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 Hélène Svap's tango "Yasmina".

According to the musical score under the title "Yasmina", published by the J. D'Andria (Constantinople [Istanbul]-Alexandria) publishing house, it was dedicated (November 1926, Alexandria) by the composer Hélène Svap to the actress Huguette Duflos, protagonist of the French silent film "Yasmina", which premiered in 1926. From the same source we derive the information that it was presented for the first time by the "Iris" film theater’s orchestra under the direction of Mo. G. Borghesi at the screenings of the film. The film is based on the novel of the same title by Théodore Valensi which was published in 1922, in Paris, by Albert Méricant.

Its instrumental version was first recorded in Paris, in 1927, by the orchestra of Argentine bandoneonist, guitarist, pianist, composer and conductor Tano Genaro for the label Columbia in France (L 532-1 - D 6289).

In Greek historical discography, it was recorded under the title "I Giasmina" by Paul Gad for Pathé (7G.259 - 11.621) and for Homocord (G. 695 - G. 32004) and by Athinaiki Estoudiantina (Homocord T.M 767 - G. 4-32024) and under the title "Giasmina" by Giorgos Vidalis (Odeon Go 394 - GA 1183/A 190022a).

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