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”.

Giorgos Kokkonis and Maria Zoumpouli mention about the song in the insert that accompanies the music publication "I Smyrni kai i Smyrnia" (2013):

"The song was recorded in 1937 as a composition by Panagiotis Tountas (Smyrna [Izmir] 1884 - Athens 1942), but it seems that it is an adaptation of an older anonymous creation. In the 1990s, the song was recorded by the band 'Yeni Türkü' with Turkish lyrics written by Cengiz Onular and later by the great singer Melihat Gülses. Unfortunately, there is not enough evidence to prove that the Turkish language did exist in the first version, as is the case with other bilingual urban folk-popular songs from Constantinople (Istanbul) and Smyrna. The recording from 1937 is Greek in its entirety. However, the inhomogeneity of the lyrics style is obvious between the first part and the two verses-choruses that follow and which seem to have been subsequently added. Did they replace lyrics in another language or did they just supplement the existing ones with a clear sense of humor?"

Musical phrases of the song are found in the song "O loustros", whose origins are much older and distant (Russia, Ukraine, Chechnya, Armenia – see the description of "O loustros").

Panagiotis Tountas shows his compositional skill, often using themes from other songs, many times coming from a variety of repertoires, and incorporates or uses them as an "occasion" for the birth of new songs.

It seems that this tune is one of the most popular choices not only in the Greek-speaking urban folk-popular repertoire but also in others, something which highlights the cosmopolitanism and syncretism in which popular musicians lived and acted. Like other tunes, which eventually became what we would now call a “hit”, this one also puts emphasis on the interplay between the various repertoires which were discussants in a large geographical area. Thus arises an exciting network that includes repertoires from Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean, which, on the one hand, came from three great empires: the Ottoman, the Austrian and the Russian. On the other hand, repertoires from Italy the Canzone Napoletana, the French chansons, the Spanish world and other sub-networks,were also very active, but also repertoires from two large worlds that were constantly on the move: the gypsy and the Jewish (mainly Yiddish) one. Discography is not only embedded in this context, but plays a key role in its transformation.

The label of the record reads "allegro".

Research and text by: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis