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”.

It should also be noted that, 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. Finally, we have time and time again stumbled upon songs whose creators were born in a different place, worked in another, and, in the end, met in a third location and created a new work, often inspired by something pre-existing. Undoubtedly, cases of this type demonstrate the complexity regarding the issues of ownership of works, but also the problem of applying national signs to musical creations. One such case is this recording.

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.

Our case here concerns the song "Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo" composed by the Italian composer Leonello Casucci to German lyrics by Julius Brammer.

The song was first recorded in Berlin on August 22, 1929 by Kurt Mühlhardt and the Tanz-Orchester Dajos Béla, and was released by the label Odeon (Be 8438 - O 11088b).

The song soon became a worldwide hit and was recorded and covered countless times in various forms, languages and locations in discography. For example:

- Tanz-Orchester Dajos Béla - Alfred Strauss, Berlin, October 24, 1929 (Odeon Be 8437-2 - O-11086b), in German
- "Gigolo", Jean Moscopol, Vienna, November 9, 1929 (Gramophone BW 2912-2 - 70-735 - AM2485), in Romanian
- "Te szep Gigolo", Mariá Basilides, Budapest, November 18, 1929 (Gramophone BV 771 - AM2509), in Hungarian
- "Smutný Gigolo", Zpivá duetto s. dopr. Homocord Jazz-orkestru, Berlin, 1929  (Homocord H-69038 - D 25925), in Czech
- "Gigolo", Daniele Serra, Milan, March 11, 1930 (Gramophone BM 1525-2 - 100-805 R10339 HN266), in Italian
- "C'est mon gigolo", Damia, Paris, August 1930 (Columbia France WL 2299 - DF-133), in French
- "Piękny gigolo", Tadeusz Faliszewski, Warsaw, 1930 (Syrena-Electro 20771 - 3453), in Polish
- "Just a Gigolo", Louis Armstrong & His Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra, Los Angeles, March 9, 1931 (OKeh W404420 - 41486), in English
- "Pobre Gigoló", Trio Argentino, Barcelona, September 25, 1930 (Gramophone BN 920-2 - AF381), in Spanish
- "Lijepi gigolo", Vlaho Poljetak uz pratnju Edison Bell jazz, Zagreb, 1930 (Edison Bell Radio SZ 1093 - SZ 1601), in Croatian
- Apenas um gigolô, Jaime Redondo, Brazil, 1931 (Columbia 380993 - 22018B), in Portuguese
- "Dumme Gigolo", Gustav Winckler - Will Sorensens Orkester, Denmark, 1952 (Tono 4163 - Z 18172-1), in Danish
- "Gigolo", Hermanos Reyes, Mexico, 195?,  (Columbia Mex-1835 - 2219-C), in Spanish

Its presence in the Jazz scene is noteworthy, where it was a source of inspiration for musicians such as Django Reinhardt, Thelonius Monk, Erroll Garner and others.

The song, which is still being recorded to this day (see examples here), was also a reference point in the cinema, as, for example, in the German film "Gigolo. Der schöne, arme Tanzleutnant" (1930), in the American film "Just a gigolo" (1931), as well as in the 1977-78 German film of the same name "Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo" where actress Marlen Dietrich performs it. It was also used in the credits of the cartoon film Betty Coop (1932) sung by Irene Bordoni.

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 this framework, it was recorded in Greek historical discography by Petros Epitropakis, Kostas Kontopoulos and Antonis Delendas.

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