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.

Such a case, extremely complex from what the available data shows us, is the tune which today is more widely known as "Pergamos". In historical discography, however, one can find the song under the following titles (Greek and Turkish):

- "Menemeniotiko zeimpekiko", Odeon xSC 73 – 54739 (Odeon USA 82018), Smyrnaiki Estudiantina (Smyrnaean Estudiantina), most probably in Thessaloniki, May–September 1909
- "Zeibek Canto – Tabancası belinde", Pharos 408 – P 801, Achilleas Poulos, New York, between 1920–1929
- "Melemenio zeimpekiko", HMV BJ 275 – 18-12440, Antonis Ntalgkas, Athens, March 7, 1926
- "Zeimpekiko Ousak", Victor CVE 38544 – 7-59029 B, Leonidas Smyrnios, New York, April 11, 1927
- "Zeimpekikos choros", Odeon GO 578 – GA 1245 – A 190072 b, Antonis Amiralis, Athens, probably in 1928 (current recording)
- "Zeimpekiko Melemenio", HMV BF 1667 – AO 267, Antonis Ntalgkas, Athens, June 1928
- “Pergamia”, National 10P 140-1 - 138, Alexis Zoumpas (violin) - Louis Rassias (cimbalom), New York, April 9, 1930
- "Aman aman Bergama" (Pergamos), Gramophone 0K 524 – 140-1302 & re-issue “Bergama” by Orthophonic S-2806-B, Ismirli Recep, Constantinople (Istanbul), December 1, 1931
- "Chiotissa – Tabancası belinde", Balkan No 823-A, Marko Melkon (Alemsherian), America, probably in 1948

First of all, in historical discography, one can observe that the city of Pergamos (Bergama) is found only under a title in Turkish at the end of 1931. In Greek discography, Menemeni is used instead of Pergamos, with the exception of the recording by Balkan, where the word "Chiotissa" (from Chios island) is used in the title. On the other hand, the term that prevails in Greek titles is "Zeimpekiko".

On the label of the record by Pharos, the song is characterized as "kanto". In other words, it is considered part of the repertoire of the kantolar, a term that seems to have been first used by Turkish-speaking Muslims mainly in large urban centers and especially in Constantinople since the time when Italian troupes performed there. Although initially the kantolar were associated only with theatrical music, they soon became autonomous, when the term "kanto" (singular form of kantolar) came to describe any popular and light secular singing forms (see Pennanen, 2004: 9, O'Connel, 2006: 276, Beşiroğlu & Girgin, 2018: 49).

The title of the song (in Turkish "Tabancası belinde") could be translated as "The pistol on his waist".

In the first, so far, discographical report, "Menemeniotiko zeimpekiko” performed by Smyrnaiki Estudiantina (Smyrnaean Estudiantina) on the Odeon record, differs almost completely from the subsequent implementations. In essence, this is a different tune.

From recording to recording, the song differs in terms of form and aesthetic management in general. According to the discographical research, the song took its current form using the specific themes and structure in a slower tempo than the historical implementations in discography, in 1976. More specifically, on the vinyl "Rempetika Politika Smyrnaiika – Tragoudia Anatolitika" released by General Gramophone, with Kostas Roukounas as the singer, orchestrated by Giorgos Koros and produced by Dionysis Miliopoulos.

In 1950, Apostolos Chatzichristos recorded the song under the title "Ointe bre” for Parlophone (GO 4265 – B 74208). It borrows, to a large extent, the form of "Menemeniotiko zeimpekiko". In 1975, Charis Alexiou released the vinyl "12 laika tragoudia". One of the songs contained is "Pergamos". In the album, Vasilis Vasileiadis is mentioned as the composer and Pythagoras as the lyricist.

Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis