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”.

We stumble upon wandering musical tunes in various places in Europe, Africa, Asia and America, where local musicians appropriate and reconstruct them. In addition to these, the mutual influences concern the performance practices, the instrumentation, the rhythm, the harmonization, the vocal placement and, in general, the habits that each musician carries in him/her. Repertoires are deterritorialized and mixed with others, which take on supralocal characteristics. Musicians are often on the move within multicultural empires, serving diverse repertoires and coming from heterogeneous ethno-cultural groups. This “convergence” of geographical coordinates is often accompanied by another one, the “convergence” of internal cultural “coordinates”. These are the fields of scholar and popular music, which have traditionally been treated not only as independent, but also as segmented. The popular and the scholar enter into a creative dialogue in a variety of ways, introducing in-between “places” depending on historical conditions.

This particular recording is about one of the most interesting cases of "wandering" tunes, appropriated by various ethno-cultural groups over a wide geographical arc, and appearing in a variety of versions, areas, periods and contexts.

The oldest transcription of the tune is included in the musical score under the title “Korohoz” (see here) and no. 16, on page 11 of the book The European Jewish Wedding (Di originale yidishe khasene), published in 1902 by the New York Hebrew Publishing Company. The edition contains Herman Shapiro’s transcription of traditional wedding tunes from the Yiddish/Klezmer repertoire. In 1920, it was found in a handwritten musical score by Abe Schwartz as “Freilichs [sic] no. 317” (see here) and by Max Leibowitz, dated September 18, 1922 and entitled “Got drei iber dus reidel”. Finally, we note two manuscript musical scores by the Russian-Jew Susman Kiselgof from An-Ski ethnographic expeditions carried out from 1912 to 1914 in the territories of the Russian Empire in which permanent settlement of Jewish populations had been permitted (see here). The material collected by Susman Kiselgof during these expeditions is gradually being digitized as part of the KMDMP project organized by The Klezmer Institute and posted on the internet (see here).

According to the data collected so far, the oldest recordings of the tune date back to 1910. On July 25, 1910, the Black Diamonds Zonophone Orchestra (Окестръ "Зонофонъ") recorded “Milasha from Moldavia (Subbota)” (Zonophone 12028e – X-60896) in London. It was released in Russia by Zonophone and re-released by Muzpred NKP (see here) under the title “Милаша-Молдаванка” (Milasha, the girl from Moldova).

Two months later, in September 1910, the tune entitled “Суббота-скрипочка” (Saturday and a violin), accompanied by the description “еврейск.мелодия” (Jewish melody), was recorded in Vilnius, current capital of Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire, by an orchestra conducted by Аарон Соломонович Олевского [Aaron Solomonovich Olevsky] (Zonophone 1591ae – X-2-60523). The recording includes two tunes, and the tune in question can be heard from 0′:01″ to 0′:48″ and from 1′:28″ to the end.

On September 15, 1910, probably in Moscow, it was recorded under the title "“Милаша-Молдаванка (Суббота)" by an orchestra as an arrangement by А.Б.В. [A.B.V] (Homocord 21910AW – J15Q – 40029).

Around 1910-1911, probably in Moscow, the tune was also recorded by the Syrena-Record Orchestra (Оркестр Товарищества Сирена-Рекорд) under the direction of the Polish-Jewish Abraam Sromberg (А.Штромберга) entitled “Милаша-Молдаванка” (Сирена Грандъ Рекорд 10876, see here on page 4).

We also note the recording of “Милаша-молдаванка (Суббота)” [Milashka, the girl from Moldova (Saturday)] with the Поляфон (Poliaphone) orchestra. The label of the record (Poliaphone Concert Record 5639 – P.-R. 5639) reads “arrangement А.Б.В. [A.B.V]”. The recording was made between 1910-1914 in Europe and is probably a reissue of a German company recording (see here).

In 1923, an accordion trio consisting of Рахолло, Боровиков и Новожилов (Leopold Rakhollo, Mikhail Borovkok and Nikolay Novozhilov) recorded in Moscow “Милаша молдаванка” [Milasha, the girl from Moldavia] (Muzpred NKP 0x68 – 1174).

We also note the Russian-speaking recording “Купите папиросы”, for which there is no data.

On November 13, 1917, in the form of a song and under the title "Dus Reidel" (The Wheel), the tune was recorded in New York by Abraham Rosenstein (Victor B-20968-2 – 69890), as a composition by N. Sternheim. The same singer, with Brody's Orchestra, recorded in June 1919, in New York, the song “Got gib adret dus reidel” (Emerson 4220-2 – 13053).

We note [see Flam & Noy (edit.), 2000: 78-81, 109-111] that musical scores of two songs by the Polish-Jewish poet and songwriter Nachum Shternheim with the same melody but different lyrics were published in Prague by Richards Brandeis, probably during and after WWI. It is the song “Dos Redl” (The Wheel), with no. 25, pp. 109-111, contained in the above Abraham Rosenstein's recordings, and “Di parodye fun redl” (Parody on "The Wheel"), with no. 16, pp. 78-81.

On December 19, 1940, Dave Tarras with Abe Ellstein's orchestra recorded in New York the instrumental song “Freiliche Yidelach”, arranged by Harry Ellstein (Victor BS-058604-1 – V-9081 and RCA Victor BS-058604-1 – 25-5043-A).

In 1946, Herman Yablokoff and the Mendelsohn Ensemble recorded the song in the US with different lyrics and under the title “Papirossen” (פּאַפּיראָסן, Cigarettes) for the Sun Record Company (Sun 1050 – 1050). The actor, songwriter, singer, playwright, director and producer of the Yiddish theater Herman Yablokoff (Hayim Yablonik, הארמן яблокоф, Хаим Яблоник) was born in 1903 in Grodno, Russian Empire (today Belarus), and immigrated in 1924 to the USA. In 1932, he included the song in his radio program on WEVD, in New York. The song thrilled the listeners and became an instant hit. Taking advantage of the song's appeal to the audience, he presented a musical production of the same name in theatres across the USA. The song was also published as a musical score in New York by J. & J. Cammen (see here and here). Furthermore, it was also the basis for the short film of the same name, "Papirossen" (see here), directed by Henry Lynn, produced and scored by Herman Yablokoff, who starred in the film with Bella Mysell and later well-known director Sydney Lumet, at the age of twelve, in the role of the orphaned ragged child who sold cigarettes and is the central hero of the song's lyrics.

Continuing with the Jewish covers, in 1946, under the title “Papirossen”, it was recorded in Detroit by Cantor Hyman Adler (Sultan S 143 – 1001-A). Three years later, around 1949, it was recorded in France under the same title by Max Reichhardt (Le Chant Du Monde 6607 – 633). The song can also be found in Jewish discography recorded in Argentina. Around 1950, Remi Gar and “Cosmofon” orchestra recorded in Buenos Aires “Papirosn” (RCA Victor P-1312-A – P-1312-A). In 1955, the tune was recorded by Dave Tarras at the Columbia studios in New York (see here and here). On November 10, 1960, the Irving Field Trio recorded in New York “Papirossen” for the LP "More Bagels & Bongos" (Decca 109836 – DL7-4114), and the vocal group Barry Sisters included the song in the LP "Shalom" (Roulette Records RLP-241-A/B – R 25157), released in 1961. The recording, entitled “Купите папиросы”, was released on 78 rpm in Georgia-Abkhazia under the label of Кабинет Звукозаписи Гагрского УБОН (see here).

The song (Gilbert, 2013: 213-214), with different lyrics, was used as the basis for several songs regarding the Holocaust, such as "Di broyt farkoyferin" (The bread seller) from the Warsaw ghetto, "Nishtu kayn przydziel" (There are no more coupons) from the Lodz ghetto, and "S'iz geven a zumertog" (It was a summer's day) from the Vilnius ghetto.

For the lyrics, modern performances, as well as for the arrangements of the song in the ghettos of the Holocaust during World War II, see here, here and here.

On August 16, 1929, it was recorded as part of a folklore expedition in Slavuta, Kamenets Podolskii region of Ukraine, by the Ukrainian-Jewish ethnomusicologist Moisei Beregovskii. In the recording (cylinder # 111/2), the tune is performed by 59-year-old Itsik Triplik, flutist and barber (see here track 25 “Unnamed melody”). It is included in CD Volume 6 “Historical Collection of Jewish Musical Folklore 1912-1947: The First Folklore Expeditions of Moisei Beregovskii 1929-1930 (Kiev, Odessa, Belaia Tserkov, Slavuta)” of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Institute for Information Recording, Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine.

The tune is also found in Romanian discography. More specifically, Parintele O. Mureșan (Octavian Zevedeiu Mureșan) recorded it in New York, in April 1926, under the title “Dumnezeu invarte roata” (God turns the wheel) for Columbia (106695 – D 8274 and 106695-2 – 31029-F). In addition, as Joel Rubin informed us, it was recorded by Petru Laicu and his orchestra on April 22, 1921 in Camden, New Jersey, under the title "Invarteste roata tare" (Turn the Wheel loud), as a composition by G. Caros (Victor B-25222 – 73094).

The tune, according to Joel Rubin, is also found in the Serbian repertoire, specifically in the recording entitled "Ново румунско коло" (New Romanian Dance) made by Milan Tomić - Milanče (Милан Томић Миланче) and his orchestra in Serbia, between 1920-1927 (Odeon A 300266).

Furthermore, we should note that Bulgarian musicologist Nikolay Kaufman, in his book "Bulgarski gradski pesni", published in Sofia in 1968, mentions that the melody of the Bulgarian song "Аз съм Гошо Хубавеца" (I am Gosho the handsome, see modern cover here) is almost identical to that of the tune in question, and that the song was popularized in Bulgaria by the kupletist Dzhib (Iakob Goldshtain) around the early 1920's.

The recording of “Srba Narodno Horo” (Five Star Records), made in 1949 in the US by the Kime Nanchoff Orchestra, is of particular interest. As mentioned on the website Библиотека "Струмски", the clarinetist Kime Nanchoff (Киме Нанчов, 1902-1993) was born in the village of Kriveni, located in the Resensko Municipality of North Macedonia, and was a prominent Macedonian-Bulgarian musician and MPO (Macedonian Patriotic Organization) activist. For more about Nanchoff see here.

In the Greek-speaking repertoire, the tune was recorded six times, four of them as a composition by Antonis Dalgkas (Diamantidis):

– "Exo ftocheia koutsavaki", Antonis Dalgkas (Diamantidis), Athens, 1931 (His Mater's Voice OW-83 – AO-2039)
– "Exo ftocheia koutsavaki”, Kostas Nouros, Athens, 1931 (Columbia WG-218 – DG-145)
– "Exo ftocheia", Giorgos Vidalis, Athens, 1932 (Odeon GO 1698 – GA 1578)
– “Exo ftocheia”, Erietta Politissa, Athens, 1932 (Pathé 70401 – X-80173), present recording
– "Tsinganiko chasapiko", Kostas Gantinis, New York, June 18, 1937 (RCA Victor CS-010682 – 38-3099-A and Orthophonic S-734). According to DAHR, the recording was also released under the title “Lechayim” (Victor CS-010682 – V-9084 and 25-5046) for the US Jewish market.
– “To glentzediko”, Alpha Company Orchestra, under the direction of Andreas Poggis, USA, 1950s (Alpha Record Company ST2803B – 2803-B). This is a medley, which in addition to the tune we are examining, includes musical themes from "Chasapiko Tatavliano", which is considered inextricably linked to the Greek shadow theater, Karagiozis, and "To ravdi tou tseligka" (Panhellenic P-8001 A). According to the salutations heard in the recording, Andreas Pongis (violin), Dimitris Frantzeskakis (accordion) and Nikolaou (guitar) participated in the orchestra.

(Many thanks to Joel Rubin and Martin Schwartz for pointing out the recordings).

Syncretism, which is observed in the musical actualizations of the areas where Greeks lived and recorded, mainly in the area of folk-popular traditions, is monumental. It only takes one to listen to historical discography, which begins in New York, Smyrna (Izmir), Constantinople (Istanbul), Athens and Thessaloniki since 1900. An essential part of this syncretism concerns the Jews, who constitute one of the main conduits in the uniquely diverse cultural heritage of the Greek-speaking world. They borrow and lend, but they also carry more distant traditions from the places where they have previously lived and the places they have traveled to. They are the central interlocutors in the Greek and Ottoman ecumene, together with Turkish-speaking Muslims, Orthodox but also Catholic Greek-speaking and Armenians, Levantine Protestants, Europeans and Americans, and compose a rich musical mosaic which consists of heterogeneous but co-existent palimpsests: a reservoir to which everyone contributes but from which also everyone receives.

The sources show the timeless existence of a Jewish element, at least since the Hellenistic period, in areas that millennia later formed the modern Greek state. After the “Edict of Milan” in 313 AD and the gradual Christianization of the Eastern Empire, the Jewish element found itself in a difficult position. The Jewish populations that have since been established in these lands became known as Romaniote Jews (or “Romaniotes”’ Rome – Romios). Their historical geographical center of reference was the city of Ioannina, and they speak Greek with various linguistic mixtures. After 1492 and the “Alhambra Decree” by the joint Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, those Jews who did not accept to embrace Christianity were expelled from the Iberian peninsula. They became known as the Sepharadi Jews (or “Sepharadim”), one of the largest Jewish ethno-cultural categorizations (Sepharad in Jewish texts is referred to as the region of present-day Spain). Thessaloniki was one of the main destination points of this displacement, as the ties with the city were older and already close. Apart from the role played by the Greek Jews in the musical developments on the Greek peninsula, there were also important mutual influences between the Greek-speaking Orthodox and the Jews in various other areas where the two communities lived together. As, for example, in Odessa, with the Eastern Ashkenazi Jews, who mainly speak Yiddish, a sui generis Semitic-Slavic language (in Jewish texts, the Kingdom of Ashkenaz, a descendant of Noah, is connected with north-eastern European territories). Their orchestral repertoire is often called klezmer. In other words, apart from the geographical limits of the modern Greek state, the cultural conversations between the Greek Orthodox and the Jews also concern other parts of the world, both in Europe and America, where they met as immigrants.

The label of the record reads "Rebetiko". Often, in the glossary of rebetophiles, the term "rebetiko" is identified with very specific specifications. Rebetiko has been identified with the city-port of Piraeus, and its emblem is the bouzouki. On the other hand, rebetiko from Smyrna [Izmir] ("Smyrneiko rebetiko") is also often mentioned, either as a categorization of the genre, or as its precursor. And yet, historical discography, that is, the records that began to be produced from the end of the 19th century all over the world with primitive equipment and techniques, reveals a different reality. The research in this archival material of historical discography reveals that the term "rebetiko" began to be printed on the labels of the records around 1912, in Greek recordings that took place in Constantinople (Istanbul). So far, at least 80 recordings that are labeled with the term have been identified. There are two impressive facts: on the one hand, these recordings took place in the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s. Markos Vamvakaris started recording in Athens in 1933. So, his own recording career cannot be that easily and exclusively identified with the term. On the contrary, the word "rebetiko" began to disappear from labels after 1933. On the other hand, when listening to the musical works labeled as "rebetika", one might be surprised. None of these recordings contain a bouzouki. In addition, a part of the musical works is not oriented towards the East. Overall, the findings so far concern recordings made in Constantinople (Istanbul), Athens, New York and Chicago. It seems that the term was rather an invention of discography, of that early sound industry, whose decisions determined many times the developments regarding this historical repertoire and the way in which it reached us.

Research and text: Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis