According to Nikos Dionysopoulos (2008): "The person Giannaros of the song is none other than Giannis Partsafas (1874-1971) from Kokkari, Samos, who had a butcher shop in thew village until the first post-war years. An excellent dancer, whom the somewhat older ones remember, now an old man, dancing aptaliko zeibekiko with a knife in his mouth. After the death of his first wife, G. Partsafas, who already had a son, remarried a widow with four children, with whom he had two more. One of his four adopted children was 'Katinaki', for whom Giannaros had a soft spot, but also the fiancée of his fellow villager Charilaos Perris. Perris serenaded her with his santur, but Giannaros reacted and came after him with a 'knife from Kuşadası'."
As for Charilaos Perris, the following information comes from the same source: "Charilaos Perris was born on 12/1/1884 in Kokkari, Samos. He left for America in 1911 as a professional musician – he played the santur and sang – where he died without ever returning to Samos. In America, he composed an autobiographical song and recorded it together with the song "Nyfiatiko".
In the songs "Giannaros" and "Nyfiatiko", as one can easily see, the same instrumental introduction is used, perhaps signifying the unfulfilled element of an ineffective relationship. It is a musical theme from Samos’ syrto, where, with the change from a quadruplet to a noncuple rhythm, it is transformed from a syrto to a zeibekiko; it is a dance that best suits the theme of the song. The song 'Giannaros', known from 78 rpm records re-releases, belongs to the group of rebetiko songs that were recorded in America at the beginning of the 20th century, since, until now, the persons, the things and the musical theme had not been identified."