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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”.
As Nikos Dionysopoulos mentions (2009: 155): "The song Samiotissa is one of the most widespread songs throughout Greece and, of course, among the Greek diaspora communities. It has been recorded dozens of times, with different musical and lyrical variations of various styles. A song well known since the early 20th century at least, which, with the incorporation of Samos into the Greek state, is given priority and ceremonially included in the basic repertoire at school celebrations, military bands and all kinds of events and performances of national and non-national content. As the melody is quite easy, based on the 7/8 time signature, it always finds a place at various events [...] for everyone to dance to. The creator of Samiotissa remains unknown, despite the fact that from time to time various people have signed the musical scores as composers and lyricists claiming its authorship, with the corresponding benefits that this entails".
The two CDs that accompany the publication "I Samos stis 78 strofes" (Samos in 78 rpm records) include thirteen recordings of the song "Samiotissa" from 78 rpm discography, with the oldest being the performance by the Estudiantina Tzounarakis in Constantinople around 1918-1919 (Orfeon S 2977 – 12773).
The melody of "Samiotissa" was adapted into rhyming fifteen-syllable couplets in the song "Ena karavi", which refers to the return of the Greek King Constantine I to Athens on December 6, 1920 with the battleship "Averof".
Also, according to Dim. S. Soutzos (1959: 67), the Athenian youth sang the following lyrics to the tune of "Samiotissa" during the Occupation:
"Our Greece, our Greece, how long will you remain enslaved?
How long will you drift, Greece, in the dark sleep of bondage?
Our Greece, your youth has once again armed itself
To set you free, our Greece, and see you rise to greatness.
And if traitors sold their souls and crossed your path
For you, Zervas keeps watch, our Greece, our glorious Greece.
They wanted to redraw our borders to those before the war
Even though so many gave their lives for our ideals.
But true Greeks will never let
Bulgarians and communists govern you".
It should be noted that the adaptation of lyrics with themes relevant to the current affairs of the time (political, social, military, etc.) to popular melodies, of Greek or foreign origin, is frequently found both in Greek music (see here and here) and in musical theater (see here and here). As Nikos Dionysopoulos mentions (2009: 165): "It is common knowledge that, in these cases, songs and easy melodies which function as a familiar and catalytic background to the topical lyrics are always chosen with the aim of their greater reach and easier dissemination".
The recording of the song “Samotisa Horo”, made in the USA in 1949 by the Kime Nanchoff Orchestra (Five Star Records), is of particular interest. As one can read on the website "Библиотека "Струмски", the clarinetist Kime Nanchoff (Киме Нанчов, 1902-1993) "was born in the village of Kriveni located in the Municipality of Resensko in North Macedonia" and "was a prominent Macedonian-Bulgarian musician and activist of the MPO (Macedonian Patriotic Organization)". For more about Nanchoff see here.
We should also note the recording of the song "Samiotisa (Grtsco Koro)" (Kalyviotis: 2023, 279) made by the Kosta Orchestra for the record label Makedonia (115KA – 605A). According to the website chereshnitsa.org, the leader of the orchestra, which was active in the 1940s and until the early 1950s in Gary, Indiana, was clarinetist Kostas Apostoloff. He was born in 1898 in Cheresnitsa, Ottoman Empire (now Polykeraso, Kastoria, Greece) and died in Gary, Indiana, in 1956. In addition to the song "Samiotisa", seventeen other recordings by the Kosta Orchestra, which were made in Chicago in 1946 or 1947, have survived.
Some appearances of the tune in the newer and contemporary discographies of various countries, either in instrumental or in song form, are noteworthy. For example:
Starting with German discography, we note the cover of Gunter Martens' "Samiotissa" by the Hansische Jungenschaft. It is included on the 45 rpm record entitled "Lockende Ferne" (Thorofon No.2 45-59 529 R, T 72 962) released in 1960.
In 1982, the Romanian band Formatia "Alpha" released the album "Fata din Samos Σαμιώτισσα" (Electrocord ST-EDE-02013) with covers of twelve Greek songs, including the song "Samiotissa (Fata din Samos)" sung in Greek.
The recording "Samyiotisa" in the Vlach language by the musical group Via Balkanika and the Romanian Florentina Costea is of particular interest. It is included in the CD "Isnafi. Cãntitsi Armãneshtsã / Cântece Armâneşti" released in Bucharest in 2011.
In 1992, American guitarist Tim Sparks recorded the LP "The Nutcracker Suite" (Acoustic Music Records – AMC 1028) at Entercor Studios in Minneapolis, USA, which contains his arrangements for solo guitar. The album, in addition to the arrangement of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite Op. 71a, also includes "Balkan Suite Dream". It consists of arrangements of three Greek musical tunes, including "Samiotisa", and one Albanian one.
Tim Sparks's cover of "Samiotisa" was also recorded by Austrian guitarist Stefan Lindenbauer. It is included in the CD "It's probably me" (Acoustic Music Records Best. Nr. 319.1270.2) released in 2002.
In 2011, the band The Inheritance from Austin, Texas, released the album "Kalimera", which also includes the recording "Samiotisa".
In 2017, Yatuzi, Steve Jones’ nickname, recorded his own version of the song in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. "Samiotisa" is included in the digital album "Yia yia".
In English discography, the arrangement "Samiotissa" Welshman Donald Swann, who became more widely known for his participation in the British comedy duo Flanders and Swann, is worth mentioning. The song was recorded by Lucinda Broadbridge – Juliet Alberdice – Jeffrey Cresswell in London, on February 22-23, 1996, with orchestration and conducting by John Jansson. It is included in the CD "The Isles of Greece" (The Divine Art 2-5010), a collection of music and songs composed and collected over a period of fifty years, from the time Swann lived in Greece as a member of the Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU), between 1944-46, until his last visit at the end of August 1992. The fruits of this long-standing relationship with Greece are his arrangements of Greek songs (see, for example here, here and here), his original compositions to the verses of Greek poets, such as Kostis Palamas (see here) and Ioannis Gryparis (see here), and the cycle of eight songs entitled "The Casos sonetts" to his own verses (see here and here).
In 2014, the multinational musical group "Thrace is the place" recorded the album of the same name in Berlin, which was released in 2016. The album includes the recording "Samiotisa" in which the tune we are interested in is combined with that of the song "Tria paidia Voliotika" (or "Annoula").
The song also appears in Spanish discography. In 2020, Nacho Sotomayor, with the participation of Cris Mora, recorded his own version of the song. "Samiotissa" is included on the album "Aeugeus" (Absolut Ambient – AAD 009).
The tune can also be found in the scholar repertoire. The Swiss composer, conductor, pianist and flautist Franco Cesarini (Bellinzone, Switzerland, April 18, 1961) used the melody of "Samiotissa" in the first movement of his work for double wind quintet "Greek Folk Dances, Op. 58a" entitled "Kalamatianos". The second movement is called "Zeibekiko", while the third and final movement, "Hasapiko", is based on a tune that appears in Greek discography under various titles, such as "Laterna tis Polis" and "Servikos choros". The same musical themes are used by Cesarini in the work for orchestra "Greek Folk Song Suite No. 2, Op. 58b", published in the form of a musical score in 2023 (see here). The three movements in this composition are entitled "Samiotissa", "Kato sto jalo" and "Chasaposerviko".
Regarding live performances, we should mention, for example, the performance by the National Taiwan University Chorus on July 12, 2011 in Taipei, Taiwan, in an arrangement by Paul Hendrickson (see here) and that by the Danish Brøndby Musikskole on May 7, 2017 in Tivoli, Italy (see here).
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”.
As Nikos Dionysopoulos mentions (2009: 155): "The song Samiotissa is one of the most widespread songs throughout Greece and, of course, among the Greek diaspora communities. It has been recorded dozens of times, with different musical and lyrical variations of various styles. A song well known since the early 20th century at least, which, with the incorporation of Samos into the Greek state, is given priority and ceremonially included in the basic repertoire at school celebrations, military bands and all kinds of events and performances of national and non-national content. As the melody is quite easy, based on the 7/8 time signature, it always finds a place at various events [...] for everyone to dance to. The creator of Samiotissa remains unknown, despite the fact that from time to time various people have signed the musical scores as composers and lyricists claiming its authorship, with the corresponding benefits that this entails".
The two CDs that accompany the publication "I Samos stis 78 strofes" (Samos in 78 rpm records) include thirteen recordings of the song "Samiotissa" from 78 rpm discography, with the oldest being the performance by the Estudiantina Tzounarakis in Constantinople around 1918-1919 (Orfeon S 2977 – 12773).
The melody of "Samiotissa" was adapted into rhyming fifteen-syllable couplets in the song "Ena karavi", which refers to the return of the Greek King Constantine I to Athens on December 6, 1920 with the battleship "Averof".
Also, according to Dim. S. Soutzos (1959: 67), the Athenian youth sang the following lyrics to the tune of "Samiotissa" during the Occupation:
"Our Greece, our Greece, how long will you remain enslaved?
How long will you drift, Greece, in the dark sleep of bondage?
Our Greece, your youth has once again armed itself
To set you free, our Greece, and see you rise to greatness.
And if traitors sold their souls and crossed your path
For you, Zervas keeps watch, our Greece, our glorious Greece.
They wanted to redraw our borders to those before the war
Even though so many gave their lives for our ideals.
But true Greeks will never let
Bulgarians and communists govern you".
It should be noted that the adaptation of lyrics with themes relevant to the current affairs of the time (political, social, military, etc.) to popular melodies, of Greek or foreign origin, is frequently found both in Greek music (see here and here) and in musical theater (see here and here). As Nikos Dionysopoulos mentions (2009: 165): "It is common knowledge that, in these cases, songs and easy melodies which function as a familiar and catalytic background to the topical lyrics are always chosen with the aim of their greater reach and easier dissemination".
The recording of the song “Samotisa Horo”, made in the USA in 1949 by the Kime Nanchoff Orchestra (Five Star Records), is of particular interest. As one can read on the website "Библиотека "Струмски", the clarinetist Kime Nanchoff (Киме Нанчов, 1902-1993) "was born in the village of Kriveni located in the Municipality of Resensko in North Macedonia" and "was a prominent Macedonian-Bulgarian musician and activist of the MPO (Macedonian Patriotic Organization)". For more about Nanchoff see here.
We should also note the recording of the song "Samiotisa (Grtsco Koro)" (Kalyviotis: 2023, 279) made by the Kosta Orchestra for the record label Makedonia (115KA – 605A). According to the website chereshnitsa.org, the leader of the orchestra, which was active in the 1940s and until the early 1950s in Gary, Indiana, was clarinetist Kostas Apostoloff. He was born in 1898 in Cheresnitsa, Ottoman Empire (now Polykeraso, Kastoria, Greece) and died in Gary, Indiana, in 1956. In addition to the song "Samiotisa", seventeen other recordings by the Kosta Orchestra, which were made in Chicago in 1946 or 1947, have survived.
Some appearances of the tune in the newer and contemporary discographies of various countries, either in instrumental or in song form, are noteworthy. For example:
Starting with German discography, we note the cover of Gunter Martens' "Samiotissa" by the Hansische Jungenschaft. It is included on the 45 rpm record entitled "Lockende Ferne" (Thorofon No.2 45-59 529 R, T 72 962) released in 1960.
In 1982, the Romanian band Formatia "Alpha" released the album "Fata din Samos Σαμιώτισσα" (Electrocord ST-EDE-02013) with covers of twelve Greek songs, including the song "Samiotissa (Fata din Samos)" sung in Greek.
The recording "Samyiotisa" in the Vlach language by the musical group Via Balkanika and the Romanian Florentina Costea is of particular interest. It is included in the CD "Isnafi. Cãntitsi Armãneshtsã / Cântece Armâneşti" released in Bucharest in 2011.
In 1992, American guitarist Tim Sparks recorded the LP "The Nutcracker Suite" (Acoustic Music Records – AMC 1028) at Entercor Studios in Minneapolis, USA, which contains his arrangements for solo guitar. The album, in addition to the arrangement of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite Op. 71a, also includes "Balkan Suite Dream". It consists of arrangements of three Greek musical tunes, including "Samiotisa", and one Albanian one.
Tim Sparks's cover of "Samiotisa" was also recorded by Austrian guitarist Stefan Lindenbauer. It is included in the CD "It's probably me" (Acoustic Music Records Best. Nr. 319.1270.2) released in 2002.
In 2011, the band The Inheritance from Austin, Texas, released the album "Kalimera", which also includes the recording "Samiotisa".
In 2017, Yatuzi, Steve Jones’ nickname, recorded his own version of the song in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. "Samiotisa" is included in the digital album "Yia yia".
In English discography, the arrangement "Samiotissa" Welshman Donald Swann, who became more widely known for his participation in the British comedy duo Flanders and Swann, is worth mentioning. The song was recorded by Lucinda Broadbridge – Juliet Alberdice – Jeffrey Cresswell in London, on February 22-23, 1996, with orchestration and conducting by John Jansson. It is included in the CD "The Isles of Greece" (The Divine Art 2-5010), a collection of music and songs composed and collected over a period of fifty years, from the time Swann lived in Greece as a member of the Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU), between 1944-46, until his last visit at the end of August 1992. The fruits of this long-standing relationship with Greece are his arrangements of Greek songs (see, for example here, here and here), his original compositions to the verses of Greek poets, such as Kostis Palamas (see here) and Ioannis Gryparis (see here), and the cycle of eight songs entitled "The Casos sonetts" to his own verses (see here and here).
In 2014, the multinational musical group "Thrace is the place" recorded the album of the same name in Berlin, which was released in 2016. The album includes the recording "Samiotisa" in which the tune we are interested in is combined with that of the song "Tria paidia Voliotika" (or "Annoula").
The song also appears in Spanish discography. In 2020, Nacho Sotomayor, with the participation of Cris Mora, recorded his own version of the song. "Samiotissa" is included on the album "Aeugeus" (Absolut Ambient – AAD 009).
The tune can also be found in the scholar repertoire. The Swiss composer, conductor, pianist and flautist Franco Cesarini (Bellinzone, Switzerland, April 18, 1961) used the melody of "Samiotissa" in the first movement of his work for double wind quintet "Greek Folk Dances, Op. 58a" entitled "Kalamatianos". The second movement is called "Zeibekiko", while the third and final movement, "Hasapiko", is based on a tune that appears in Greek discography under various titles, such as "Laterna tis Polis" and "Servikos choros". The same musical themes are used by Cesarini in the work for orchestra "Greek Folk Song Suite No. 2, Op. 58b", published in the form of a musical score in 2023 (see here). The three movements in this composition are entitled "Samiotissa", "Kato sto jalo" and "Chasaposerviko".
Regarding live performances, we should mention, for example, the performance by the National Taiwan University Chorus on July 12, 2011 in Taipei, Taiwan, in an arrangement by Paul Hendrickson (see here) and that by the Danish Brøndby Musikskole on May 7, 2017 in Tivoli, Italy (see here).
© 2019 KOUNADIS ARCHIVE
