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At the beginning of the 20th century, Europe was living in peace and prosperity. The "Belle Époque" was an outgrowth of previous important historical events and developments. The networks that were created and which evolved funneled both people and their products, tangible and intangible. It was within this multi-layered world that sound recording and sound reproduction was invented. Cosmopolitanism in large urban centers favored polystylisms and polymorphisms. Colonialism, revolutions, conflicts, refugee flows; the theater, cinema, radio, photography, orchestras’ tours, but also releases in all kinds of commercial channels in a world that evolved dynamically and anisotropically formed 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 had already provided important tools in understanding the relationships that developed between "national" repertoires. The result of the ongoing research is "Cosmpopolitanism in Greek Historical Discography" ("Kosmopolitismos stin Elliniki Istoriki Diskografia"). Within these networks, already existing tendencies and aesthetic currents are often created or integrated, especially during the period when the phenomenon of sound recording and reproduction takes on commercial, mass and universal dimensions. A typical example is exoticism, as manifested in its various representations.
It has been found in the European vocabulary since the end of the 16th century, although its widespread prevalence as a trend was associated with the colonial imperialism of the 19th century (Netto, 2015: 13). Since then, the term has incorporated various levels of interpretation. Its meaning concerns, on the one hand, the characteristics of that which is outside the sphere of identity and, on the other hand, the attraction exerted by that which has such characteristics. The widespread acceptance of the phenomenon of exoticism is obvious: the multidimensional linguistic, musical and visual wealth accumulated around and within exoticism created a common stock of knowledge that perpetually feeds the collective and individual imaginary.
Focusing on the modern Greek communities, we find very early established traces of exoticism in poetry and literature, which are quickly transferred to the theater, enriched in terms of their visual and dramatic texture. The explosion of popular forms of spectacle and mass entertainment in the 20th century will radiate their reach. In Greece, among all artistic fields, the most persistent and most obvious presence of exoticism is found in singing. In the era of discography, the advance of exoticism is irresistible and leaves a very strong imprint. However much it seems to be defined by the principle of "locality", exoticism is a global aesthetic constant, a "common" language of the new age strongly marked by modernism and inscribed in a complex and lengthy process of osmosis among "national" musicians, which produces repertoires with "ecumenical" or global characteristics.
The locations represented in exoticism, that is, the East, Latin America, Spain, Hawaii, are par excellence imaginary, disconnected from the real world. They are revealed like a theatrical stage, with alternating scenes, where fantasies are dramatized, overwhelm the senses and release intense emotions, offering the "visitor" an ideal experience, outside the limitations of the conventional world: an eternal feast, pleasures, adventure.
Like other imaginary places, Latin America is shrouded in darkness or half-light and is characterized by the atmosphere of a wild and carefree life, the memory of which brings nostalgia to the narrator. The same nostalgia brings the memory of the love stories that took place there. Descriptions of Latin American locations tend toward abstraction, in contrast to the dense semiotics of the representations of the East, Spain, and the Gypsies. References to the natural environment and indoors are minimal. In the absence of exotic nature and architecture, the ethnoscape is established mainly through the use of regional names in the lyrics. The Latin world is mostly populated by women, with references to men being noticeably fewer. Moreover, the dangers of the wild East are not present here, as there are no barbaric officials or amorous rivals.
During festivities, the role of music and dancing is important, which now acquire a "national" content. Thus, festivities in Argentina impose the tango, which 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. 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. 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. One such case is the song "Argkentina".
It is an adaptation of the Italian song "Argentina", set to music by Vincenzo Raimondi and lyrics by A. Ferrari.
According to Antonio Sciotti, it is one of the few songs in the Neapolitan dialect (in its original version) which refers to the Italian immigrants who were living in Argentina and who were working in the mines. After the recording of the song by Neapolitan Gilda Mignonette, the iconic singer of Italian immigrants in America, the song was a hit in Argentina and all over the world.
However, as it is covered into several languages, it is contextually removed from this original version and turns into a vehicle for representing Argentina. In the recordings with Greek lyrics, Artzentina is represented as an "exotic flower" and a "temperamental ballerina" with "fiery eyes" who "dances a tango and seduces everybody". These exotic lyrics are lined with tango music, which constitutes the ideal acoustic environment of this imaginary place. The phenomenon of the tango slipping from "national" music to a stereotype of exoticization of Argentina is thus established.
The musical score of the song was published in Milan in 1927 by the Casa Editrice Italiana "Alba Musicale" publishing house. In the same year, that is, 1927, the recordings of the song in historical discography began, among them in Romanian and Spanish. For example:
- Orchestra Columbia da ballo, England, 1920s (Columbia B 1707 – 14246)
- Dajos Béla (orchestra), Berlin, August 30, 1927 (Odeon Be 5866-3 – A 167171 a and BL O-2577 and Columbia USA 14679-F)
- Salvatore Papaccio, Naples, 1927 (Phonotype 4889)
- Celebre Orchestra di Danza Edith Lorand, Berlin, October 26, 1927 (Parlophone W34355 – B7527)
- Daniele Serra, Milan, November 7, 1927 (Gramophone BD 4764 – 7-252573 – R4545 and Victor V 12007A)
- Mediolana Jazz Band, Milan, November 9, 1927 (Gramophone BD 4915 – 7-250171 – R4893)
- Dance Band (Bert Firman), London, December 16, 1927 (Gramophone Bb 12255 – 7-250172 – R4893)
- Gilda Mignonette, New York, January 11, 1928 (Brunswick E25974-E25975 – 58085 and 58080)
- Jean Moscopol, Romania, 1929 (Homocord T.C. 1943 R. – R. 4-11019)
- Lizica Petrescu – Violeta Ionescu, Romania, 1930 (Odeon A 199475 a)
According to the piano roll catalog (see page 8) of the Italian company F.I.R.S.T (Fabbrica Italiana Rulli Sonori Traforati), the song was released on piano roll in 1927 under number 261.
In this recording, regarding the composition of the orchestra, which on the label of the record is characterized as a "mandolinata jazz", there is a notable addition, that of the Hawaiian (lap steel) guitar. However, its use is not linked to the instrument's "exotic" identity, but to the fact that it gained widespread popularity and commercial success, resulting in its participation in orchestras not only entirely Hawaiian.
Another recording of the song by Michalis Thomakos in 1930 was found in Greek historical discography (Columbia G2 – DG 4).
There are some differences in the lyrics in the two performances. These differences do not seem to be a product of the reworking of the poetic text, but to be due to the performative fluidity which often characterizes not only popular but also elafro (light music).
Research and text: George Evangelou, Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis
At the beginning of the 20th century, Europe was living in peace and prosperity. The "Belle Époque" was an outgrowth of previous important historical events and developments. The networks that were created and which evolved funneled both people and their products, tangible and intangible. It was within this multi-layered world that sound recording and sound reproduction was invented. Cosmopolitanism in large urban centers favored polystylisms and polymorphisms. Colonialism, revolutions, conflicts, refugee flows; the theater, cinema, radio, photography, orchestras’ tours, but also releases in all kinds of commercial channels in a world that evolved dynamically and anisotropically formed 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 had already provided important tools in understanding the relationships that developed between "national" repertoires. The result of the ongoing research is "Cosmpopolitanism in Greek Historical Discography" ("Kosmopolitismos stin Elliniki Istoriki Diskografia"). Within these networks, already existing tendencies and aesthetic currents are often created or integrated, especially during the period when the phenomenon of sound recording and reproduction takes on commercial, mass and universal dimensions. A typical example is exoticism, as manifested in its various representations.
It has been found in the European vocabulary since the end of the 16th century, although its widespread prevalence as a trend was associated with the colonial imperialism of the 19th century (Netto, 2015: 13). Since then, the term has incorporated various levels of interpretation. Its meaning concerns, on the one hand, the characteristics of that which is outside the sphere of identity and, on the other hand, the attraction exerted by that which has such characteristics. The widespread acceptance of the phenomenon of exoticism is obvious: the multidimensional linguistic, musical and visual wealth accumulated around and within exoticism created a common stock of knowledge that perpetually feeds the collective and individual imaginary.
Focusing on the modern Greek communities, we find very early established traces of exoticism in poetry and literature, which are quickly transferred to the theater, enriched in terms of their visual and dramatic texture. The explosion of popular forms of spectacle and mass entertainment in the 20th century will radiate their reach. In Greece, among all artistic fields, the most persistent and most obvious presence of exoticism is found in singing. In the era of discography, the advance of exoticism is irresistible and leaves a very strong imprint. However much it seems to be defined by the principle of "locality", exoticism is a global aesthetic constant, a "common" language of the new age strongly marked by modernism and inscribed in a complex and lengthy process of osmosis among "national" musicians, which produces repertoires with "ecumenical" or global characteristics.
The locations represented in exoticism, that is, the East, Latin America, Spain, Hawaii, are par excellence imaginary, disconnected from the real world. They are revealed like a theatrical stage, with alternating scenes, where fantasies are dramatized, overwhelm the senses and release intense emotions, offering the "visitor" an ideal experience, outside the limitations of the conventional world: an eternal feast, pleasures, adventure.
Like other imaginary places, Latin America is shrouded in darkness or half-light and is characterized by the atmosphere of a wild and carefree life, the memory of which brings nostalgia to the narrator. The same nostalgia brings the memory of the love stories that took place there. Descriptions of Latin American locations tend toward abstraction, in contrast to the dense semiotics of the representations of the East, Spain, and the Gypsies. References to the natural environment and indoors are minimal. In the absence of exotic nature and architecture, the ethnoscape is established mainly through the use of regional names in the lyrics. The Latin world is mostly populated by women, with references to men being noticeably fewer. Moreover, the dangers of the wild East are not present here, as there are no barbaric officials or amorous rivals.
During festivities, the role of music and dancing is important, which now acquire a "national" content. Thus, festivities in Argentina impose the tango, which 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. 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. 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. One such case is the song "Argkentina".
It is an adaptation of the Italian song "Argentina", set to music by Vincenzo Raimondi and lyrics by A. Ferrari.
According to Antonio Sciotti, it is one of the few songs in the Neapolitan dialect (in its original version) which refers to the Italian immigrants who were living in Argentina and who were working in the mines. After the recording of the song by Neapolitan Gilda Mignonette, the iconic singer of Italian immigrants in America, the song was a hit in Argentina and all over the world.
However, as it is covered into several languages, it is contextually removed from this original version and turns into a vehicle for representing Argentina. In the recordings with Greek lyrics, Artzentina is represented as an "exotic flower" and a "temperamental ballerina" with "fiery eyes" who "dances a tango and seduces everybody". These exotic lyrics are lined with tango music, which constitutes the ideal acoustic environment of this imaginary place. The phenomenon of the tango slipping from "national" music to a stereotype of exoticization of Argentina is thus established.
The musical score of the song was published in Milan in 1927 by the Casa Editrice Italiana "Alba Musicale" publishing house. In the same year, that is, 1927, the recordings of the song in historical discography began, among them in Romanian and Spanish. For example:
- Orchestra Columbia da ballo, England, 1920s (Columbia B 1707 – 14246)
- Dajos Béla (orchestra), Berlin, August 30, 1927 (Odeon Be 5866-3 – A 167171 a and BL O-2577 and Columbia USA 14679-F)
- Salvatore Papaccio, Naples, 1927 (Phonotype 4889)
- Celebre Orchestra di Danza Edith Lorand, Berlin, October 26, 1927 (Parlophone W34355 – B7527)
- Daniele Serra, Milan, November 7, 1927 (Gramophone BD 4764 – 7-252573 – R4545 and Victor V 12007A)
- Mediolana Jazz Band, Milan, November 9, 1927 (Gramophone BD 4915 – 7-250171 – R4893)
- Dance Band (Bert Firman), London, December 16, 1927 (Gramophone Bb 12255 – 7-250172 – R4893)
- Gilda Mignonette, New York, January 11, 1928 (Brunswick E25974-E25975 – 58085 and 58080)
- Jean Moscopol, Romania, 1929 (Homocord T.C. 1943 R. – R. 4-11019)
- Lizica Petrescu – Violeta Ionescu, Romania, 1930 (Odeon A 199475 a)
According to the piano roll catalog (see page 8) of the Italian company F.I.R.S.T (Fabbrica Italiana Rulli Sonori Traforati), the song was released on piano roll in 1927 under number 261.
In this recording, regarding the composition of the orchestra, which on the label of the record is characterized as a "mandolinata jazz", there is a notable addition, that of the Hawaiian (lap steel) guitar. However, its use is not linked to the instrument's "exotic" identity, but to the fact that it gained widespread popularity and commercial success, resulting in its participation in orchestras not only entirely Hawaiian.
Another recording of the song by Michalis Thomakos in 1930 was found in Greek historical discography (Columbia G2 – DG 4).
There are some differences in the lyrics in the two performances. These differences do not seem to be a product of the reworking of the poetic text, but to be due to the performative fluidity which often characterizes not only popular but also elafro (light music).
Research and text: George Evangelou, Leonardos Kounadis and Nikos Ordoulidis
© 2019 KOUNADIS ARCHIVE
