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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”.
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. In various cases, often due to the great international success of the songs, the resulting network is extremely complex, and contains recordings in countless places, languages and aesthetical frameworks. One such case is the song "I Violetera".
It is an adaptation with Greek lyrics of the Spanish song "La Violetera", set to music by José Padilla and lyrics by Eduardo Montesinos.
It was a global hit and was recorded many times in historical discography in various formats, languages and locations (see here here for recordings and re-releases in the USA, here and here).
- Carmen Flores, Madrid, July 8, 1917 (Gramophone 19770u - 263590 & Victor 45319)
- Dajos Bela orchester, Berlin, December 8, 1923 (Odeon BL xBE 3723-2 - A 44248)
- "La cacahuettera, parodie de La Violetera", Dranem, Paris, 1923 (Pathé 4132 - 669)
- Teresa de Matienzo, Νέα New York, May 14, 1924 (Victor B-30104 - 77581)
- Raquel Meller, Paris, 1926 (Odoen KI 862 - 49.212)
- Carlos Gardel, Buenos Aires, March 12, 1927 (Disco Nacional Odeon 18191 - E 473)
- David de Groot and his Orchestra, London, March 12, 1931 (Gramophone 0B 638-2 - 30-6055)
- "Kwiaciarka", Lucyna Szczepańska, Warsaw, 1937 (Syrena-Electro 9821)
- Karel Vacek se svým orchestrem, Czechoslovakia 1944, (Ultraphon Kcs 50 - 14125 - 44216)
- Claudete Rufino, Rio de Janeiro, November 16, 1956 (RCA Victor 80-1782-b - BE6-VB-1387)
It was included under the title "Who'll buy my violets?" in the third act of the play Little Miss Bluebeard staged at the Lyceum Theater in New York, on August 28, 1923.
The song was included by Charlie Chaplin in the soundtrack of his film "City Lights" (1931), and, in 1958, it was used in the Italian-Spanish film of the same name and sung by Sara Montiel.
According to the data collected so far, it is the only recording of the song in Greek historical discography.
The Greek musical score of the song with lyrics by N. Vlyssidis was published in Athens in 1924 by the Gaitanos - Konstantinidis - Starr publishing house.
The label of the record reads, in parentheses, (S. Atik).
Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis, George Evangelou and Nikos Ordoulidis
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”.
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. In various cases, often due to the great international success of the songs, the resulting network is extremely complex, and contains recordings in countless places, languages and aesthetical frameworks. One such case is the song "I Violetera".
It is an adaptation with Greek lyrics of the Spanish song "La Violetera", set to music by José Padilla and lyrics by Eduardo Montesinos.
It was a global hit and was recorded many times in historical discography in various formats, languages and locations (see here here for recordings and re-releases in the USA, here and here).
- Carmen Flores, Madrid, July 8, 1917 (Gramophone 19770u - 263590 & Victor 45319)
- Dajos Bela orchester, Berlin, December 8, 1923 (Odeon BL xBE 3723-2 - A 44248)
- "La cacahuettera, parodie de La Violetera", Dranem, Paris, 1923 (Pathé 4132 - 669)
- Teresa de Matienzo, Νέα New York, May 14, 1924 (Victor B-30104 - 77581)
- Raquel Meller, Paris, 1926 (Odoen KI 862 - 49.212)
- Carlos Gardel, Buenos Aires, March 12, 1927 (Disco Nacional Odeon 18191 - E 473)
- David de Groot and his Orchestra, London, March 12, 1931 (Gramophone 0B 638-2 - 30-6055)
- "Kwiaciarka", Lucyna Szczepańska, Warsaw, 1937 (Syrena-Electro 9821)
- Karel Vacek se svým orchestrem, Czechoslovakia 1944, (Ultraphon Kcs 50 - 14125 - 44216)
- Claudete Rufino, Rio de Janeiro, November 16, 1956 (RCA Victor 80-1782-b - BE6-VB-1387)
It was included under the title "Who'll buy my violets?" in the third act of the play Little Miss Bluebeard staged at the Lyceum Theater in New York, on August 28, 1923.
The song was included by Charlie Chaplin in the soundtrack of his film "City Lights" (1931), and, in 1958, it was used in the Italian-Spanish film of the same name and sung by Sara Montiel.
According to the data collected so far, it is the only recording of the song in Greek historical discography.
The Greek musical score of the song with lyrics by N. Vlyssidis was published in Athens in 1924 by the Gaitanos - Konstantinidis - Starr publishing house.
The label of the record reads, in parentheses, (S. Atik).
Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis, George Evangelou and Nikos Ordoulidis
© 2019 KOUNADIS ARCHIVE
