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”.

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 the song “Neoi chasiklides”.

This cover is one of the recordings made in Athens, between June 11 and 30, 1928, for "The Gramophone Co Ltd" by sound engineer Edward Fowler.

Starting from Greek discography, the tune was recorded under various titles in Athens and New York. For example:

- “Neoi chasiklides”, Antonis Ntalgkas (Diamantidis), Athens, 1928 (HMV BF-1665 – AO-267), present recording
- “Neoi chasiklides”, Paul Gad, Athens, 1928 (Columbia UK 20256 – 8226)
- “Oi neoi chasiklides”, Kostas Karipis, Athens, 1928 (Odeon Go-561-2 - GA 1346/A 190173 a)
- “Oi chasiklides”, Vangelis Sofroniou, Athens, 1929 (Polydor 1190 BF – V 50969)
- “Syriano zeimpekiko”, Popular orchestra, Antonis Amiralis or Papatzis (harmonica), Athens, 1929 (Pathé 70048 - X. 80062)
- “Choros zeimpekikos (Mou ’pane pos eisai magkas)”, folk-like orchestra, Athens, 1931 (Polydor 113 BA – V 51061/51062)
- “Boutzalio”, Spyros Peristeris (guitar) – Loukianos Kavvadias (piano), New York, June 26, 1935 (Orthophonic BS-92413 – S-325)
- “Agir Aidin Zeybek Havasi”, Kostas Gkantinis, New York, December 27, 1939 (Victor BS-046130 – V-26034 & RCA Victor 26-2014)
- “M' eipes na gino magkas”, Amalia Vaka, New York, 1948 (Metropolitan 161-A)

During the 1960s, Apostolos Kaldaras and Christakis brought the song once again to the fore, with two new recordings. The first one being an arrangement by Kaldaras, who also sings the song, while the second being an arrangement by Ch. Sirbos, according to the record label.

According to the data collected so far, the tune can also be found in the Turkish repertoire in an instrumental form. For example:

- “İzmir Soğuk Kuyu Zeybeği”, İzmirli Santuri Recep ve Kemani Küçük Cemal Efendiler, Istanbul, 1932 (Columbia 18663)
- “İzmir Zeybek Havası”, Şükrü Tunar, Turkey, around 1937 (Odeon 270154)
- “Aydin Zeybegi”, Şükrü Tunar (clarinet), Udi Hrant Kenkulian (oud), Ahmet Yatman (qanun), H. Tatliyay (violin), Ali Kocadinc (darabuka), Istanbul, around 1951, for Balkan
- “İzmir - Zeybek Oyun Havası”, İncesaz ile, Turkey, 1961 (Odeon CO 4719 - LA 317b)

It should be noted that other recordings have been found in the Turkish record catalogs which are possibly related to the song in question, and possibly some of them predate the performances mentioned above. However, no audio material of them has so far been found. For example:

- “İzmir Zeybek”, Hayretin Efendi (oud), Hassan Efendi (qanun), İhsan Bey (violin), Constantinople (Istanbul), 1927 (Odeon X 131013b)

It is worth mentioning the appearance of the tune in the Romanian repertoire as well. In particular, the ethnomusicologist Speranţa Rădulescu recorded between 1993-2003 musicians from the village of Gratia, about 60 kilometers west of Bucharest. The recordings were included on the CD entitled "Romi Și Țigani Din Satul Gratia, Teleorman" (Roma And Gypsies From The Village Of Gratia, Teleorman). Track 7, "Melodii De Joc, Ca Din Cimpoi, Ca Din Caval" (Dance Melodies, As On Bagpipe, As On Long Pipe), contains the tune in question. The term "Joc" in the title, which refers to a specific rhythm-dance repertoire category of the Yiddish/klezmer repertoire of the Eastern Ashkenazi Jews, is quite striking. The tune, however, seems to have inspired George Enescu earlier as well, who used it at one point in "Romanian Rhapsody 2", which he completed in 1901 (see after 4').

Regarding the Greek songs that talk about addictive "substances", legal and illegal, Panagiotis Kounadis (2008: 13) mentions the following:

"We are talking about an archive that comprises more than two thousand songs that were written and sung for over a hundred years in the regions where Greeks moved around, move around and live.

Most of these songs were recorded in Greek discography in the beginning of the 20th century, in places such as Smyrna (Izmir), Constantinople, America (New York, Chicago) and finally Greece, especially from 1924 onwards, when mass recordings started being made here too.

For many years it was considered that songs about banned substances such as hashish, heroin and cocaine (after the relevant laws of 1932 and 1936) were only the rebetika songs that dominated the years of the interwar period; the majority still believes that.

However, today, after having discovered and studied almost the entirety of Greek discography of the era of 'free creation', that is, before the enforcement of the precautionary censorship of the 4th of August Regime, it turns out that a significant number of creators and performers from the field of the operetta, the revue and the elafro (light) song participated in the creation and presentation of songs with such themes. One observation that is particularly important is that most of these songs praise these (prohibited or not) substances, something that does not always occur in rebetiko music.

From the research that has been conducted so far on the themes of popular songs of other countries all around the world, we can understand that the Greek songs about substances, especially the forbidden ones, constitute the richest urban folklore in the world."

Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis