Ever since antiquity, music transcription has been the intrinsic way of visual representation of sound, sometimes in detail and sometimes in the form of a guide. Throughout time, the visual capture of music has been the only way to store and preserve it over time, but also the exclusive means of reproducing it. In any case, visual transfer should be considered as an auxiliary tool, since oral dissemination and storage in the memory of artists have been the most timeless techniques for the diffusion of music through time and space. During Europe's so-called "classical" musical period, with its most powerful centers of production, such as today's Austria, Germany, France and Italy, and especially in its path towards Romanticism, music transcription, that is, the musical score, was considered by some composers as the very embodiment of their work.

Understandably, in the modern capitalist world, music transcription, as the primary tool for the substantialization of music, brought under its purview repertoires that were not connected, were not disseminated, and did not function on the basis of their transcription. This offered to the music product sales centers an additional tool to expand their action network: non-scholar musics acquired a convenient way of circulating them, enhancing their popularity, even in places very far from those of their original creation. At the end of the 19th century, however, the phenomenon of sound recording and reproduction rearranged relationships and disrupted the status quo of publishing houses, claiming a share of the market, offering a product that was extremely complete and immediate. The publishing houses tried to react with legal measures, but it became impossible to stop the dynamics of the new phenomenon: the prevalence of commercial discography was now a fact, for most of the 20th century.

As far as non-scholar music is concerned, commercial printed musical scores were publications of the musical texts of songs or instrumental pieces (for the publishing activity in Greece see Lerch-Kalavrytinos, 2003: 4-5). For the needs of musical scores, the songs were arranged mainly (but not only) for piano or for piano and voice, generally without complex performance requirements. Multi-instrumental or technically demanding orchestrations were systematically avoided. The lyrics were printed below the notes of the melodic development of the singing parts and, sometimes, their translations into other languages. For the most part, the musical scores were two or four pages long, and came with a themed front and back cover.

This four-page musical score contains the song "Maro" set to music by Theofrastos Sakellaridis and lyrics by Alekos Sakellarios. It comes from the revue "Trelli symfonia", with text by Alekos Sakellarios - Dimitris Evangelidis and music by Theophrastos Sakellaridis. The play premiered on December 17, 1937 by the Kokkinis-Mavreas troupe at the Ideal Theater and completed its performances on February 8, 1938.

The titles, the codes, the genre and the composers (in greeklish or English) of the songs that were published in musical scores by the Apollo Music Co. publishing house are mentioned on the monochrome cover. There is an advertisement from the publisher which includes the first page of the scores of four songs published by Apollo Music Co. on the monochrome back cover.

The musical text consists of a system of three staffs (two for piano and one for singing) and is accompanied by lyrics in Greek as well as by the chords in European script.

The sheet music for the song was first published in Athens in 1938 by Gaitanos Editions, which issued at least four editions (see here).

In Greek historical discography, the song was recorded by Nikos Gounaris with the orchestra of Zozef Korinthios (“Maro”, Columbia C.G. 1690 – D.G. 6351 Athens, 1938 and reissued as Columbia USA Co 23264 – 7153-F), and by Danai Stratigopoulou with the orchestra of Michalis Sougioul (“Maro” His Master’s Voice OGA 756-1 – AO 2472, Athens, May 1938; reissued as Orthophonic S-430-A).

The declaration of war by fascist Italy and its victorious confrontation by the Greek army in Albania mobilized the forces of Greek music. From October 1940 to April 1941, creators of all genres recorded the events in new songs or adapted lyrics with similar themes to older hits.

Giorgos Oikonomidis would adapt lyrics referring to the Greco-Italian war to the melody of "Maro". On December 13, 1940, Nikos Gounaris, accompanied by Michalis Souyioul’s orchestra, recorded the song “Ntoutse Ntoutse” (His Master's Voice OGA 1131-1 – AO 2684), a recording that was reissued in the United States by RCA-Victor 26-8167-B and Orthophonic S-564-B). Approximately a year later, on November 15, 1941, Antonios Simos recorded “Ntoutse-Ntoutse” in New York (Columbia USA CO 31971 – 7219-F).

In 1955, the Romani violinist Bela Babai and his orchestra recorded an instrumental version of the song under the title "Maro Maro" for the LP (LP "Gypsy Love", Columbia CL 636 και Philips B 07066 L).

The song also entered the German-speaking discography. In 1962, Tzimis Makoulis (under the stage name Jimmy Makoulis) recorded "Maro, Maro" in Germany with the orchestra of Josef Niessen, featuring German lyrics by Austrian Fred Rauch (Ariola 8/0 45 383 Y G-45383 Y-1 – 45 383 A).

An instrumental version can also be found in the discography of the United Kingdom. In 1963, English trumpeter and vocalist Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen adapted the melody and recorded it in London under the title "Casablanca" (Pye Jazz 45 00164A-3WMH – 7NJ.2064 and Astor AP-1009).