" is written on the label of Atraidis’ record. 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 [Izmir] ("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