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 networks in which the Greek-speaking musics participate, constantly conversing with their co-tenants, are 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”.

Τhe relevant evidence demonstrates the musical exchanges between the Balkan repertoires 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. One such case is the recording "To Servikaki".

So far, four recordings of this tune have been found in Greek historical discography:

– "Tatavliano chasapiko", Columbia W 205348 – 56031-F, Loukianos Kavvadias popular orchestra, New York, May 1926 (this recording).
– "Tatavliano chasapiko – Armonika", Columbia W 22086 – 12317, Giannis Kalaitzoglou and Vasilis Psamathianos, Istanbul, September-October 1927.
– "Tatavliano chasapiko", Parlophon B 21500, Vasilis Psamathianos, 1929 (see Strötbaum, 2023).
– "To Servikaki – Servikos choros", Go 2678 – GA 7020 (also reissue by Decca 31069 B), Popular orchestra with harmonica by A. Papatzis [Antonis Amiralis], Athens, 1937, this recording.

The tune is found to have been recorded in 1928, probably in Turkey, and released under two labels: in Bulgarian as "Касапско Хоро" (Odeon CO 189 – A 192061 b) and in Turkish as "Kasap Havası" (A 202011 a). Both labels mention "Turkish orchestra". The phenomenon of varying titles, depending on the location of release and the audience each company wished to address, was something common. It is possible that Greek-speaking musicians are playing in the recording, something which is also documented by an address that is heard halfway through the song. The name of Nikos Tzaras is possibly heard.

In addition, the tune is heard in one more "Касапско хоро", which was recorded with Zapryan Salimov on the clarinet in Sofia around 1943 (Medeya 1216 – 5018. Many thanks to Larry Weiner for helping document the recording).

More modern performances perhaps show relations of the tune with the repertoire of the zurna, as for example the recording by Lüleburgazlı Küçük Hasan entitled "Kasap" (warm thanks to Ilya Saitanov for suggesting the recording). Finally, the Ot Azoj Klezmer Band also recorded the remix under the title "Turkish Honga", during which this tune can be heard.

Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis