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. One such case is the song "Koketa".

It is an adaptation with Greek lyrics of the tango milonga "Coqueta" by the Spanish composer, lyricist, conductor and pianist José Sentis (1888-1983).

The musical score was published in Paris, in 1925, by the Éditions Francis Salabert.

In historical discography of the 1920s, the following recordings, both instrumental and in the form of song, have been found so far:

- Rio Grande Tango Band, London, January 13, 1926 (HMV Bb7692 - B 5001)
- Orchester Barnabás von Géczy, Berlin, probably in the late 1920s (Homocord Electro M 52016 - 4-8717)
- Rosita Barrios & Quatuor de guitares des frères Castro, Paris, October 6, 1928 (Gramophone BV56-1 - 233451 & K 5525)

The Greek musical score, with lyrics by Emilios Dragatsis, was released in Athens in 1925 by the Gaitanos - Konstantinidis - Starr publishing house.

In Greek historical discography, the song was also recorded by Tetos Dimitriadis, Giorgos Vidalis, Pοl (Leopoldos) Gad, and Elliniki Estudiantina (Greek Estudiantina (Constantinople [Istanbul], 192;, Radio Record 14176).

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